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How much power do I need for P4 2.4 Ghz PC ?
I currently using 230V power supply .
I'm planning to upgrade my 3D card to ATI Radeon 9700 Pro ,
my hard drive to 80 GB 7200 rpm 8 MB cache , and from 256 MB DDRAM to 768 MB DDRAM .

With all those planned upgrades, you need atleast a 300w power supply. P4's and Radeon 9700's are power hungry. 400w would be best, then you'd never have to worry about not having enough power. Make sure you get one from a good company though.

Based on your upgrade plans, a minimal of 400w would be recommended.

I'd get an Antec 350SL or a 400SL.

If you have the money, maybe the True380.

lightningbaron wrote:Based on your upgrade plans, a minimal of 400w would be recommended.

Is the upgrade from 230w to 400w goin' to give a huge difference in my Electircal bill ?

The different of power consumption between power supplies is minor.
235w, 400w rating are maximum power output.
Today's PC will use about 100- 200 w on average
With a 400w you won't have to worry about peak power usage, therefore
It will give you a more stable machine.
It is possible a high quality 400w ps use less power than a 230w.

Total power consumption = PS Output Power consumption + power loss in the conversion (AC to DC).
PS Output Power consumption is the power use by your components, and it will steady the same regardless which ps you use.

BuddhaTB wrote:P4's...are power hungry.

Well, now, I wouldn't say that. Compared to an Athlon XP, P4's are far from power hungry. Case in point, Tidus is running a P4 2.4GHz on a 230W power supply. I've run the same processor on a 250W power supply, no problems whatsoever. Try running a comparable Athlon XP on the same power supply with the basic hardware and you won't succeed.

In regards to this thread, I definitely recommend a 350W-400W power supply for your upgrades, Tidus. Either wattage is ample for your scenario.

TheWizard wrote:

BuddhaTB wrote:P4's...are power hungry.

Well, now, I wouldn't say that. Compared to an Athlon XP, P4's are far from power hungry. Case in point, Tidus is running a P4 2.4GHz on a 230W power supply. I've run the same processor on a 250W power supply, no problems whatsoever. Try running a comparable Athlon XP on the same power supply with the basic hardware and you won't succeed.

In regards to this thread, I definitely recommend a 350W-400W power supply for your upgrades, Tidus. Either wattage is ample for your scenario.

Where's your data that proves that a contemporary t-bred or barton is more power hungry than a Northwood?

I don't believe it's true. Part of the reason for the new ATX standard was that intel's CPUs were too power hungry and needed the extra juice to run stable.

I still think the PSU you are required to use is more dependant on your motherboard and not on your CPU. But ultimately your choice of CPU dictates which motherboard you should purchase. Getting a high quality motherbaord with 3 phase power circuitry is probably better than a cheaper board with only dual phase. The 3 phase will last longer and will handle poor power situations more gracefully.

[edit] fixed a typo[/edit]

blakerwry wrote:Where's your data that proves that a contemporary t-bred or barton is more power hungry than a Northwood?

Just personal experience with several P4's and Athlon XP's on a variety of motherboards.

Just download the specs from AMD and Intel and see which CPU needs more power(Vcc*Icc). Simple as that.
AFAIK, both are about the same, but it depends on frequency very much.

As for the initial question, you should definitely get a 400W PSU, an Antec TruePower prefferably.
But check your PSU again, power output is measured in Watts[W], not Volts[V], so I think you've been reading the wrong label and your PSU just works on 210-230V/50-60Hz electrical network, European standard.