I have a desktop I built that acts as a server. It's currently using a motherboard with a Celeron D CPU, running at around 2.53 GHz. There is also a wireless card attached to it, one stick of RAM, and one IDE hard drive and one SATA hard drive, and that's it. No other parts. Would I be able to get away with a 350 watt PSU? I have a 500 watt PSU but the fan is quite loud, so I'm looking for something else that is not so pricy and I saw the Antec SmartPower (350 watt) and was planning to pick that up. I don't plan on adding any other things, maybe an extra hard drive in the far future, maybe not.

Thanks.

The am rating should be at least 16amps on the 12volt rail, but the 350 watt should be fine as long as you aren't throwing in a beefy processor and a beefy graphics card.

I've been told by people in a local place that build computer systems that you don't need more than 350 watts capacity for any system if the mboard does not have PCI-E slots, unless it is a heavily loaded server.

Wattage does not tell the whole story these days.

There are 350W PSUs that are superior to some 500W variants. Manufacturer, weight, Amp distribution, noise & heat levels, ATX specification, form factor, modular connectors etc .... are all things that need not be overlooked when comtemplating a PSU purchase.

Antec is reknowned for good PSUs but their "Smart Power" series have been getting a lot of flack lately as a result of quality issues & I would suggest looking at the "True Power" or specifically the "Phantom" series from them - since noise levels appear to be the topmost criteria for you.

Depending on where you are located, Newegg usually has a wide selection of competitively priced PSUs in every demand class. Something like this might even be adequate enough for that server. Although it may or may not necessarily compromise your noise level criteria.

Power Supply Calculator Lite

Thanks. I did some more checking and I found out it was actually the CPU fan that was making all the noise...