Why would anybody need a 420W PSU

[ShawnD1]

My computer has a 300W power supply and that's more than enough power to run everything in my computer which includes 2 hard drives (7200RPM) and a CD drive (52x read).
Is 420 for those who plan on running like 4 hard drives or something?

[Urban_Squrill]

For a Video card like a 9700 like mine requires 350 at least. I have a 500 beacause i am running that card 4hard drives and 7fans (excluding the cpu and psu.

[ShawnD1]

Oh ok then, thanks for the info.

How do you actually check how much power the computer is using?

[Urban_Squrill]

Humm I dont think there is really any read out. But mostly you kind have to gesstamate on how much you need. Some one had a link to this really spiffy chart that told you. What is your system right now. You just wondering aobut this or?

[vass0922]

Maybe something like this?

[Urban_Squrill]

I dont think so. It was a link to a page where it said about how many watts a componet used.

[ShawnD1]

AthlonXP 1700+
512mb ram (1 chip)
2 hard drives 7200RPM each
52x CD drive
GeForce FX 5200

I would assume that the main things for power consumptions are hard drives and CD drives because they are the only things that have moving parts aside from fans.

[Urban_Squrill]

That FX of yours eats power by the psu full. That is a farly power hungry card. If your fin the should be not reason for upgrade. I could probly get away with a 350 bu that would be cutting it close.

[JeremyPC]

Iam getting 420 so in the future when I may or may not want to upgrade to a more power consuming part I wont have to get a new case as well.

ASUS A7N8X-X Mobo
60GB HD
1028 Corsair RAM
Radeon 9600
Athlon XP 2800+

[ChubTub]

Most of the time you do not need the big PS, unless you have tons of fans and lights like me.

For a normal system a 300W should do just fine.