Necessary wattage/volts?

Orwell · Post by **Orwell** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 12:57 am

I was recently talking to someone about adding a couple 500 gb hdd's to a old computer of mine that has a 230V power supply, but they kept going on about how you really should have about 450-600 volts to run those kind of drives. Only 2 of them. Plus a 320 IDE. Is there any truth to this? I haven't installed or done much with the new discs yet, but it turned on just fine real quick. Should I consider upgrading it?

WC Annihilus · Post by **WC Annihilus** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 1:01 am

450-600V?!?!?!?! Methinks all your stuff would die =O Heh, I believe you mean watts. Anyways, there is absolutely no need for a 450-600W PSU to power that. You say it's an old computer? Should be fine on a 230W PSU. What make is the PSU? Rig specs?

It's actually amazing what can run on a quality 500W PSU...

Pwolf · Post by **Pwolf** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:07 am

Should be fine with just a 400-450w PSU. So long as you don't have a bunch of other peripherals and a high end video card.

Pwolf

TaranT · Post by **TaranT** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:30 am

Check the spec sheets; e.g. this WD 500GB drive is rated for 11 watts max. Even two should not be a problem unless your system is already marginal. Heat flow is another problem to look at.

Joe88 · Post by **Joe88** » Fri Jun 15, 2007 9:22 pm

yea HD hardly pull nothing
its the vid cards that draw most of the power

Orwell · Post by **Orwell** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 9:43 am

Is there a way to test if I'm over-drawing on the power supply?

Keeper of Hellfire · Post by **Keeper of Hellfire** » Sat Jun 16, 2007 3:39 pm

You'll know it if your PC crashes sporadicly.

Of course, you can measure it. Devices which you can plug into the socket aren't expensive. Since the efficiency of a PSU is under 100%, you are safe as long as the power consumption doesn't exceed the specs of the PSU.