Hello ALL, Background: I have a Sony VAIO VGC RA-710G (Liquid Cooled, Runs Silent); P4 3.2 EE/HT, 3GB PC3200 RAM, ATI 1600XT 512MB GDDR 3, Vista Ultimate 32-Bit, Seagate 500GB 16MB Burst Internal (Ultra ATA), Western Digital 750GB External, Both @ 7200RPM, Sony DVD/CD DL R/RW +/-, LG DVD/CD R/RW +/- Lightscribe, Logitech G15 (Keyboard Illuminates and has a small LCD Screen), Bose Companion 5 5.1 Dolby Digital USB Speakers, Acer AL 2216W 22" WS LCD Screen and a Power Supply of 350. The System Power connectors from the factory had the following configeration: 1 for DVD 1 for DVD (2nd) 1 for HD 1 Free Initially ~~ Modified, see below. -------------------------------------------- 4 TOTAL Power Connectors Modified, when I installed the ATI 1600XT, it required a Power Connector. I would like to add a 2nd Internal HD, which will require a purchase for an extra Power Connector. This will bump the TOTAL Connectors to 5. Question: By adding another Power Connector, will it tax the Power Supply? If the answer is Yes, How will it affect the Power Supply and what can I do to restore a balance, therefor NOT taxing the Power Supply? Thanks! Joey
You shouldn't overtax the power supply that much by adding a hard disk. Just get a power connector splitter and use that.
check these links to see what size psu is alright. http://www.vbutils.com/power.asp http://www.journeysystems.com/?powercalc http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp
Bearing in mind that PSU brand is even more important than total wattage. Cheap nasty Power supplies are very nasty indeed, you don't want to be dealing with them. Place PSU upgrades as more important than anything else. If you can't afford a decent brand power supply, downscale the rest of your upgrade or you'll pay for it later.
the rule with power supply units is lightweight throw away heavy keep connect the new drive to the same power as the old drive both will run ok
That's one of the principles, because if it's heavy (tick), there's lots inside it (tick) which usually means it's high quality (tick) and has probably come from a good brand (tick). See what I'm getting at? The 250W barebone power supply that came with my older PC weighed twice as much as the 450W unit that killed it, and the 600W unit that never worked in the first place was even lighter. The PSU I currently use in my PC now is twice as heavy as that original, and I'm not 100% satisfied with that!
