Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler IT guy needs computer help, go figure :)

It sounds like you might just want to get another PS, even if it's not the problem. $30-35 for a good ~350watt ATX PS not too bad to fix a problem, and for a little peace of mind over the Deer. I'm not sure how good of an idea it is to run it in 230 mode though. I meant cycle the orange switch once. I think I'm pretty much out of ideas. Let us know how it goes.

I notice Compusa here locally has some good prices on 250watt ATX PSU's.. Would it be ok for me to use a 250 watt versus 300 or higher? Does the additional wattage help when a person has multiple hard drives/burners/etc... or is it related to what the CPU needs?

It pretty much comes down to number of hard drives, processor needs, and video card needs. As I recall, the Athlons over 1 GHz need a 300 watt supply. If you're looking to the future and replacing the board, video card, etc, you may want to look a little higher. I've got a 480 Antec PSU in my rig, but I've also got a GeForce 6800 Ultra, which takes 2 separate power lines...

Make sure you get a high quality one. I'd look at spending closer to $100 than $35. A good PSU will keep your computer happy.

All of the above really... cpu, video card, ram, hdd's, optical drive, external devices, etc. This is a great site to calculate about how much wattage you will need. http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?cmd=AMD

thanks Ken I appreciate it, one other investment I want to get is another DVD burner. I bought a Sony 2X burner for like $250 back when burners were first getting popular, now you can get dual layer higher speed burners for less than $100, that bites

Ah, computers... almost as bad as audio.

IMO 100 bucks is a little excessive for a 350-450 watt power supply. I really dont think it is necessary. Antec 400W is only ~$55 or so. But, its not my money, and I would also suggest you get a good power supply.

Just going off of what I saw when I was shopping. Plus I tend to lean high end in computer stuff. I almost bought the $200 550 watt PSU, but I decided that might be overkill.

Compusa has 350 watt psu's for 30-40 smackers.

I agree that keeping your computer happy by buying a nice power supply will keep you happy as well. I guess I just don't like to spend money. And my estimate of 30-35 was kinda low for a good power supply. ***well maybe not***