What size PSU would you recommend?

[subucni]

hi,

i'm almost there, after months of saving and buying i almost have all the parts for my first pc build, all i need now is a case and psu. money is getting really tight now so i need some cheap suggestions, which psu? which case? or which case which comes with a psu? case would need to be a black tower.

back to my main question "what kind of psu wattage should i be looking for to supply the following components, and any specific bargains you'd recommend?"

components are as follows:

abit ic7 mobo
P4 3ghz 800fsb northwood + heatsink and fan
2 x 512mb kingmax pc3500 ram
ATI 9600np (no fan, just heatsink)
1 x cd writer/dvd rom drive
1 x floppy drive
1 x 40gb seagate IDE hdd
1 x 200gb western digital SATA hdd
keyboard & mouse
1 x dvd writer (when i have money to buy it)
and case fans etc.. (depending on case)
usb card
firewire card

i think that covers it all

what wattage should i be looking at for that lot? i have no idea

any recommendations for either case or psu, or both would be greatly appreciated. my budget is looking along the lines of "as cheap as possible"

if i've left anything out, feel free to ask. thanks for your help

[0iD]

A nice 430 Enermax would do the job, quality PSU or a 480W Tagan. as for a case, I just got a Thermaltake Tsunami & it's lovely

[ed^chigliak]

Take a look at the Antec Sonata. It's black, looks good IMO and comes with a high quality Antec 380W power supply. Fairly quiet with 120mm exhaust fan and adequate ventilation for all but extreme overclocking.

[-mb-]

Erm, why don't you cut the IC7 and get an IS7 to liberate some cash, and maybe make the jump down to a 2.8Ghz P4, which performs almost as well, but costs significantly less?

What prices are you paying for that lot?

For a cheap case with an acceptable PSU:
http://www.microdirect.co.uk/Product...6432&GroupID=8

[0iD]

Tru, not a grest deal of diff between a 2.8 & 3.0
Move up to a 9800np that softmods.

[unrealrocks]

Get as high as you can go - Enermax are the best (as well as Antec) however there both the most expensive ... maybe try the next stage down with thing like Tagan as there not too bad

Case wise, ebuyer do the Chieftech cases very cheap - there well built, any colour and look pritty good.

[LayZeh]

Didn't Tagan used to manufacture Enermax PSU's and then Enermax would rebadge them, perhaps no longer but i'm sure in the past it was done.

[Barry]

ThermalTake Butterfly 480W here

[Byatt]

Well personally I don't think you need much higher than a 400W or 420W PSU for that - in fact I wouldn't be surprised if you could run it off a quality 350W unit...so I'd say something like the Sonata, or maybe the slk3700BQE, if you're wanting a black tower with a decent PSU.

If you're going to make the move to a 9800 at any stage...well, both of those PSUs would still probably manage it - the Sonata certainly could, I expect..if you'll be wanting to go x800/6800 ever then you'll want to buy something along the lines of the 480W Tagan, or the thermaltake recommended above, I'd say. Of course, similar wattage enermax and antec units will perform excellently too.

If you want to buy a cheaper black tower from the likes of ebuyer than a lot of people like the thermaltake PSUs for value for money - I've also been using a 420W hiper supply that does the job for a system that eats a similar amount of juice to yours..but if you want absolute guaranteed quality just go for any Antec/Enermax/Tagan unit at around 400W

[cm_uk]

yar ill second chietec...i have the dragon dx01 case tis sweet.comes with 360w chieftec psu too v nice. i got my from overclockers tho as ebuyer are v unreliable and imho are crap!lol...

[Alex]

This case:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=55547

is actually a lot better than it looks from th picture, and is really good build quality for £25ish, The dragon series on ebuyer are also great, and some have free delivery, so only work out at about £35inc VAT and delivery. Depends on whether you want a door or not I guess. Dragon case here:

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=55549

Never had a problem with ebuyer myself, on about 5 orders, so maybe some people have just had the occasional one off bad experience? Hmmmm...

Budget PSUs:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...roductID=59491

Surprised that one hasn't been suggested yet tbh...

http://www.kustompcs.co.uk/acatalog/info_1765.html

My housemate has the 350W one, which is very near completely silent and very stable.

Or of course the Thermaltake one which someone has already suggested, which is what I've got. Would probably have gone with the Nexus if I'd thought about it more though.

[DaBeeeenster]

Are the Meridian 450Ws from Scan any good? I need a new PSU and Vid Card and was going to order a vid card from Scan...Save on shipping etc...Any views?

[Alex]

I think the Meridian ones from Scan are the same as the old CWT ones that everyone thought were rebadged antecs, though this was never confirmed I believe. Still supposed to be good PSUs though.

[subucni]

thanks for a great response, lots of food for thought there, i guess i was mainly just worried because i followed the tips on picking the right power supply in micromart about 2weeks ago and it came out that i needed something like a 550w psu, i'm just glad to see that a decent 450w supply should be upto the job. i'll have a proper look around when i get back from work. thanks again

[Rythmic]

You should have no worries - I'm running more than that from a 480W (much more....)

Unless you're talking about 550Watts in Qtec terms....