250W (max) power supply

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

I want to upgrade my old PIII 450 with Asus P3B-F. I want to do it as
cheap as possible, such as grabbing a CPU/mobo combo from some Fry's
deals.

One concern for me is that the old power supply is 250W max in the ATX
case. Will this be enough to drive modern CPU systems like AthlonXP
(Barton) or Sempron? Currently I'm only considering to replace the CPU,
motherboard and some new format DDR memory under $150. So if I have to
upgrade the power supply as well, it would be a different story.
And ideas? Thanks.

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"egf_repeats" <egf_repeats@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1096915860.924727.244590@k17g2000odb.googlegroups.com...
>I want to upgrade my old PIII 450 with Asus P3B-F. I want to do it as
> cheap as possible, such as grabbing a CPU/mobo combo from some Fry's
> deals.
>
> One concern for me is that the old power supply is 250W max in the ATX
> case. Will this be enough to drive modern CPU systems like AthlonXP
> (Barton) or Sempron? Currently I'm only considering to replace the CPU,
> motherboard and some new format DDR memory under $150. So if I have to
> upgrade the power supply as well, it would be a different story.
> And ideas? Thanks.
>

It'll be enough for the Sempron, assuming your video card doesn't have a
power connector. But that also assumes your 250W is really 250W. Try the
following. -Dave

http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA19274

 

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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

egf_repeats wrote:

> I want to upgrade my old PIII 450 with Asus P3B-F. I want to do it as
> cheap as possible, such as grabbing a CPU/mobo combo from some Fry's
> deals.

Depending on what you want to accomplish from the 'upgrade' you might want
to look into putting a 1.1 to 1.4 gig Celeron Tualatin on it. Upgradeware
makes the "Slot-T" slotket for doing just that. You'd want to check your
board rev level and their compatibility list.

>
> One concern for me is that the old power supply is 250W max in the ATX
> case. Will this be enough to drive modern CPU systems like AthlonXP
> (Barton) or Sempron?

In theory 250W would be enough, if the PSU really did it and you weren't
going to use some super duper high powered video card, but probably not the
one you have because more modern systems moved much of their power
consumption from the 3.3 and 5 volt rails to the 12 volt rail, which means
that the '250w' in your power supply is, most likely, 'in the wrong place'.

However, it's possible you could sneak in a low end XP minimal system (no
fancy video, single hard drive, one CD) if you checked the 12 volt power
carefully. But it's a gamble, especially with the PSU being old.

> Currently I'm only considering to replace the CPU,
> motherboard and some new format DDR memory under $150. So if I have to
> upgrade the power supply as well, it would be a different story.
> And ideas? Thanks.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

250 watts is not enough power.

--
DaveW



"egf_repeats" <egf_repeats@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:1096915860.924727.244590@k17g2000odb.googlegroups.com...
>I want to upgrade my old PIII 450 with Asus P3B-F. I want to do it as
> cheap as possible, such as grabbing a CPU/mobo combo from some Fry's
> deals.
>
> One concern for me is that the old power supply is 250W max in the ATX
> case. Will this be enough to drive modern CPU systems like AthlonXP
> (Barton) or Sempron? Currently I'm only considering to replace the CPU,
> motherboard and some new format DDR memory under $150. So if I have to
> upgrade the power supply as well, it would be a different story.
> And ideas? Thanks.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

> I want to upgrade my old PIII 450 with Asus P3B-F. I want to do it as
> cheap as possible, such as grabbing a CPU/mobo combo from some Fry's
> deals.
>
> One concern for me is that the old power supply is 250W max in the ATX
> case. Will this be enough to drive modern CPU systems like AthlonXP
> (Barton) or Sempron? Currently I'm only considering to replace the CPU,
> motherboard and some new format DDR memory under $150. So if I have to
> upgrade the power supply as well, it would be a different story.
> And ideas? Thanks.

Some 250 W power supplies are better than others. In my previous
computer, a Dell P2 400 MHz, I was running three hard drives, a CD
ROM, a DVD -RW/+RW burner, sound card, video card, floppy drive,
ATA 100 Promise BIOS card, parallel port card, modem, and powering
two USB ports, all on a 250 Watt PSU. Ran this way for years,
never had a single problem. Still running, in fact.

For modern chips and motherboards, personally I wouldn't go below
a 300 W power supply. I don't think 250 W cuts it anymore. With
350 W you will feel comfortable upgrading. With 400 W, you're
laughing. Anything more than 400 Watts is unnecessary, no matter
what you're going to put into the case. That's my own rule of
thumb, anyway.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

On Mon, 4 Oct 2004 15:27:55 -0400 There I was minding my own business
and then "Dave C." <mdupre@sff.net> wrote :

>
>"egf_repeats" <egf_repeats@hotmail.com> wrote in message
>news:1096915860.924727.244590@k17g2000odb.googlegroups.com...
>>I want to upgrade my old PIII 450 with Asus P3B-F. I want to do it as
>> cheap as possible, such as grabbing a CPU/mobo combo from some Fry's
>> deals.
>>
>> One concern for me is that the old power supply is 250W max in the ATX
>> case. Will this be enough to drive modern CPU systems like AthlonXP
>> (Barton) or Sempron? Currently I'm only considering to replace the CPU,
>> motherboard and some new format DDR memory under $150. So if I have to
>> upgrade the power supply as well, it would be a different story.
>> And ideas? Thanks.
>>
>
>It'll be enough for the Sempron, assuming your video card doesn't have a
>power connector. But that also assumes your 250W is really 250W. Try the
>following. -Dave
>
>http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA19274
>
As you say but for a few pounds/dollars and if there are problems the
O/P knows where they will come from.Age of his supply is against it as
well :/



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Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.pc-homebuilt (More info?)

"egf_repeats" <egf_repeats@hotmail.com> wrote in message news:<1096915860.924727.244590@k17g2000odb.googlegroups.com>...

> I want to upgrade my old PIII 450 with Asus P3B-F. I want to do it as
> cheap as possible, such as grabbing a CPU/mobo combo from some Fry's
> deals.
>
> One concern for me is that the old power supply is 250W max in the ATX
> case. Will this be enough to drive modern CPU systems like AthlonXP
> (Barton) or Sempron? Currently I'm only considering to replace the CPU,
> motherboard and some new format DDR memory under $150.

I had a really bad 250W PSU (PC Power & Cooling used the 300W version
as an example of how bad one could be) that couldn't reliably power
just a mobo, slow graphics card, and 1.3 GHz Duron. OTOH one person
recently said that his 250W Fortron/Sparkle had no problems running a
much faster CPU & graphics card and a pair of 7200 RPM HDs and at
least one optical drive.

http://takaman.jp has a power estimation program that doesn't
exaggerate the power as much as others do, and it gives estimates for
the amps from each
voltage rail as well (but you may have to triple the +3.3V amp
figure).

I'm using a Celeron at 450 MHz (slow graphics card, 1 CD-RW, 1 5400
RPM HD), and I think that the power consumption was only about 60W.

Did you miss the Fry's $15-after-rebate Antec 350W SmartPower PSU deal
last week? They also had an Antec case w/ 300W SmartPower for $25
after rebate, and the box for the case said that it was OK for 3 GHz.
The 300W SmartPower has been changed and is now rated for 19A @ +12V,
compared to 15-16A for older models, and the 350W model is now rated
for 21A @ +12V.