please help me!

[novanick]

I am a novice at building computers.

So i need advice,i dont understand power supplies what one do i need? I have a seen 350watt 600watt which one will do?

I dont want to buy something then find a melted computer on my floor!

All help is appreicated.

Thanks

Nick

[Taxation]

it depends on what make the psu is,
i would say to stick to a well known brand, and look for reviews of that power supply

i went with hiper type R 580 W psu, because it is reliable, and i heard great things about it.

[Nox]

i went with hiper type R 580 W psu

Good choice. There are a good few psu threads allready on here, may be worth doing a quick search/browse, but in short - you get what you pay for. If you've spent 3k on the top end system, spend another £50 on the psu. If your system is worth say 1k, then spend around £50, but always get a good brand. Most decent manufacturers 350w psu's will power more than a cheap 600w psu, 600w being melting point (literally) and on a decent brand the 350w will probably shut down safely at 500w before the sparks!

So what components have you decided on so far? May help us point you in the direction (but Hiper are great value for money - just don't confuse em with hyper)

Nox

[novanick]

i was planning on getting:

Motherboard: https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spe ... ASU-A8R32M (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?ASU-A8R32M)
Case: https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/Spe ... TT-SDREAMS (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/SpecPage.html?TT-SDREAMS)
Processor : https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spe ... l?AMD-X242 (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?AMD-X242)
Fan : https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/Spe ... ZAL-7700CU (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/SpecPage.html?ZAL-7700CU)
PSU : https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/Spe ... l?TT-W0049 (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/SpecPage.html?TT-W0049)

Then a hardrive,memory,graphics card,sound card,and a media card reader.

I dont understand do i need a 680watt or a 350watt? What is the difference?

[novanick]

https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spe ... NEX-PSUS40 (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NEX-PSUS40)

I will probally get this one for those components or should i get this one?

https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spe ... NEX-PSUS35 (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NEX-PSUS35)

[Taxation]

get a hiper 530W and upgrade the cpu to a X2 4400

dont get those psu's, or get a the thermaltake psu

and whatever you do
DONT GET THIS SORT OF PSU
https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spe ... NOV-PSU550 (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-PSU550)

SHINY, BIG FANS, STAY CLEAR, STAY WITH BIG NAMES!!

[novanick]

I am not going to change the specs.

I also need a silent power supply,so a 400watt psu will do fine?

I just dont see why some are 350watt and some 680watt!

[Nox]

Nexus have good enough write ups, it will be fine unless you want some massively crazy gfx card!!! (in which case the 500w nexus will be fine, or the hiper type-r)

Nox

[novanick]

I am getting a 256mb pci-express card (novatech) so a 400watt psu will do fine?

[Nox]

I am getting a 256mb pci-express card (novatech) so a 400watt psu will do fine?

What model?

Nox

[novanick]

https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spe ... NOV-X5525+ (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-X5525+)
That model,

[Ben]

Try reading this guide (http://tomshardware.co.uk/2004/01/22/getting_the_right_power), it may help you understand a little more what you want out of a PSU.

Also try checking the Motherboard manual at the makers site. It will probably tell you that you need 400W minimum. When you start adding stuff such as Dual core processors, RAM,HDDs. 350W isn't going to go very far.

You may want to change your graphics card too, if your budget allows. You've gone for a high end motherboard and a lower end GFX card. Just because it has 256MB of RAM this doesn't always make the card better. Look at the GPU speed and timings. (I would try and show some examples, but the Novatech site seems to have gone down). :roll:

Hope this is some help.

[Nox]

The psu will be fine for that card, infact its almost too good! But read what Ben has written above - you've gone for a fairly high end system, and a budget gfx card. A system like that will be great for things such as word/email/internet etc ie what I would call work or office based tasks.

If you want to play games, I would certainly think about upping your choice in gfx cards though to somewhere atleast middle of the road, ie best bang for your money. But then again, I went for a 6600 (not even gt) originally as I could not afford a decent gfx card when I bought my system!

Nox

[Taxation]

i was also wondering about your choice in gfx card, but didnt want to say anything just incase the system wasnt for gaming, and seeing that you have one of the best 939 motherboards out there, i would also suggest getting a gfx upgrade, and seeing that you are getting a crossfire motherboard, why not get a card that wil let you do crossfire in the future ie. an X1800 256mb, around about the same performance as a 7900gt

[Nox]

cost could be a factor, often a big one, especially as around now i'd be tempted to bung in a cheep card and upgrade with DX10, being how close it is. (I was thinking about this!)

Nox

[Taxation]

get a 7600gt, or 1800gto, they are cheap and good :D

[novanick]

https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/spe ... x165pe&P=1 (https://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?nov-x165pe&P=1)

what about this card?

And so a 400watt psu will do the job?

Thanks

[Danno]

this card is a lot better choice. the 400w power supply should be fine with it.

[novanick]

what does the crossfire mean???

2 graphics cards????? What the ****!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I dont understand what the crossfire is and the two graphics cards.

[Taxation]

crossfire is made by ATI
sli is made by nvidia

they are the same

2 gfx cards connected together to give better performance

[novanick]

2 graphics cards????????????? (thinks Imagine the Possibilites)

How would i connect them?

Nick

[Taxation]

with SLI you connect them with a "sli bridge"
http://www.zive.cz/files/obrazky/2004/12/sli/fotky/asus_sli_bridge.jpg

and cross fire is set up slightly different
have a look at ATI's crossfire site
http://www.ati.com/technology/crossfire/index.html


what you have to remember about sli and crossfire is that
sli will only work on a sli mobo
crossfire will only work on crossfire mobo
sli can use 2 normal same core gpu's
cross fire needs a normal gpu and a master gpu

go onto http://www.nvidia.com and http://www.ati.com for more information

[Nox]

thats a big picture!!!! they aren't that size irl :)

Nox

[Taxation]

only pic that actually worked :o

[novanick]

so if i want to do gaming i need the crossfire?

Or would a single 512mb graphics card work?

[Danno]

so if i want to do gaming i need the crossfire?

Or would a single 512mb graphics card work?

you don't need two video cards for gaming. one 256mb or 512mb card would be fine. it all depends on how serious you are about playing games and how much money you have to spend.

[Nox]

one will be fine, then in a years time you may beable to pick up a cheap second hand one to speed things up a bit, if needed.

Nox