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Power supply calculations for older systems?

hunterjwizzard

hunterjwizzard

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Mar 20, 2020
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A lot of modern PSU calculators don't have stuff for older equipment. And I'm building a truly bizarre monster.

See I found a machine today. One of those HP 'slimline' win7 systems. Woefully underpowered, AMD phenome II with 3GB of ram in a case that can't possibly fit a decent graphics card. In case you're wondering, yes, I overpaid.

Buuuut. If I take apart this shitty Del Dimension 2400 I got at a DIFFERENT garage sale, and the Geforce 8800GTX that came out of a thrift store computer... I can make a pretty sweet little XP 32 bit frankenPC. I do this because I am bored, not for any good reason.

Anyway, on to the krux of my post. I probably cannot use the PSU that came out of either the Dell or the HP, but I have a little 450w ATX lying around. I'm trying to work out if that should be decent enough to run this silly little machine.
 
The Phenom II chips were generally either 95 or 125W, with one or two having a 140W TDP. The 8800 GTX was a 145W card, so no, the anemic PSUs in those machines would not work at all.

A 450W PSU would be fine, assuming that it had most of its capacity on the +12v rail, and wasn't one of the earlier models with a stronger +5v rail. Also assuming that it is a quality unit, and not a wofat IED.
 
The PSU in question is a Coolmax model AP-450X. Not great but it has been reliable since I got it. Obviously a better PSU is always an option but I'd have to wait until one falls in my proverbial lap.
 
Coolmax are IEDs. Terrible build quality, fake power ratings and trash capacitors. I've replaced dozens of them over the years because they exploded, and sometimes motherboards and video cards that were taken out by them when they died.
 
I've also got a 430w PSU out of a 1U server. It ran a dual-quad-core-xeon server ok. Only problem is its designed for a 1U and can't be mounted to ATX easily. I use it for bench testing.
 
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