How many watts do I need?

[KG]

I have this equipment:

Pentium 4 Prescott 2.8 Ghz
mobo: MSI 865PE Neo2-V
1 GB RAM DDR400
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 AGP 8x
Sound Blaster Live Value
56K modem
1 SATA hard drive
4 optical IDE drives
USB internal card reader
Floppy disc drive
USB hard drive and Wifi adapter on external USB hub (the hub has external power)

and my power supply is 400 watts and the brand is ColorSit (Model 330U-SNE). Is this wattage enough for this equipment or I need a higher one?. Is this brand of acceptable quality or I should get another one?.

What would happen if I connected all the equipment to a power supply with insufficient wattage, could any component be damaged?.

[Spazmogen]

There are as many different answers as there are members here...


I think you'll be ok with it. As long as you have the connectors that you need.

I had a 350w supply and only upgraded when I got a Core2Duo system.
I was running 3 HDD's & 2 optical drives with a 350w supply.

[hoxlund]

i would get rid of that POS no name power supply

power supplies are one of those things i never skimp on, always go with a name brand and overshoot the wattage also

the bare minimum i would recommend is the antec truepower 430 series:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103942

although im sure you wouldn't mind spending a tad more and going with the neo500 series, offers modular cables, 120mm fan for better/quieter cooling:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103940

for $10 more you get 50 watts more:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103941

[ruderacer]

I agree with hox. I'd go with the http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103941

I have the Antec True480 and have not had any problems. Working without issues for the last 3 1/2 years.

[KG]

Between the TruePower Trio 650 (http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails. ... dID=07665#) and the Neo HE 550 (http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=05550), which one would you choose and why?.

What about Thermaltake Toughpower 650 (http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Powe ... /w0104.asp) and Toughpower 750 (http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Powe ... cification)?, they look really cool.

I have noticed that, of the four, only the Thermaltake 750 appears to be Nvidia SLI, ATI Crossfire and AMD/Intel Dual Core ready, is this really important or any ATX 12V 2.2 supply supports any PCI-E graphics card and any dual core processor?

[Bhairav]

@KG - just curious.. which country are you in?ColorsIT are quite popular here in India.. for all the wrong reasons though!

Your config is a decent one, I'd recommend an Antec NeoHE 500. Nothing more powerful is required. It is enough for you.. and will ensure a decent upgrade path as well. I'm running a dual-core system with 2GB RAM, a 7900GTX, 3 HDDs and 2 optical drives on mine. No issues so far.

[hoxlund]

im running the neopower 500 as well, so far REALLY good powersupply

[KG]

I'm in Spain. I have the Colorsit just by chance, and my previous mobo got damaged in a very strange way and I wonder if it had something to do with the power supply. Anyway, I'd like to have a good quality power supply with sufficient wattage to rest assured I don't need to worry about power.