how do i know if i need an outside power supply? i am going to be running a geforce video card with 2 monitors, 4gb ram, and pentium core 2 duo 6850... the one listed above looks solid for the price... this may be a dumb question, but do you turn off your computer each day? or just turn off the monitors?
http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html http://educations.newegg.com/tool/psucalc/index.html that PSU above should be enough, but if not-there is more of 80 PLUS Certified http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371007 i, personally, turn off all computers by the end of the day.in case of a vacation i would even unplug everything, router/modem included.
Actually, the Antec Earthwatts EA380 power supply is "ok". It comes with two +12v rails. But remember, you just can't look at how many watts a power supply unit puts out. You have to look a lot further, and into the amps that each one of the 3 rails ( the +12v, +3.3v, and +5v ) of the PSU are putting out. The Antec 380 that was recommended by the previous poster has the following rated rails: +12V: 17A +3.3V: 20A +5V: 20A Believe it or not, the stock PSU on a Dell 400 Vostro that is a 300 watt PSU has the following rated rails: +12v: 18A +3.3V: 17A +5V: 22A As you can see, the 300 watt PSU from a Dell computer is actually a bit stronger rated than that of the Antec 380 watt. Again, you can't just look at the total power number. If you need 20A on the +12V rails and the supply only has 15A, it doesn't matter how many watts the supply puts out! Note: Dell has always been rather "conservative" in the rating of its PSU's. Some manufacturer's will claim double or more power than what is actually provided. Also, it is most important to see how a PSU responds to various loads. How does it respond at a 25% load, a 50% load, or a 100% load? Be careful in choosing this component. It is not very glamorous, but it is critical to the health and happiness of your entire system! My feeling is that a good PSU has to have a "beefy" +12V rail. The +12V rail is by far, the most important power output since it has the lion's share of the wattage, usually accounting for 75% o rmore of the power output of the PSU. The +12V rail is used by pretty much everything. From the microprocessor ( which has a dedicated 12 volt input on the motherboard ) to video cards ( of which many also have dedicated 12 volt inputs ) to the case fans. The +5 and +3.3 rails support your drives and hard drives. The Bottomline: You get what you pay for. Do your homework. Either that, or go see my folks at PC Power & Cooling and pay $99.00 for the "Silencer 470" Here is a basic article on PSU's: http://www.pugetsystems.com/articles.php?id=34 Hope this helps!
Here is a very solid power supply that I can recommend by the good folks at PC Power & Cooling down in Carlsbad, California that you can buy on New Egg for only $74.99 It is the "Silencer 470" in standard ATX-12V design: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703011 http://www.pcpower.com/power-supply/silencer-470-dell.html Has a very substantial 12V rail at 26 amps, +5V at 32 amps, and +3.3V at 28 amps! NOTE: Notice that this power supply unit is 5.7 lbs. vs the Antec E500 "earthwatts" at 3.48 lbs. You can usually tell the quality of a PSU by how much it weighs. The PC Power & Cooling "Silencer-470" weighs OVER 2 POUNDS MORE THAN THE ANTEC UNIT!
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ok I wouldn't use AVG, AntiVir, ZoneAlarm - broker problems and absolutely not Norton or McAfee new boy on the block is PCTools - free versions av and fw: http://www.pctools.com/ see also Outpost Pro which has a firewall suite of products: http://www.agnitum.com/products/ router recommended pre-screen email - pay and free: http://www.mailwasher.net/
Do you still use a router if you are connecting through an ethernet cable? I guess you still want to run from a modem to a router to your pc to go through the modem's firewall? Is this correct thinking? Also do you run your cable through this below for spikes? http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=383091