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Are you sure?

Using this website - http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supp ly_Calculator.php?cmd=INTEL - it says your system needs a minimum of 302 watts peak - tho I had to make assumptions about 2 bits in your computer - I chose the Prescott 533 FSB processor and 2 sticks of DDR RAM. Of course, 302 watts is only peak - i.e. if you're really trashing your computer playing graphics heavy games. But even idle and using a 220w PSU? Hmm. Do you get random crashes?

I've got a computer system with the following hardware:

Slot 1 P3 666MHz 133MHz FSB processor
1 x 256mb PC133 memory
1 x PCI network card
1 x Geforce MX4000 graphics card
No hard drive
No optical drive
Floppy drive (only used at bootup)
1 CPU fan

And that's it. And the 240w PSU the above hardware is connected to can't cope! Put on a 350w Enermax PSU I had kicking around gathering dust and no problem. Tho I suspect the PSU is faulty, tho it coped with an Mini-ITX board, with 512mb DDR RAM, 3 fans, 200GB 7200rpm hard drive and 2 x DVB cards that was living in there before without any problems. Oh well, this power supply game is a most annoying one!

Based on the limited information in your post, your computer would peak ~300W

this site should help you out http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Use this to calculate the power requirements of your setup.

Who said you were the target audience for this product? I am sure if you want to buy one enermax won't say, nah you're goofy for spending money on this everyone knows that a 250 watt compusa generic brand works for just as good

Does it? I totally can not agree. I don't have anything resembling a gamer machine, just a simple asus a7v333 with amd 2800xp, pair of drives, a few cards, and ati 9600 video. That 250watt compusa generic powersupply does NOT cut the mustard. It looks like it works but I've established that most of my intermitent problems were a result of a lame power supply. My biostar motherboard (VIP) wouldn't even post with a generic 250watt compusa generic powersupply. Hell it rejected a 400watt PS.

250watts at 70% efficency, assuming that's even accurate is 175watts.

Below are generic numbers based on what I aproximate what my consumption is.

CPU--- about 70 watts [2ghz P-IV or high end AMD K7)
Video card about 40 watts [Geforce FX 5200 or ATI 9600)
Drives about 25 watts each [CD-rom spinup is typicaly about 30 watts]
PCI cards about 5 watts each
Memory about 10 watts each
Fans about 2 watts each.

Even with just one hard drive I'm so close to 175 watts it's not even funny. Two drives and Rom spin up.. I'm over 175watts without a doubt. While I'm sure the 250 watt generic compusa P/S might work in cases that have a modest video card, one drive, and modest power consuming CPU it's easy to see you might need more than that compusa 250watt PS.

This is not taking into account max power per voltage line, which the 3.3v in older power supplies might be limited to 14A (46.2watt).

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supp ly_Calculator.php?cmd=INTEL
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supp ly_Calculator.php?cmd=AMD

Check for your self what you have and what PS is reccomended.

I agree 1KW is double or tripple what even a hard core gamer would need.... and is probally not money well spent, but neither is that 250watt compusa power supply. A fool and their money are soon parted.

Who said you were the target audience for this product? I am sure if you want to buy one enermax won't say, nah you're goofy for spending money on this everyone knows that a 250 watt compusa generic brand works for just as good

Does it? I totally can not agree. I don't have anything resembling a gamer machine, just a simple asus a7v333 with amd 2800xp, pair of drives, a few cards, and ati 9600 video. That 250watt compusa generic powersupply does NOT cut the mustard. It looks like it works but I've established that most of my intermitent problems were a result of a lame power supply. My biostar motherboard (VIP) wouldn't even post with a generic 250watt compusa generic powersupply. Hell it rejected a 400watt PS.

250watts at 70% efficency, assuming that's even accurate is 175watts.

Below are generic numbers based on what I aproximate what my consumption is.

CPU--- about 70 watts [2ghz P-IV or high end AMD K7)
Video card about 40 watts [Geforce FX 5200 or ATI 9600)
Drives about 25 watts each [CD-rom spinup is typicaly about 30 watts]
PCI cards about 5 watts each
Memory about 10 watts each
Fans about 2 watts each.

Even with just one hard drive I'm so close to 175 watts it's not even funny. Two drives and Rom spin up.. I'm over 175watts without a doubt. While I'm sure the 250 watt generic compusa P/S might work in cases that have a modest video card, one drive, and modest power consuming CPU it's easy to see you might need more than that compusa 250watt PS.

This is not taking into account max power per voltage line, which the 3.3v in older power supplies might be limited to 14A (46.2watt).

