Hi,

k, Well.. below is a list of the components I plan to purchase. I was going to buy a Enermax 600w PSU, but then a couple of members recommended I go with the Antec Neopower 480w. Just so everyone knows. I am also looking forward to adding unlisted components to my custom PC. Like, for example... let's say I run 3 80mm fans, 1 120mm fan, 5 200 Harddrives, a DVD-R/RW drive, a card reader.. and maybe a few other things. Will the Neopwer 480 be able to handle all that?? If not, could someone please recommend a better PSU to me. Thanks for everything.

I plan to use my system to multitask, expample would be having iTunes loaded, Skype, MSN open, IRC open, have World of Warcraft loaded, and maybe other programs like WordPerfect on as well.. I just want my system to handle all of this at the least.

AMD 64

Aspire 96.99 7/1/05 = 90.00
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum. 139。99 + 7/26/05 = 126.99
AMD 64 3200 @ 2.0GHz 190.99 Venice Core!!
Lite-On CD-ROM/DVD/CD-R+RW 36.99 6/7/05 34.99 7/1/05 = 32.99
Sony Floppy Drive 8.99 6/7/05 9.50 7/1/01 = 10 7/26/05 = 11
ATI Radeon X800XL 299.89 or
ATI Radeon X800XL 265
Audigy 2 ZS 86.99 6/7/05 87.99 7/26/05 83.99
Maxtor 200 SATA 113 6/7/05 109 7/1/05 = 103.75 7/26/05 97.50
Patriot 225 6/7/05 = 187.50 7/1/05 = 168.75 7/26/05 159.99
Antec Neopower 114
LCD Monitor

Is price a concern for your PSU? If you are going to spend $114 on a Neopower PSU, you might as well get something better for the same amount or less. The Antec NeoPower is a good PSU, but for that much money there are better alternatives available.

You forgot about the video card. That will consume a good amount of juice let alone your other components!
$114 for a 480w psu???? Enermax has a 500w+ for that much money I think. Good choice choosing zipzoomfly.com. Love the free 2nd day shipping.



My suggested psu brands: Enermax, PC Power & Cooling, CoolerMaster. These are pretty good power supplies.



IMPORTANT: **Never go cheap (i.e. no-name brands) on power supplies. Power supplies are not created equal and some can hurt your components if the psu does not consistently provide proper juice for your components. If you are spending alot of money on pc components, it makes sense to get a nice, stable psu. Trust me, a brand name psu will last you quite some time.**

k...

Price is not a concern for me... Also, the listed products with links are things that I will start my system off with. I just want to know if the current PSU, Antec NeoPower 480w, Will be enough for any future upgrades.

Future Upgrade example: I add the following to what is alredy running, 3 80mm fans, 1 120mm fan, 4 200 Harddrives, a DVD-R/RW drive, a card reader.. and maybe a few other things. Will the Neopwer 480 be able to handle all the newly added components? ?? If not, could someone please recommend a better PSU to me. Also, when you recommend one. Please be specific. Thanks for everything..

I really like my OCZ 520w Modstream. I dont have the huge cable mess I had with my Enermax and it gives out plenty of juice. Looks darn cool too! I picked it up from xoxide.com when they had it in stock, but its also on Newegg.


http://www.xoxide.com/ocz-modstream-520w-modular-psu.html


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?...N82E16817104155


and dont worry, I thought it would be the ugly grey too, but it came in this piano black and has a very bright blue LED in it. Also the modular cables are UV reactive. I dont really pay attention to any of that stuff, but others on here seem to so I figured I would throw it out there.

enermax... better than antec? LOL. hell, antecs 430W psu can outperform that 500w. i say go with the neo power from antec. just dont always buy from zipzoomfly, compared prices between that and newegg.com and see which is worth buying especially for shipping costs. and the neo power has very good rails, so it should be able to handle a 7800gtx, just dont throw Sli at it, you will need a SLI rated psu.

Do you need a special connector for PCI-E? If not, or if the card comes with an adapter, I second the recommendation for OCZ. I don't have the modstream myself, but I have the 520W powerstream and it seems to be pretty solid running everything in my sig. It's not a huge hit on the wallet either. Only a bit more expensive than the one you linked to in the first post.

Couldn't find it on ZZF but here is a link to it on NewEgg.

ZZF has a nice little marketing ploy going on. I've seen prices that negate this but in several cases, they offer their *free* 2nd day shipping, but in reality what they did was tack the shipping price on to their sell price and say the shipping is free

well, ya we got that, but most products i compare on newegg to ZZF are only 2-4 $ more so its not that bad for 2nd shipping which is about 3 days from the time ur order it.

