Power Supply

[Mike wanna be 0]

I'm thinking my power supply needs upgrading.

 

It's a cheapo 350W from 3+ years ago, and there's 16A on the +12v line; I'm told this is absolute shit for a dual core processor.

 

The specs now are:

1 GB DDR2 RAM (I'm hoping to add another 1GB)

3 hard drives

CD-RW and DVD+-RW combo drive

Pentium D 3.4GHz processor

Radeon 9600 AGP

 

1) How much wattage do I need to run all this, including potential upgrades (I don't need like a HUGE buffer of wattage, but I'd like to be able to feel comfortable upgrading a drive or adding RAM without having to replace the PSU again)

2) How much amperage am I gunning for on each line (the 3.3v, the 5v and the 12v)? I've looked all over the damn place and I'm not getting definitive "This is good, this is ok, this is bad" numbers, just "Spend an assload on the top-of-the-line name brand PSU rather than getting something potentially twice as strong because it's cheaper". My calculations are saying I need at least 400W, and the top-model 400Ws seem to be at least twice, sometimes three times more expensive than a non-name branded PSU that's got 500+ watts.

[muzz 0]

I have an Antec Smartpower 450W which has served me well, having a lower range Core 2 Duo.