Computer Hope

Hardware => Hardware => Topic started by: I Shooter on June 28, 2008, 07:34:49 PM

Title: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: I Shooter on June 28, 2008, 07:34:49 PM
I am in the getting all the stuff together for a Media center PC. The case I picked out has a 400 watt psu. I think that is to small. I have calculated that I will need 500 watts so I plan to buy a 600 watt psu. Here is what I came up with.

Motherboard              Intel DG33TLM                                                75 
Processor                   Intel core 2 Quad Q6600                              105
Memory                      Corsar DDR2 4GB                                            60
Hard drive                  2 500 GB hard drives                                      60
Optical drive               Sony                                                               35
Integrated Video                                                                              15           
Video card                                                                                       100
PCI card                       Internet card                                                 15
PCI E card                    TV card                                                          25
USB                              Mouse & keyboard                                          5             
Fans                                                                                                    5

total                                                                                                500

I think I will have to go with the 600 watts. Any thoughts?
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: squall_01 on June 28, 2008, 07:51:49 PM
Thanks for some help.  Ummm I would go with like a 450 or something 600 sounds a little high.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: I Shooter on June 28, 2008, 09:00:20 PM
I thought that you always needed to go over what was calculated. Did I make a mistake in what I calculated? If so where? May be I only need 550 watts. I am new at this. I just don't wont to under power the system.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: Calum on June 29, 2008, 04:39:49 AM
You may as well grab a 600W, that leaves ample room for expansion in future.
You can never have too much power, just buy a good brand or it'll be worthless.
I would also never personally go with a PSU included with a case unless it has great reviews, I prefer to pick my own.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: I Shooter on June 29, 2008, 08:46:51 PM
I was going to go with Antec case and PSU. I don't know *censored* I thought they made good stuff.  What would you recommend?
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: Calum on June 30, 2008, 03:57:02 AM
Have you got a link to the specific one?
Antec do make good cases and PSUs actually, if the power is ample I'd go for it.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: squall_01 on June 30, 2008, 04:34:39 AM
I just thought that it would be too much power an possibly overload the system.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: Calum on June 30, 2008, 04:36:26 AM
You can never have too much power squall.
The power supply can supply up to the stated amount in the best case scenario.
A high power rating means it can supply more power, it doesn't mean it supplies that all the time and overloads components.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: squall_01 on June 30, 2008, 04:46:35 AM
I thought it had.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: I Shooter on July 03, 2008, 09:19:57 PM
I will go with the 600. Thanks for your time.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: squall_01 on July 04, 2008, 04:42:26 AM
Good choice then, should give you enough power to aid in running other little goodies if you connect them.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: Calum on July 04, 2008, 05:57:37 AM
You're more than welcome.
If you have any more questions feel free to post back.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: I Shooter on July 07, 2008, 07:07:34 PM

I have ran into a problem. The case I am going to use, the Antec NSD1380 has only a 350 watt PSU. I thought I could replace it with a 600 watt PSU, no such luck. They don't make one for that unit. I have to use that case because of the space it has to fit in in the travel trailer. The shelf where I have to put it is only 15" deep and the NSD1380 is the only case I cold find that is only 13.2"deep. Most cases are between 15"to17". If I could find a wide short case that wold be great. I thought I could cut back on the watts *censored* I can't get it below the 350 watts. If I replace the CPU with a duel core I will save 40 watts, then only  use 2GB of memory I can save 30 more. Then if I use a smaller video card I am told that I could save as much as 70 watts. That gives me 360 watts on a 350 watt PSU. Do any of you know of a short wide case that has more power? Short of hacking the case up to make the PSU fit I don't know what to do.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: hejlik on July 07, 2008, 08:00:26 PM
Won't the 600 watt ps fit?
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: patio on July 08, 2008, 05:54:24 PM
Whose PSU's are you looking at ? ?
Have you checked a mini ATX PSU ? ?
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: I Shooter on July 08, 2008, 09:36:51 PM
The case is an Antec NSK 1380. It has a 350 watt PSU that is made just for that case. The case is a cube case or SFF if you like. It is made for MATX motherboards. I used this case to build my wife's computer. It is a nice case. It is the smallest case I could find that would fit where I have to place it. The only problem is that I can't find a 600 watt PSU to fit in the case with out cutting the case up. They say that the PSU is ATX, *censored* I can't find a 600watt unit to replace it. So the question was do you know of a short, 13" deep case that I could use that will take a 600 watt PSU?
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: patio on July 10, 2008, 11:36:39 AM
You're not listening.....Clik Here (http://www.directron.com/psu.html) and scroll down to where it explains the differences in size in the 3 types of PSU's....then you only need to decide on a manufacturer as most good ones make all 3 sizes.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: I Shooter on July 16, 2008, 07:50:06 PM
Patio, I did listen. Infact I picked up a Micro ATX and it didn't work. If I turned it up to where the fan and electrical adaptor came out the top I cold have used it. I will try and explain. The power supply in the case is 6"X6" and 3"deep. The 6X6 area holds the fan and it comes out the back. The power adaptor comes out the 3" side from a cord and attaches to the back of the case over the expansion slots. From the back of the power supply to the drive cage is only 1.5" so the PSU can't be any more than 3"deep or I couldn't hook up the drives or if it was more than 4.5" deep it will hit the drive bay. The only way the 400watt unit wold fit was if I turned it till the fan and electrical adaptor were turned till they came out the top of the case. There are a lot of PSU that are 6X6 and the fan is in that area but they don't have the electrical adaptor come out be side the fan in the 6X6 area. I hope I got that across this time. Any way I have taken the quad back and picked up a core 2 duo. That saved me 40 watts. The video card that I am using only uses 36 watts. I will only be using 2gigs of memory that saves me 30 more. I have been told that by changing out the motherboard and not using RAID I can get well under the 350watt limit of the power supply. Thank you for your time.
Title: Re: How much power is needed for a Media center PC?
Post by: patio on July 16, 2008, 08:10:21 PM
You're Welcome and Welcome Aboard !