In my experience it takes ZZF an extra day or two to finally get credit card authorization all figured out. I usually get my ZZF stuff a day later than my newegg stuff if ordered on the same day. ZZF had good prices on cables and hard drives, so I use them primarily for that.

I like to suggest the Antec true power 550 watt. SLi approved can be had for 100.00 at newegg.

if price doesnt matter then i'm gonna have to suggest the best of the best... PC Power & Cooling. I have the 510 Express model. There's other's to choose from too. Great PSU!

If I order from newegg and ZZF on tues night/wed morning, Friday by lunch i will have both packages. everytime. Most of the time the prices on boh sites are within a $5 price range of each other after you factor in shipping. Plus you have to factor in ZZF stock certain things newegg doesnt, Like the DFI Infinity nForce 4 boards....i guess if newegg stocked them they wouldnt sell as many LanParty boards...

Anyway, as for the PSU, With your future improvement plans idk if i would stick with the neo 480. Good PSU, but You seem like the type that will jsut end up needing more than it can provide

With lilkev715 as our TRUE PSU guru, listening to him has made lots of ppl happy so you may want to take his advice and go with another PSU in that price range, or even spend a little more for a really nice PSU.

i would be alittle wary that a 480w PSU will be able to handle all the upgrades you are planning. have you done a wattage chart to compare your potential wattage use versus the rails provided by the psu? i know there is one on the net somewhere...

this is the first one that came up on google :
linkaroo

The components you have listed like the Hard Drives, Optical Drive, etc will use little power when running. For example, a typical 200 GB HD will use around 10 Watts, however, during system startup and initialization, the HDs will draw about 2 to 3 times as much for spin-up surge. The Optical Drives don't go through this stage, so their power demand is nominal at around 12 to 18 watts. DVD Burners while in write mode will demand up to 45 watts. The mobo will like at least 200 Watts for its Memory, CPU, Audio, VidCard and other components. Most Mobos have extra power headers to get extra power from the PowerSupply. A common auxiliary connector is the P4 Molex (not Pentium 4, but 4 pin molex) in the shape of a square (2 x 2 Pins). This connector on the Athlon Boards provides extra power to the CPU's voltage regulation circuit. Some mobos also include a secondary auxiliary connector called the EZ-Plug. This connector looks like the 4 pin power header on the back side of a CD-ROM/HD. This connector is not to be confused with some older motherboards that offered this type of connector for Power Supplies that didn't have the square Molex Power Plug for a mobo. The EZ-Plug provides additional power to the AGP/PCI-E BUS for VidCards that tend to draw more power than the mobo's bus can offer.
For an Athlon 64 3200+, 1 GB memory, x800 (less power demand than the 9800 series), 5 HDs, 4 Fans (depends if the fans are low or high RPM - higher drawing more power); a solid 450 watt. Avoid Generics, ie 500 Watt for $30. They are no way near their advertised power. As well as their voltage regulators are a joke. And when they burn out, they usually let the line current (120V) hammer through the system as they have no TripCups that break the failed circuit.

As to a Brand, there are several.
There are also different types.

For you with all your HardDrives, I would suggest a Dual-Rail Power Supply. A multi-rail PowerSupply refers to the number of 12 Volt rails it has to offer. The most common voltage used in your PC is +12volts DC. Your mobo will use it; almost all the fans running full out will use +12 vdc, your HardDrives, your Optical Drives, and several voltage regulators on your mobo. An electric motor is like a small generator and will actually, induce voltage fluctuations back into the 12 line it uses. Motors aren't sensitive to these little spikes. However, logic components, like those on your mobo will be sensitive. The more influx form these motors, the more likelihood of system failure, data flow corruption or even component failure can occur. So, Power Supplies with Dual or Multiple Rails refers to more than one 12 volt rail. One rail can feed your drives while the other is in the ATX Molex header and the Auxiliary line from it. That's why it's not good to connect fans to that auxiliary line designed for mobo connection support.

So, consider a Dual-Rail ( 2 x 12 volt rails) Power Supply in the 450 Watt min. range. As to a brand; PC Power Make Pretty much the best, but for a price. Antec make some very solid models, ie TrueControl 550. Enermax isn't bad as they have a good life span. Most +550 watt PS will get warm, but most have a variable fan switch to help with that. They'll run either hot and quiet or cool and a bit noisy.

Considering a PowerSupply in your computer like a good Power Bar for your Electronics. It's not just there to provide Power Taps for devices plugged into it, but clean power that will not harm your valuable components.

my vote is in for an OCZ or antec.