Will It Fit?

[Hamza]

lolz @ the cat-pizza.

Ok, terrific -- thanks everyone for your help! So final word, it sounds like the power unit will be enough then? Ya'll are also aware that I wrote I'm running *2* hard-drives in it, yes? B/c if one of those hard-drives fail, I'll lose epic amounts of work files.

If it makes any difference, I have a SeaSonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT 650W ATX12V V2.3 in my old case, but I didn't think it'd fit in the new case. I looked at the measurements --- did I measure wrong? Can I swap the
PSUs, if I even should?

 

[aspire]

That psu is probably a fair bit longer than the 380W Antec, If you'd like you could measure the length and see if there is room.

Seasonic makes some great power supplies, I have a 500W in my rig atm.

If you can fit it in there I don't see a reason not to.
Or you can test with the 380W and if it works fine like it should, sell the 650 and make a little money.

 

[ricanflow]

I dont see any reason to switch out psu's...oh and the earthwatts line is made by seasonic actually. Its not S12 quality, but a rung under it.

 

[saltynay]

To the OP the psu provided should be adequate and safe although not alot of headroom for upgrading. It would be preferable for you to use your old psu its a good model but if it doesn't fit no worries. A modular psu would also be preferable given the compact nature of the case and the relatively small amount of components.

I don't understand why your trying to prove your point that this is a budget case because there are thousand dollar ones out there.
That's like saying a 50k Mercedes is a beater because there are million dollar cars out there.
Also SECC is rolled steel. /facepalm
Finally all this crud you've been spewing about how your 2 optical drives, 3 hard drives, audio card, wireless card, and all 5 of your fans, drawing sooooo much power is absolute bull. Your fans together don't draw more than 20 watts, hard drives hardly use any, and optical drives only use power when your reading or writing a disc. Same goes for the audio and wireless cards. One just outputs data and the other is just a big antenna with a chip on the board.
None of the things you listed are particularly demanding on a power supply.
And to put it all to rest...

Lol whats wrong with some gentle back and forth discussion just because we have a difference of opinion doesn't mean we can't learn from each other.

A budget item is a cheap item at the lowest ends of the price spectrum. By quoting the spectrum I was giving ricanflow an idea of where this item fitted which was at the lowest end of the price spectrum and therefore...... budget. Mercedes is a brand not a specific item it depends on the sample frame you are looking at aswell. A Mercedes mclaren slr is at the lower end of its market. The mercedes M class is mid of its market and target.

Your wrong about the steel;
"SECC = Steel, Electrogalvanized, ColdRolled, Coil -- it's lighter and manages heat better than common steel. It's not as light nor as thermalconductive as aluminum, but costs much less."

The fact a component is only an antennae doesn't effect its power requirements or do you think the radio transmitters SETI use are the same as the average person owns?? Computers are made to output data that was why they were designed.... its like saying poison is harmful no sh*t shirlock. My soundcard is a Asus Xonar D2X and requires power direct from the psu as the psi-express bus is unable to provide adequate power

I am sharing my experiences with an Antec powersupply and I found it was easily stressed Ricanflow found differently its quite possible we both got exceptions to a rule maybe mine was a bad one and slightly under spec maybe his was especially good and over spec.

 

[aspire]

I am sharing my experiences with an Antec powersupply and I found it was easily stressed Ricanflow found differently its quite possible we both got exceptions to a rule maybe mine was a bad one and slightly under spec maybe his was especially good and over spec.

I wouldn't consider a 380W PSU having trouble with SLi 8800gt's and a quad one that is "easily stressed..."

 

[saltynay]

It wasn't a 380W psu it was the 430W antec truepower trio and it obviously was easily stressed if it didn't provide sufficient power for boot, which in theory it should.

 

[aspire]

Easily stressed, and not enough power for the system are two different things.

If it was a 5 or 600 watt power supply then yes it would be correct to say it was easily stressed, but because it was just a 430W it is plausible that it was not enough power for the system especially during peak loads.

Any power supply for a computer should be able to handle the theoretical max load without having trouble, if it cant, then it simply does not have the capacity to do so. Stressing easily has nothing to do with it.

 

[saltynay]

Theory doesn't always exhibit its characteristics in practice. There are many things that are theoretically true which don't work in practice. Fehlings solution for identifying aldehydes is theoretically accurate but nigh impossible to do.

 

[aspire]

Theory doesn't always exhibit its characteristics in practice. There are many things that are theoretically true which don't work in practice. Fehlings solution for identifying aldehydes is theoretically accurate but nigh impossible to do.

Right, because that totally makes sense for what I'm talking about.

I'm saying, if your power supply can't handle the max power draw of your computer upgrade... Not a whole lot of theory there for you to disprove...

 

[saltynay]

Indeed but as I am stating its better to be safe then sorry and get a higher Wattage and amperage psu as well, which will sort you out not only for this upgrade but also in 4 years when you want to do it again. That way you won't have to pay double shipping costs. The original system isn't 380W normally but at peak power draw i.e. at boot the psu (80% efficiency (after quick google Antec's specs page didn't work ) is 304W) may struggle, also capacitors over time lose there individual efficiency which can bring the psu to a lower wattage then rated after 1 year. With a 500W psu there would be no problem and lots of headroom making psu a factor that doesn't need to be considered as a major contributor should the system fail. That case is also compact and as I am sure you know cable tidying is important especially in compact cases as there is limited airflow originally. Hence why a modular psu would be a good option....