I have the following PSUs:

* FSP 300W (18A on single +12V line)
* Seasonic "Super Tornado" (OEM) 300W (18A on single +12V line)

-------------------------------
running this system:

* Sempron S754 3000+ 1,8GHz (1,40V) OCed to 2,4GHz (1,55V)
* Radeon X850XT 256MB PCIe
* Kingston 2x512MB PC3200 CL3
* Hitachi T7K250 250GB SATA 8MB
* Hitachi T7K500 320GB SATA 16MB

silent cooling for everything and mounted in Antec P180

measured peak AC consumption ~180W (140W DC?). Idles at about 90W AC, 10W lower with GPU clocked down in 2D mode.

Johan

i ran a pentium d805 to 3,9 ghz on a 380w seasonic plus 7600gt.....

300w is fine for your rig

Well now I have something on a 300watter, this one uses around 100w on idle, load power usage has not been tested yet.


Core 2 duo E6750 at stock settings
ECS G33 Mobo
EVGA 8600GT Superclock at stock
802.11g Wifi Card
Liteon 20x Dvd Burner
1 Sata HD
2X1GB OCZ DDR2-800

Really not a demanding system at all, but certainly similar to a lot of mid-range systems.

new system running on Seasonic "Super Tornado" bulk/OEM 300W (+12V = 18A):

* Intel dualcore E2140 (1,6GHz) @ 2,56GHz (1,25V) passively cooled
* Gigabyte 965P-DS3 mobo
* Gigabyte 7900GS (a bit overclocked) with Zalman VF700-AlCu
* Hitachi T7K250 250GB SATA
* Hitachi T7K500 320GB SATA 16MB
* 2x1GB PC6400 DDR2 "Memory Corp" @ 400/800MHz
* 4x Yate Loons D12SL

// Johan

ZEN 300W runs this system np:

- Core2Duo E6300 OCed at 3.15 GHz
- Gigabyte DS3
- 3GB ddr2
- Gigabyte 7600 GT passive cooling
- 1x 2.5" 5400 RPM HDD
- 2x 3.5" 7200 RPM HDD
- DVDRW
- Sunbeam Rheobus
- 2x Nexus 12cm at 12V
- 1x Antec 12cm at 12V
- two LEDs at 12V

I put together my new system, only to find out that the SeaSonic S12-430 is DOA. While it's being exchanged, I hooked it up to an HEC-300AR-TF, and it works fine, although I'm not going to try OCing.

Intel Q6600
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3R
4x1GB OCZ PC-6400
GeForce 8800GTS 640MB
WD 500AAKS HDD
Philips SATA DVDRW
T-Balancer bigNG
2x Noctua 120mm 1200rpm fans
2x Scythe S-Flex 120mm 800rpm fans

I don't know if this is appropriate to post here... here I go.

My 300W Zen fanless will NOT run the following system stable:

AMD 3500+ 95W Newcastle
ATI X800XT
DFI S939 Crossfire motherboard
1.5GB RAM
30GB Hard drive
Liteon CDRW

This system, if I recall correctly, has a peak power draw well under 200W.

However, it does perfectly on another system which actually has a higher draw:

2.8Ghz P-4
HIS Radeon 9800 Pro
Biostar MATX motherboard
120G Seagate
DVDRW
1GBRAM

This system , if I recall, has a peak power draw of about 200W.

Perhaps this is simply a case of the DFI motherboard being picky (it's the source of the instability with the zen, fails to post 4 out of 5 times with this PSU). It's important to note that the 300W zen does NOT have PCI-E power connector, I had to use a molex adapter. Not sure if that makes any difference.

Hello,

Maybe it is the amperage on the 12v line that is not quite up to snuff?

I am using a Antec 300watt power supply that came with the antec slk1600 back then in 2004.

Specs

AMD AThlon XP 3000
Gigabyte Nforce2 ultra mobo
1GB of cosair XMS ram
nvidia Geforce 6800
Seagate 320GB HDD SATA
Seagate 200GB HDD IDE
LG DVD WRtier
Liteon DVD/CD Combo
80mm fans
120mm fan

No problems at all..

I've got a Seasonic SS 300w PSU in my Athlon2700/GeForce 6200 box.

Any reason to think it would not be able to power this potential upgrade?

