Power Supply Stuff

Basically it's all about the degree of control over the various voltages that the PSU supplies. A branded PSU is far more likely to be Intel and/or AMD 'approved'.

In general a branded PSU would be expected to give more accurate control than an unbranded, generic PSU. Branded PSU's are more likely to include speed control of the cooling fan(s) and generate less noise. Sounds as if yours could be undercooled.

Aida32 gives a readout of the mobo voltages supplied by the PSU.

On my m/c's over the past few years with the PSU supplied with the case - AOpen voltage control has been fairly good, but nothing like as good as my present system, built a month ago using an Antec Sonata case with the Antec 380W True Power PSU with PFC (Power Factor Correction).

This has to be one of the 'Rolls Royce's' of all PSU's - all voltages spot on to within 0.1v - and it's quiet.

Sure you won't regret buying the Antec PSU you mention. BTW 480W seems overkill on your present system, but good for future m/c's.

 

The point I was making is that your present configuration would never draw anything like 480W even with all 3 drives running simultaneously. There was a thread on this Board with a URL which enabled you to estimate the size of PSU required based on the components in the PC - HD's, other drives, etc. Unfortunately I can't track it down right now - maybe someone will post it.

'Good for future m/c's' - based on fact that you may in the future add another HD, more memory, more powerful graphics card, etc.

I ran my m/c through the PSU 'sizer' and it came up with 330W as I recall - and that on the basis of all components working at the same time.

My basic spec :

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ CPU and fan
1.5 Gb Ram
2 x UDMA 133 HDD's
CD-RW drive
DVD-RW drive
Matrox G550 dual head video card AGP
plus floppy, case fan, USB, Firewire, etc.
(no sound card - just onboard - suits me)

Buy the 480W and you'll not be wanting for power

 

Thanks, Daddad - that's the one Bookmarked.