Please Help with Power Supply.?

Question

If my Acer pc has a 300w Power Supply, does it mean all the hardware is rated at 300w?

If I buy a clone tower with mobo and CPU and a 500w Power Supply, can I use some hardware from my Acer?

Also, if I opt for a DDR3 mobo , gfx card and HDD... Can I still use DDR2 Hardware with DDR3?

Is DDR3 (gfx cards , HDD , and RAM) worth the xtra $$$?

If I was to build a new tower with DDR3, what is the minimum hardware I need to start gaming and i-net without spending BIG $$$?

I have lots of DDR2 hardware that would be a shame to waste.

PLEASE HELP WITH ADVICE.

Thank you heaps and heaps.

Answer 1

WHOA there Nellie! (Let me pull this horse over)

I'm going to answer each question in order.

1.NO. Your power supply is rated in Maximum wattage available. This is the maximum it will put out. Your computer only uses as many watts, as it needs. You could have a million watt power supply, but if the computer only needs 100 watts, that's all it will use.

You have a Maximum of 300 watts available. There is supposed to be at least a 10% allowance. That is, the hardware components inside your computer should only use 270 watts, with a 30 watt extra allowance.

(Not to throw a bunch of other info in to possibly confuse you, but...Typical power supply's from pre-built computer manufacturers, actually only have 60 to 70% of the rated maximum wattage stated. Your power supply is realistically more like 180 watts to 210 watts. The manufacturer that made the Psu, for the pre-built computer manufacturer, 'puffed' the rating up to sell it. It has been a typical thing, until lately. I'll bet your motherboard, processor, ram, harddrive, CD/DVD drive/s, etc., don't use but three-fourths of the power stated for the Psu.)

2.YES. You can reuse your CD/DVD drives again, your ram memory,

(If the new mobo uses DDR2, and at this ram's frequency speed you have.), your cpu heatsink/fan combo,

(Again, only if it is the same cpu socket style, and same type of cpu. Sorry that's generic, but your info is generic. If I knew what Acer model, and what mobo/cpu combo, I could give you an exact answer.)

Harddrive? Depends. (Here we go!)

If your new mobo only has 1 IDE,(Also called ATA or PATA), header, you need this for your CD/DVD drives. That is, if they are the IDE style, and I'm willing to bet they are.

The other headers on the mobo might be Sata. This is where you plug a Sata harddrive into. (More than one Sata header? This is typical with new mobo's. Some have 2, 4 or 6. This is to install Sata CD or DVD drives, or to install two or more Sata drives in a RAID configuration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAID

3.NO. Even if the mobo has places for DDR2 and DDR3 ram memory, you can only use one, or the other. Do you mean install DDR2 ram into a DDR3 ram slot? NO. DDR2 Sdram has 240 pins, DDR3 Sdram has 240 pins also, but the locating notch on the bottom of the DDR3 is in a different place. This is to keep users from installing it into a DDR2 slot. Reason is, that the voltage and signal pins on the bottom of the DDR3 Sdram stick, are in a different place, than a DDR2 Sdram stick.

If you mean a graphics card that has DDR3 graphics ram, Yes. A graphics card run's independent of the computer systems ram. A graphics card has it's own processor and ram. This is why a dedicated graphics card frees up the systems resources. (Compared to Integrated graphics soldered to the mobo, that 'eats' up some of the system resources)

4.Depends. Depends on what you wish to do with the computer.

Gamin'? You bet your bottom dollar it's worth it! Don't go less than a Nvidia GeForce 8800. I recommend the XFX GeForce 8800GTS Alpha Dog Edition. About $179 bucks. You won't be wanting for a better graphics card a month later with this. It has 128 Stream Processors, runs cooler than comparable ATI cards, and uses WAY less power. Plus you can overclock the heck out of it!

5.DDR3 Sdram is overrated, and WAY expensive! I can use DDR2 at 800MHz, and SMOKE sum DDR3! All I have to do is overclock, IF necessary. Hasn't been YET! lol!

If you can muddle your way through this stuff I typed, and don't fall asleep, you're doin' Good! Ha!

How about just clicking on my Chickster avatar, and email me the Acer model, your mobo/cpu combo that you're looking at, and all your questions.

Edit:

1.http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...

2.http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/...

(Games, are just now coming out for Quad Cores. There are a handful that use the full extent of a Quad Core, but the Quad is the future. It IS a multi-program/application processor, so if it is used for this, IT SMOKES!

Answer 2

Yes you can use a 500w PSU with your old gear but, you may not be able to use the 300w with newer gear. They went from a 20 to a 24 pin connector awhile back.

A DDR 3 system is not going to be cheap no matter what as most of the quality motherboards that use DDR 3 cost a pretty penny.

There is nothing wrong with a DDR 2 system. They are still very fast and DDR 2 memory is super cheap as are the motherboards that use it.

You can build a really nice gaming rig for around $700 without a monitor. Let me know if you need any tips on hardware by email.

Answer 3

First things first. The power supply is like a gas tank on a car, a hundred gallon tank versus a thirteen, has no bearing on the MPG.

\Likewise, the total power consumed by the computer has to be supplied by the power supply, so, usually if the power supply is rated more than what the computer is using, that would be a good thing. you can use a bigger power supply on anycomputer, it does not mean it uses more...

Most new motherboards use PCI slots, some older ones will have PCI and ASI combination. The issue with memory is that the physical layout and pin configuration has to be such that they line up

You can't put a round peg in a square hole.

Use all of your DDR2 hardware and be penny wise but not dollar foolish.

I hope this helps

Answer 4

First text the electrical supply by sticking your finger in the outlet

Answer 5

I can't answer all your questions, but the wattage is the total you PS gives out. The 300W is distributed between all you computers components, not 300W to each one.