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Thread ID: 145926 2018-03-05 05:37:00 What size power supply do I need Digby (677) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1447015 2018-03-05 05:37:00 I like my desktop set up
Its not for gaming. Just a average graphics card
But I now have 4 hard drives and I'd like to get a new Power Supply as my present one is a little noisy.
And I think it works hard especially in the summer
What wattage do you think I would need
Digby (677)
1447016 2018-03-05 09:26:00 Put your specs in here outervision.com

It's maybe not perfect, but it's not a bad guide.


my 2c
300W-400W average desktops
450-550W most gaming machines
650W-750W & up high end or multi card gaming rigs or mining rigs

Most people overdo the PSU and that's fine, does not hurt to have a safety margin . I think the quality is more important than an extra 100W of capacity though, a nice 350W gold rated PSU of a decent brand is better than a cheapo 450W - by potentially a huge amount.
dugimodo (138)
1447017 2018-03-05 09:30:00 I like my desktop set up
Its not for gaming. Just a average graphics card
But I now have 4 hard drives and I'd like to get a new Power Supply as my present one is a little noisy.
And I think it works hard especially in the summer
What wattage do you think I would need
Digby (677)
1447018 2018-03-05 17:51:00 I've always been of the school that more power is better . . . . . but maybe not, as I found out a bunch of years ago .

I had (still have*, really) what you might call a 'marginally capable' PSU once that was getting noisy - but the noise wasn't the PSU trying to make electricity - it was the fan having a hissy fit .

I replaced the fan with a double stack of muffin fans and never had a lick of trouble with that PSU ever again . . . . and I really pushed it pretty hard with multiple striped HDDs and big SoundBlasters (duals of them) and generally making life miserable for the PSU .

I do not believe that making lower voltages of electricity is a noisy job - look unto the cooling fan, methinks .

* I am very parsimonious concerning spending money to upgrade when what I have works well enough . This is a given more than likely amongst youse prehensilly equipped guys in Upsidedown Land .
SurferJoe46 (51)
1447019 2018-03-05 19:16:00 [QUOTE=Digby;1273916 Just a average graphics card
But I now have 4 hard drives and I'd like to get a new Power Supply as my present one is a little noisy.
[/QUOTE]

There are PSU calculators on the net...to be accurate yu could feed in your specifics and see what it says. Then round it up a bit.
500w is probably fine
piroska (17583)
1447020 2018-03-05 20:36:00 You should ask someone to merge the threads, I answered the other one.

As surfer Joe mentioned on the other thread, it may just be a noisy fan and you could replace it.
dugimodo (138)
1447021 2018-03-06 01:37:00 I've never had a noisy PSU fan, but I've certainly had a rowdy CPU fan. It was trouble, and at times would fail to spin at all. If it was noisy it was unable to spin at speed, so still wasn't really doing the job.

Check out the fan on your GPU card. It's likely laden with dust and potentially off balance.
Paul.Cov (425)
1447022 2018-03-06 03:10:00 You may be right, it might not be the PSU making the noise but I have had a Noisy CPU fan on an otherwise nice silverstone PSU. When I googled it I was not the only one.
I cut a 3 pin to molex fan adapter in half and soldered it onto the old fan cable in the PSU so I could plug a regular case fan in, did the trick.

You need to be careful about bearing types if you want a long term fix though, I think it's the sleeve bearings common in many case fans that don't last well when installed horizontally like in most PSUs.
dugimodo (138)
1447023 2018-03-06 16:16:00 Yes talking about noisy fans.
My desktop has always made sort of up and down fan noises.
One minute it is fairly quiet, then there is a sort soft grinding noise, then it goes quiet again.
Its never got any worse over 4 years, so I hvae not worried.
But how to find out which fan it is. CPU, PSU or case?
Digby (677)
1447024 2018-03-06 18:26:00 Stop each fan briefly one fan at a time and see if the noise stops. CliveM (6007)
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