Power supply question. Will it handle the load?

[RAR]

I have a Dell GX150 tower computer. It is a PIII 1GHz with 128 mb ram, cd-rom, floppy, internal ibm scsi dds2 tape drive, and a 20gb hard drive. I want to add 3 ibm Deskstar 120GB hard drives. Will the power supply handle it? On the power supply the only thing it says is "maximum continuous output power is 200W" and "total power on +3.3v & +5v is 135W max". The model on the ps is SA202-3556-825. Any help with this would be appreciated.

[Whir]

Oof, I think you'd be cutting it close. HD's don't eat much juice once they're spinning, but spin up does. If it's a normal size P/S, you could purchase a new 350W and you'd probably be safe.

BTW, where in Michigan are you?

-Whir

[Brainchild]

Well I couldn't find any info on the Intel site concerning power supplies. AMD has a hungry processor, and recommends PSUs, Intel doesn't, so I'm assuming that they are not that way. As comparison, I am running an AMD 750, CD-RW,CD-ROM,2USB Devices,2 WD HDDs,2Soundcards,AGP Video,2 Case Fans, and the CPU Fan on a Generic 250 watt PSU. AMD recommends 300 watt.
I would try it myself,

[storm2k]

definately reccomend a new power supply.. with all those drives i'd say at least 350W, suggest an entermax or such.

[RAR]

What's the worse that could happen if I tried using the existing power supply. Could I do damage to any of the hardware?

Whir - I live in Waterford and work in Dearborn. Where is Kingsford?

[MegalosSkylaki]

Your sticker is quite ambiguous to say the least. Power output can be calulated by multiplying the volatge times ampereage, hence 5v~ 10A =50 W.

However, do to sharing, the DOOG Output Ratio (DOR) states that combined 3.3v + 5v = 2/3 total output on these two rails.

E.g. 3.3v~12A=40 W; 5v ~20A =100W; combined equals 2/3 or 0.65 x 40 +100=90 W combined aprox.

However, the PSU maysimply be giving the two rails at sum of individual max, hence the 135 W which is not "combined" and doesn't say so.

In view of that the combined 3.3v + 5v is an issue on a AMD CPU and not as important on a P3 , which is as fussy. I would suspect that is precisely the case.

Generally the three rails 3.3v, 5v, and 12v make up abou 90--95% of total power supply.

So 0.95 x 200W = 190W minus 135W =55W.

Hence, 12v X ? =55W, and 12v = 4 -5 A. Not much. Even if you assume that this is only 2/3 of the rail's output, that is still about 7A.

Check to see if Dell uses a special size PSU on this model; measure it.

You can get a decent PSU for $35 , including shipping. Go for it.
Check out the Enhance 350W at Newegg for about $37 with shipping; quite powerful. I saw a 350W Codegan dual fan for about $24 without shipping. I'll try to locate it again.

Remember an adequate PSU is a major factor in performance.

(Also look more carefully if anything got posted under some sticker.)

DOOOOG

[JimG]

What's the worse that could happen if I tried using the existing power supply. Could I do damage to any of the hardware?

Depends, most likely you're shortening the life of the hardware because it will run at a lower voltage so that all the devices have power. Worst case is dead hardware.
Also, overloading a power supply like that will lead to instabilities in Windows, HD corruption, and other fun problems. Better to get a new PS.

Hey storm, what's an entermax??? I think you mean Enermax.

If you're giong to get a new power supply, get an Enermax, Antec, or other quality PS.

[RamonGTP]

Well, i'm not sure how computer components compare to car amplifiers... But I do know that if you don't have enough juice going to a car amp, it actually heats up more, and quicker... In some cases, it can even go up in smoke.

-Ramon

[Whir]

Enermax is good stuff.

Kingsford is right next to Iron Mountain. U.P. Actually, Kingsford is all around Iron Mountain and it's got more people. Kinda funny.

-Whir