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supp ly_Calculator.php?cmd=INTEL
http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supp ly_Calculator.php?cmd=AMD

Check for your self what you have and what PS is reccomended.

I agree 1KW is double or tripple what even a hard core gamer would need.... and is probally not money well spent, but neither is that 250watt compusa power supply. A fool and their money are soon parted.

Before you spend your hard-eanred cash on such fancy item, be sure to go to http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/ and calculate your PSU requirements, which will likely inform you that, unless you're in the exceptionally rare minority, far less expensive PSUs with less wattage will more than suffice.

You must be out of touch if you think the vast majority of people use that much power all the time.

PSU Needs Calculator

Using this calculator, a sample system I just made up only needed 319 watts of peak power. To get that, I needed to be running the 3gig barton chip, 2 sticks of ram, 2 hard drives, a Radeon X800, sound, NIC, with 3 fans fullblast and 2 cathode tubes, and a dvd player. Keep in mind that's PEAK power required, which means all of that has to be going top speed to get there, which means something along the lines of running 3D mark while copying a dvd from one drive to the other while playing sound while downloading a file over the internet while having all your fans and lights cranked up.

Hate to break it to you, bud, but just cause you have it doesn't mean you are using it.

As for computers, unfortunately I think the best solution is to always buy newer ones, but it costs energy to make them, so this isn't perfect. Newer computers do seem to use less energy as long as you're not pushing them to extreme clock speeds.

Here is one test. I need at least 360w myself, but I have an Antec Truepower 430. I really like how it it auto adjusts the fan speeds according to the heat in the case. Makes for a very quiet case even with 4 80mm fans in addition to what's in the PWS.

I read a couple of posts about 350w PSUs blowing capacitors and taking out motherboards, CPUs, etc and that was enough for me. Like I said, I took this PSU test and ended up feeling that my unit was a stick of dynamite with a hissing fuse.

Here's the link to the site I used: PSU Wattage Calculator

With only 1/2 the USB devices I've got plugged in the requirement is over 400 watts, and I was using a 350w PSU (granted, that was before I stuck in the 6800GT which uses a heap)

OR

You can buy a CUSTOM built computer, get the same hardware and better support, and pay signifigitly less for it.

Alienware is so over rated its sick.

For example: JS Custom PCs will normally be anywhere between $300 and $600 cheaper for the same hardware (with os) than Alienware...

Your computer, under max load, still most likely hits the two to three lightbulb mark. 2x60W bulbs is probably average for "idle" and 3x70W is a reasonable guess for high load for most people.

Try this out: Power Supply Wattage Calculator

This particular estimator guesses high, because they are trying to sell you PSU. Even with that in mind you have to be running a 2700+ AMD with a mid-high to high graphics card in 3D mode while copying a CD from one drive and burning it to another while using your network card with two sticks of ram before you hit 4 70W lightbulbs. That's a pretty solid max load.

As for the other ecology concerns, the computer industry in general needs to be far better about that, but giving people a quality built computer that meets their needs for a couple years is a step in the right direction. More Dells end up in the landfill than custom built quality jobs, I'd bet.

Slight complaint though, your average off the shell probably does NOT have three to seven fans, unless you are including the PSU fans themselves. Average case probably has one CPU fan and one exhaust fan. Every Dell I've owned takes advantage of ducting though, which is kinda cool of them.

You can get a gaming laptop that's of equal or better quality at JS Custom PCs for less money. You get a 3-year warranty in some cases. You get the no-dead-pixel guarantee. JS Custom PCs was actually ranking higher on Google searches for custom gaming laptops until Alienware bought a higher rank.

Why would you pay $500 more for a laptop to get a little green guy or a threatening-looking face sticker? You can get a damn good laptop from the place I mentioned and stick your own threatening-looking sticker on it for $2. *shakes head in disbelief*

Look here for the already-configured laptops. You can click on the "customize" link and trick it out even more.

It's a shame to see a great company like this go unnoticed. I love my JS systems and recommend them to everyone.

You can get a gaming laptop that's of equal or better quality at JS Custom PCs for less money. You get a 3-year warranty in some cases. You get the no-dead-pixel guarantee. JS Custom PCs was actually ranking higher on Google searches for custom gaming laptops until Alienware bought a higher rank.

Why would you pay $500 more for a laptop to get a little green guy or a threatening-looking face sticker? You can get a damn good laptop from the place I mentioned and stick your own threatening-looking sticker on it for $2. *shakes head in disbelief*

Look here for the already-configured laptops. You can click on the "customize" link and trick it out even more.

It's a shame to see a great company like this go unnoticed. I love my JS systems and recommend them to everyone.