im looking for a power supply strong enough to handle a bare minimum system. just a 128mb graphics, 2800+ athlon 64, giabyte v8m board. i know the old saying you get what you pay for, but im really on a budget now and would like to stay under 30 dollars. there are several brands out there but i dont know anything about them and i dont want to go through the trial and error crap. any suggestions?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023 is a PSU that I'd use but it's about $40.

I second that choice....

the best brand in my opinion is Antec, though most are decent older technology is the s---; keep it running

It is false economy to buy the cheapest PS you can find. There are more poor PS's being sold today than ever before, and a PS that fails on you can cause a lot of damage to your other components. In your case, if you don't have enhanced PCI slots, 350 watts capacity is fine. Thermaltake is okay, and so is Antec, or Enermax, or Startech, or AOpen. There are other good brands, and prices vary according to where you are and where you get the PS from - if you get one locally, the "little guys" who build custom systems and/or sell a variety of computer pieces often have the best prices. The things to look for are a warranty of at least a year, preferably 3 years, ball bearing fan(s), a decent web site for the brand, and a good reputation for relability if you can determine that. Better quality PS's have built in anti-short and overheating protection, and they will actually be able to deliver their rated capacities, unlike the bogus capacity claims of the el-cheapo's. If you can compare them side by side "in the flesh", a good PS of the same cpacity weighs more than an el-cheapo because more heavy duty, robust components are used. Stay away from any PS that has PINE stamped on the metal enclosure, regardless of the brand on the label. Personally I have relatively recently bought three Enermax, one Startech, all are still fine. I replaced a 4xx watt Thermaltake in my nephew's computer recently that had gone wonky (voltages way too high - it may have been at least three years old. I have three older computers with AOpen PS's - they are fine. My brother has an Antec 4xx watt that malfunctioned and was replaced on warranty - it did not harm any of his other components. I had a PS that was a no-name brand, that was included within a case I bought in early 2000 - it's fan failed shortly after it's 1 year warranty - it turned out it had sleeve bearings, not ball bearings. It had PINE stamped on the metal of the enclosure. I replaced the fan, and it was fine for about another 2 years, then one of the capacitors blew up making a sound like gunfire, and it was dead - luckily it didn't hurt any other components.

Another good quality PSU is the Tagan. AMD Athlon 64 FX-55 WinXP Pro. WinXP Pro x64 Nvidia:6800GT Dane Electronic Pro. Dual 1024MB 400MHz RAM Tagan 480Watt PSU: 28Amps on +12volt rail. Asus A8V Deluxe "WiFi" M/Board

My 200 watt Gateway E-4200 - 1999-2006 present day still works flawlessly and they have a reputation for being horrible.