(the first numeric column shows expected build -- the second maxes it out)
E2160 65 65
hd (2) 10 20
7600Gs 32 40
mobo 40 50
RAM (4) 10 20
USB (4) 10 20
DVD 30 30
fans (3) 25 25

Total 222 270

The one thing I can't find specs on is the motherboard (GA-P35-DS3L).

Seriously? This is under load? So if I run about the same system, I should be able to OC the Q6600 on a quality PSU below 400W with some certainty?

Hello,

I'd say it is pretty easily done.

Here's my system, that is powered by a Fortron Source "Green" 300watt PSU:

Athlon 64 X2 4200+ (the older version which uses more power than the Q6600, I think)

4X 1GB Mushkin

1 Seagate 7200.7 120GB
1 Seagate 60GB Barracuda
1 Samsung P80 120GB

2X XFX 7600GS 256MB video cards

Sony DVD-RW burner
Samsung CD-RW burner

Sony floppy

Scythe DF (1200RPM?) exhaust fan (runs about half the time, even while running SMP Folding@Home 24/7)
Scythe Slipstream 500RPM (blowing on the 7200.7 that runs warm)

Some pictures (some with a SeaSonic S12 430 PSU) are here:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=319124&highlight=#319124

This barely taxes the Fortron "Green" 300watt PSU -- the fan stays at minimum most of the time.

I have an Antec Aria 1300 which comes with a (underrated) 300W PSU. This is probably the maximum it can handle, I hope I won't burn down the house:

MSI RS482M4 microATX motherboard
AMD Athlon X2 4200+ (90 nm - old version, uses more power)
Asus 8800GT grapjhics card
4x Corsair 512mb PC3200 memory
a standard 250gb 7200 rpm sata harddrive
dvd rw
lots of usb devices

Runs perfectly!

OK,

My current system, (I'm new to this low power low niose idea - but i LIKE it!), is:

Antec Neopower 500
Antec P182 case
MSI K9A2 Platinum
4GB Corsair Dominator DDR2 1066
AMD Brisbane 5000+ (Sight OC to 2.8 )
Thermalright HR-01+ passively cooled by the rear and top Tri-Cools
ATi 3800HD

Looking at a lot of the system specs posted here, am I crazy to think that I could run a Crossfire setup with this PSU?

I/m sorry butI don't know what I am drawing off the power supply with my current config, but this new build seems to be half as loud as my old rig. I don't evn hear the power supply fan, and it is closer to my ears as the case sits on my desk (right to the left of my keyboard I mifgt add).

CPU: AMD Duron 950Mhz, 1.6V
MB: ECS K7S5A
RAM: 2x256MB Apacer 133Mhz SDRAM
HDD: 20GB 5400rpm Maxtor 2b020h1
PSU: Seasonic S12 430 (fan replaced with Nexus)
GFX: some GF 440MX or FX5200?
CDRW: MSI MS-8352A

power draw at the wall:
97W (orthos + EAC + NOD32)
73W (idle w2k)

Hello everyone, I'm new to this forum. I also love quiet PCs, so here is mine...

My system is running stable with:
CPU: Athlon 64 X2 (B) 4000+ 2.1 GHz (65W)
MB: ECS MCP61PM-HM
RAM: 2x1GB, 2x512MB PC2-5300 MB/sec 240 pin, DDR2 SDRAM
HDD: 320 GB SATA 3G (3.0 Gb/sec) 7200 rpm
PSU: PS-5032-2V1 Compaq Lite-On 300W
GFX: Gainward 7800GT 256MB PCI-Express
DVDRW: LG 16X DVD(+/-)R/RW 12X RAM (+/-)R DL LightScribe SATA
TV Tuner: Gigabyte GT-PTV-AF-RH

It's stable. Can play Half-Life 2, run 3Dmark06 w/o problems.

I've been running all this on my trusty Seasonic S12 430W

Core 2 Duo E6600 OCed to 3.2GHz
Asus P5W DH
4GB Corsair DDR2
ATI HD4870
Velociraptor 300GB
WD SE16 500GB
X-fi Fatality
Sata DVD Burner

surprised i didn't see this before...

