180W power supply!?

[Raziaar]

OKay I realized after taking my computer apart, dusting it all out completely... that I have an 180W power supply in there.

When I got this computer, it had somewhere around a 300W I believe. However, that broke down and I had to salvage for an old one. I thought it said 300W on it, but apparently all this time it was 180W.

How is it that i'd of been able to run the computer for over a year without any problems for the most part? I thought with the video card I have(radeon 9800 pro 128mb), and the other specifications it wouldn't really be able to power everything.

Crazy.

Now I just need to scrounge up enough money to get a better PSU. Any reccomendations? Something hopefully not too much more expensive than 50 bucks? Is it possible to get a nice 500W power supply for around that range?

 

[Cole]

I'd definently go for a power supply aorund $75+ if you want a good Power Supply for 500 watts. Get a good one with good rails so you wont have to worry about replacing it.

 

[Raziaar]

Rails? What do you mean, rails?

 

[Asus]

Power supplies take the wall power and step it down. The power supply ends up supplying power to the PC at +3.3Volts, +5Volts and +12Volts (3 rails).
The more Amps on these rails the more it can power obviously. Most components depend on power from the +12Volt rail. I don't know what you have in your PC or if you plan to upgrade in the near future but I'd look at the sticker on the side of the power supply and make sure it has at least 20-24Amps on the +12volt rail (if you get a new one).

Do you have a small form factor PC or tower PC? Is it a brandname PC? I've seen a number of small form factor PCs with Power supplies with only 150-200Watts. For some reason they generally don't have as many Watts as tower PCs. Probably because there are less components inside or on the motherboard.

 

[JoeCLawrence]

My Radeon 9800 used to act up with a power supply much better (~280W). It used to crash in system intensive games fairly often. Of course this is before my dad managed to break the card(which we replaced with a Geforece 6600). And of course because of the retarded case of our Sony PC, a better power supply can't fit in the case. Right now we have our PC on its side with the power supply hanging out. It looks ridiculous but it works.

 

[Barney Fife]

Most brand name PCs come with mini ATX MBs with a locked-up BIOS, which don't really need much power. This is why most PC manufactured over-look and undercut PSU.
The most people add to PC is V-card, S-Card and maybe additional (Value select) memory sticks and a Hdd, which don't consume much power unlike higher end full ATX MBs. These higher end baords demand better bigger PSU, the ones that supply enough amps in a steady smooth fashion.

So yeah I can imagine these manufacturers sneaking a mini board and a 300w PSU into their $2000.00 so called gaming PCs.

Right now we have our PC on its side with the power supply hanging out. It looks ridiculous but it works.

Fikin lol. I know a guy who does exactly the same.

 

[Raziaar]

My PC is custom built back in september 2003. It's no brand name. I bought all the parts from various online stores... and built it myself. It's a tower case.

 

[Asus]

Pics of sticker on the PSU! plz :bounce:

 

[Barney Fife]

My PC is custom built back in september 2003. It's no brand name. I bought all the parts from various online stores... and built it myself. It's a tower case.

Oh! OK. Please never mind to what I said.

But the fact stands that brand named PC and their manufacturers suck, and rip people off with an inferior, way too overpriced, so called products.

 

[Raziaar]

Pics of sticker on the PSU! plz :bounce:

I'll get you some pics when I have access to my camera again. I'm not at home. Won't be until some time next week.