Should I use a 300W for a Duron 700?

[CornMaster]

I have a fairly unstable system and I'm wondering if it's the power supply. I've replaced a lot of the other parts (RAM, for example, really helped the stability)

But the reason I ask power supply is because I've got other power supply problems.....like it's always feeding power to the system. Even when it's off (Mouse light and light on my hub are always on)

And since I want a new one.....would 300W help the stability?? Or is it just overkill??

[cabal]

It may or may not help the stability problems but I would definitly recomend it. Especially if you are having random reboots and freezes.

[CornMaster]

By stability problems I mean blue screens and lockups.

[MacGyver]

Originally posted by CornMaster:
other power supply problems.....like it's always feeding power to the system. Even when it's off (Mouse light and light on my hub are always on)

That's perfectly normal behaviour if you are using ATX power supplies. Power is always being fed into the powersupply and motherboard, for things like Wake-on-LAN (WOL). This is part of the ATX spec and is nothing to worry about. PC workstations at work have NIC link lights on all the time. If a computer has been shut off and the link light goes out, I wonder what's gone wrong this time!

[*BSOD*]

It depends on how many things you have in the computer. EX: Mine has CDBurner,CdRom,2 Hdds, 2Cooling fans and Cpu fan. I use 300 Watt. No Probs. If you have only one Hdd, cd,and fan prob not. I believe the Duron is ok without the 300 but it never hurts to have just in case you decide to upgrade later.

[CobraTekMax]

It's always a good idea to use a 300W PS with any Athlon based chip, and maybe even bump it up to 350 if you've got the cash.

[AlienDyne]

I'd get a 300W one.

[Larommi]

Originally posted by AlienDyne:
I'd get a 300W one.

Well no sense in posting here. Seems that I once again will agree with the other posters in this thread. So I will not be posting an answer here. Just ignore this it is not here. But if it were I would say 300watt but you didnt hear it from me because I am not here!

[Antimatter]

As long as the power supply is rated for 130W or more on 5V+3.3V it should be fine(160W gives you a good safety margin). I've had problems with 300W power supplies that have less than 15A on 3.3V. I'm using an Enermax 276W with Duron 700@933.

If you're looking at upgrading to a 1GHz+ in the near future go for a 330W or more(180W+ on 3.3V+5V).

As for the stability problem. What P/S and Mobo are you currently using? Does it crash randomly or in particular apps? Another thing likely to affect stabilty is CPU temperature. I've found that in general Durons start to lose stability above 53-55C.

[Kymera]

I'd agree with AntiMatter on this one. Check your CPU temp. Also, it's not the amount of power, but the quality of power being supplied. Most power supplies are pretty much equal in that regard, but if you have a crappy supply . . . that could exacerbate an existing problem.

Are you overclocking?

[CornMaster]

Ok....
I have a CD-RW, CD-ROM, 30 GB hard drive, 6 GB hard drive, 32 MB TNT 2 Video Card, Onboard sound and NIC, 56k modem. I also have a UPS which the system is plugged into, (We get a lot of drop-offs in our area and those damn .5 seconds outages. Just enough to restart the computer. That's why I got the UPS) The current power supply is 250W. I'm not overclocking and I'll check the temp when I get home, (Didn't think of that one). Although I know my system can get hot, I've never checked the temp.

The Motherboard is an Amptron K7-805LR, I think. Hope this is enough info. I'm not home so.....I'll check it again tonight.

Thanks guys/gals!!

Edit: Are there any programs that measure computer temp in Windows??

[Antimatter]

If you go into the hardware monitor section in bios it should show CPU temperature there. There may also be a monitoring program for windows on the Mobo CD.

Another thing is to check you have recent VIA 4-in-1 drivers installed.

Check here for cooling ideas as well. [URL=http://www.tweak3d.net/tweak/airflowtweak/]

hmmmm...Those Amptron Mobo names look suspiciously like PC-Chips Mobo names...

[BarnesConsult]

I read somewhere else that the Amptron boards are the same as PCChips boards.
Unfortunately, they are not very stable. I had one a long time ago, along with a Cyrix CPU. Talk about heat problems!!! It wasn't very stable. You might think about getting a different board.

[Joker1]

I know for a fact the tnt will put out a good amount of heat.

[[email protected]]

BarnesConsult is absolutely right, Amptron, PCChios, Alton, are all the same boards masquerading as other brands. Before I knocked myself out working on a stabilityn problem with that board, I would replace it. Then see if the problem still exists.