How much power is enough?

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Last seen: 15 years 9 months ago
Joined: Jan 10 2008 - 17:42
Posts: 3
How much power is enough?

after seemingly crippling a powersupply with upgades- replaced the 200 W power supply with 236 w, the question comes to mind:
to upgrade a G4-AGP 450, with a 236 w power supply, how do I add the upgrade parts watt value & what does that equate to in stable power service? Is 236 W enough?

2 gigs of ram
Powerlogic 1.6 ghz
258 ram video card
sata pci card
USB devices
2 160 Hard drives

I see people running more than this and wonder if 236 W is enough, or are they using stock power, and I'm just woringing for nothing.

and if I upgrade to a 500 watt from the local store ($97) how do I fit it in,
& how do I verify the motherboard connections are correct?

Thanks,
K

Hawaii Cruiser's picture
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Last seen: 7 years 9 months ago
Joined: Jan 20 2005 - 16:03
Posts: 1433
ATX PSU in a Sawtooth

See here:
http://www.xlr8yourmac.com/systems/ATX_G4_AGP_conversion/G4_AGP_to_ATX_case_pg2.htm

And here:
http://www.outofspec.com/frankenmac/wire.shtml

Looks like the Sawtooth, Yikes!, and B&W all had the same pinouts. IIRC, the B&W PSU was 220w. I put a 350w ATX PSU in my B&W. Some people say you just need to snip the gray line, which I tried and it didn't work, so I did the taps on the two lines described in the first link above and it worked. You'll need a 20 pin connector on the ATX PSU--the older version. The newer versions have 22 and 24 pin connectors. You have to make sure the fans are in the right place on the PSU to fit in the G4 tower too. 500w would certainly be overkill. Get a cheaper one. A used one maybe. Lots of PCers upgrade their comps and need more powerful PSU's, so there's lots of used 350w PSU's for sale. You might need a molex Y extender to add another power connector since a lot of the ATX's have fewer molex power connectors (for hard drives, etc.) than the G4 towers.

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Last seen: 15 years 9 months ago
Joined: Jan 10 2008 - 17:42
Posts: 3
Now that is an answer !

Thanks, that is the best info -- I may even have a 'pc' psu --

K

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