Nerds needed! Is 300w to low for my system?
 

My computer is crashing.. should a 300w power supply be able to handle this?

my computer
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Graphic card: PowerColor Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB DDR
with a Artic Cooling fan.

Processor: AMD Athlon XP2400+ 2.0 GHz 266 MHz bus

Motherboard: EPoX EP-8RDA Moderkort för Socket A DDR

RAM:
TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 256MB CL2.5
TwinMOS PC3200 DDR-DIMM 256MB CL2.5

2 SATA harddrives.
2 IDE harddrives.

2 chassi fans.
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probly can run it,but why not get a better one?there preet cheap now days

Get at least a 450w.. those 4 drives are power hungry

Yeah, 300w seems a tad to small.

thanks guys, I'll try a more powerfull one. :)

300w should be fine if it is actually 300w, wattage can be stated in many different ways to make the number bigger :)

you should get a utility that monitors voltages on the different rails of your powersupply, try motherboard monitor - and make sure that your 12v doesnt drop below 12v much , and the others stay pretty stable etc. if you find out the voltages are stable even when doing intensive tasks such as video editing it is probably not your power supply that is at fault.

you may also want to try something like prime95 a small utility with a feature to stress test your cpu/cache which will reveal any problems relating to that. alternatively try memtest86 on bootup which will check your memory to see if it is running ok also.

if you cant be bothered doing any of that and still dont think your system is stable enough then goto http://www.dell.com and buy one! :)

you can never have enough wattage and they are so cheap its silly to buy small

definately get a 450w...like tony said, they are so cheap now tthere is no reason not to insure good runnings 24/7 :)

doesnt take a nerd to know that your system needs more power than that.

well, hardware isnt my "thing" anymore. :winkwink:

thanks again everyone.

If it's decent (tagan), then it should be fine.

What kind of error are you receiving (if any)?

Sounds more like a cooling issue, but the power supply could do it as well... so reseat the CPU and make sure the ram is compatible with your mobo and then replace your powersupply if you need to :)

when i got my amd 1800, i went to the amd website, and it said that 400 was the minimum you should run. since your computer is mightier, i would go for the gusto and get something much more powerful.

don't worry about the wattage number when picking out a new PS. make sure you are looking at the amps on the 12V+. There is a sticker on the side of every PS that has this information. Go with something that has 30+amps (30a) on the 12 volt rail (12V+) and you should be good. You'll be amazed at how many companies try and sell a 450 watt ps that has the power of a 250!