Should I get a case with a power supply or buy them separately? What should I look for in a power supply Will the mobo and/or other computer parts I buy say in the manual what is best?
And finally hard drives - I've heard Western Digital and Seagate are good quality. However my last HD was a WD and it bit the dust recently, thought that may be Windows' fault. My motherboard will be an ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe (SATA) and I will be using an AMD Athlon 64 X2 processor if that helps. This will hopefully be my last questions about computers for a little while. Thanks to everyone who has been putting up with my incessant questions about computers.
2006-07-21 11:34:20 · 5 answers · asked by xicanaocelotl 2 in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
The main difference between power supplys is the Watt rating. Just make sure that you get at least a 400W power supply. The more watts, the better. They are relatively inexpensive so don't worry about getting ripped off. It would be a good idea to buy a case with a power supply in it because it is one less thing that you have to mess with.
SATA is a high performance hard drive interface with the motherboard. For normal computer usage, I would just get a normal EIDE drive. Seagate and WD are both good companies. Unless you buy a brand that you never heard of, the drive should work for a very long time. With modern electronics, if you go to a good site like newegg.com or Fry's, it is unlikely that whatever you buy will be a lemon; crappy manufacturers don't last long in a competitive market. Personally, I would buy the Seagate just because they have won quite a few awards for their hard drives over the last year. Don't bother getting a SATA, they are tailored to high demand applications like 3D gaming and are much more expensive. It is also possible to run into driver problems because the technology is pretty new. Your board should have an ATA/xxx connection for a standard EIDE drive.
If you absolutely insist upon getting a SATA for gaming, CAD, etc. You can't beat a WD Raptor. Here are some prices:http://froogle.google.com/froogle?btnG=Search+Froogle&q=sata+raptor
Good Luck.
2006-07-21 11:50:27 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
yeah, i wouldnt use a generic power supply either...the voltages arnt stable and theyre usually overrated on the watts. if u ever plan on using a highpower video card u will definitely run into problems with a cheap supply to....there are different power connectors on supplys now also...u probably need the newer 24pin connector and any decent supply will have sata power connectors....they make adapters for regular power connectors to sata also if u need more....and alot of harddrives have both types of connector capability, but only use one or the other, dont use both at the same time or else....i have an ocz powerstream 520 power supply and it looks good and is the nicest supply i have ever owned...gamestream is another good one and enermax puts out a few good ones....dont worry about heat from them jeesh...how you handle heat in an aircooled settup is get a few 120mm fans and arrange them so u have more intake than exaust...this will coll everything great and keep the heat blowed out of the supply...you want lotsssss of airflow and fans are cheap. ...harddrives, i like wd raptors myself...dont get into a major brainhurting session about all the different gb/s #s'....its still pretty much all about seektime and rotational speed which pretty much means the mb and bus technology hasnt caught up with the drive capability yet....any high rpm sata drive with fast seek times will perform about the same in the real world.
2006-07-21 14:30:23 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Questions are the seeds of knowledge. I would say, with the build I see you doing here that I would get a separate power supply. I've just finished building a AMD Duel-Core computer for myself. I got a Cooler-master "Centurion 5" tool-less case w/o a power supply. I then got a "Vortec" 600 watt 37 amp power supply to run all of my "stuff". I still say stick with Western Digital SATA hard drives. If you got the bucks, check out WD's "Raptors" 10,000 RPM drives. The best out there as far as I know. Add 2GB RAM and that baby should be a screamer!
2006-07-21 14:23:56 · answer #3 · answered by mittalman53 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy the power supply and case separately. The power supplies included with cases are of inferior quality and usually burn out within a few months (based on others comments, not mine). But, I would buy it separately. That's a nice motherboard you got there, by the way. Keep in mind, that motherboard is going to run warm, as is your processor. My Athlon 64x2 runs at 45C and that's with water cooling, the motherboard got insanely hot and I had to put the optional fan on the cooling pipe (which is included).
Now, as far as power supplies that depends on your needs but if you are going to get two graphics cards then you'll want to get a SLi certified power supply. Get one at least in the 500W range but in your case (and mine) more is always better. Make sure that it provides at least 26A on the 12V rail, the others don't matter. Of course if you can get more Amps on the 12V rail, the better. I got 36A on the 12V with my power supply. Oh, you also have to make sure that the power supply you get has a SATA power connector (as standard HD power connectors are not compatible with them). Okay, that's all I can think of for now, if you want more help, feel free to contact me.
2006-07-21 12:01:37 · answer #4 · answered by conradj213 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Get a power supply.that is the very best quality. to get consistant voltages and filtering. It will cost more but in the ong run it is worth it.
remember tho that buying excess wattage is also heat. The higher power give off more heat which is a separate problem.
2006-07-21 12:43:52 · answer #5 · answered by Dick M 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