300W PSUs are beefy actually

300W FSP Green 82% efficiency PSU (you can find the same PSU for sale right now in the marketplace)

Pentium D 940
MSI Neo-F P965 Rev 1
ECS 9600GT 512MB
M-Audio Audiophile 24/96
WD 250GB SATA
WD 160GB IDE
Benq DVD+/-RW IDE
3GB G-Skill DDR2 667mhz (2x1GB, 2x512MB)

I have a Hewlett Packard with a 300-watt Bestec PSU. It can run an AMD 125W CPU + Powercolor X1950 Pro + 2 "big iron" 3.5" hard disks, but it huffs & puffs whereas my Seasonic M12 500W runs the same rig silently.

to be honest, i think that the issue would be that the Bestec power supplies just die after about 3 years. no joke. i've gone through tons of them, because they simply don't last. i've also replaced a few for some friends.

they're just garbage. every single one.

I don't understand why so many user have AMD CPU , here.
Anyway I currently run my sytem with an Antec Earthwatt 430W

motherboard: gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6
gpu: msi zilent 8800 gt
cpu: e8400 (no overclock)
cpu fan: zalman 9500at
case : 3d gigabyte aurora 570, with three 120mm fan, and nice light blue effects
hdd: 1 samsung hd501lj (500gb sata2),
and one ide maxtor
2 DVD burner (I just need one, but my bragging rights required a second one)

So far everything seems to run nice (1 month of running).
I still plan to replace the psu by a more silent and powerful one.
When you spent so much cash for other stuff, it's a bit a pity to use a "vulgar" earthwatt .
But my quattro was making too much noise (high pitched) , so that's a temporary solution.

Antec Basiq 350w converted to fanless operation, active devices relocated

Athlon BE-2400 (45w), replaced Athlon 4200+ (65w), both run fine
MSI motherboard
XFX GeForce 7600GS fanless (runs 2 monitors)
GeForce 4MX440 fanless (runs 1 monitor)
Seagate Momentus 2.5" 120GB x2 in RAID1
SoundBlaster Live
Single 120mm fan (500-800 RPM typical), positive pressure, filtered
DVDRW drive

I have a friend who ran a P4 3.06 GHz and X800 XT AIW on a Dell OEM 250w PSU (ran 3dmark05 and got around 5400 marks).

Depending on your board and processor, you need a min of 350 watts to power up a machine and run it stable. I have a AMD QUAD 9950, Gigabyte 140 Watt board, Dual SATA 500 GIG HD Raided, 6 GIG of RAM, 2 SATA DVD/RW and I run a 575 Watt RAIDMAX PWS.

this 5 year old post isn't even old. I am on 300w, non-pfc for 16300 hours:

msi 6728 platinum (12x9.6)
cpu: p4 3400 mhz "e" model (103w)
4 sticks ddr (3gb)
7200rpm 80gb twinned (2)
dvd+rw and cd rom
pci nic, onboard nic
92 mm fan, 80mm fan, and psu fan
ati2600pro (601mhz agp with a pci-e power connector)
and web cam powered by psu (usb power)

it is indeed a crock of crap to think all the watts are needed from these double numbered hipocrates..its like a turbo vtec ya know? just write big numbers... people are stupid. PFC is about the best upgrade going and correctly sizing the watts needed...and even then, a ups external to a regular proven "classic" is a time proven written winner...

Whats you point?
The parts you mention doesn't use anywhere near 350W.
Try measuring how much you machine actually uses.

Cool write up that many people will find useful!

Perfection. Thanks to all the contributors, I'm going to save a lot of money buying a 300-450w psu. I've learned a lot just reading the articles and forums for a few days. I just wished more people updated the forums and articles, most of them are from 07 and earlier...

Hello everyone!I bought for Christmas a Seasonic S12-330W power supply and I want to upgrade my whole computer this summer.I want to do some OC from 1.8ghz to 3.0 and also slap in a Geforce 9600GT.

Can it handle it well?

looking at my old post makes me sad...some power flux or update made the 9600GT really hungry, and i blew the +12v on my FSP...the coil fried, bumped up to 400W by Corsair.

still surprised a little though, my setup ran for almost a month before the power supply tanked.

E6750 @ stock speeds
MSI P45 Neo
6gb DDR2 (667/800 running at 667)
ECS 9600GT
M-Audio Delta 2496
HL DVD-RAM/RW

had no problems, then this past sunday night it tanked on me, quickly too. thanks to newegg however, for getting the corsair at my doorstep by 3:30 tuesday afternoon.

I am surprised though, the 300W seemed to be stressed a little after the upgrade, running louder than it had been...system is nearly dead quite with the corsair 400w...i wanted the VX420 i think it was, but no one had it...as much as i wanted modular, i couldn't justify the price, so i just stuffed all the cables above the optical drive.