hi, i have had numerous problems with my computer and have had people tell me that it may be the power supply. I have a sato model LPD2-300w power supply and it is running a 1.2 athlon.. i have no idea bout power supplies so can anyone tell me if this is right?? thanks

Greetings, Max: I don't know much about PSUs either (and who really wants to?) However, I can offer a few comments. 1) Your PSU manufacturer may have tech into available at its website. AMD does test PSUs and used to maintain a list of "approved" PSUs. However, I just went to the AMD website, and it looks like they have dropped the list in favor of manufacturer links, and a "Builders Guide for Desktop Tower Systems" that includes power guidelines. I suppose the approved list was too helpful and easy to use. 2) The number and power consumption of the components you are running in addition to the CPU - i.e., drives, fans, whatever - has great bearing on the amount of power needed. For example, my 1.2GHz Thunderbird rig runs off a 300W Enlight PSU without any trouble. However, I run only the standard components: 7200RPM Hard Drive, CDRW, FDD, three cooling fans. If you have extra goodies, you may need more power. 3) Finally, sometimes the rated power of a PSU is, uh, misleading. Numbers may not lie, but the people who put labels on things lie constantly. There is a way to calculate the true power output of a PSU in watts by the voltage/amp figures on the PSU label. I don't know how to do it, but I bet someone who reads these posts does (hint, hint). Anyway, good luck. Ed p.s. This may be a personal record for post length. I have got to stop snorting coke in the middle of the night!

I used 300watts PSU with 2 hard drives, 1 cdrw, 1 DVD rom, geforce 2 mx, soundblaster128, Winnov Videum video comferencing card, external USB modem, 3 pc133 memory sticks, in fact I ran out of IRQ's when I tried to run the second soundcard in there. You have enough watts.

i had no problems with my 300w (same processor) untill i added my geforce4 ti4200 i think this needs a lot more power than my old video card (radeon ve) i had to switch my case fan to a ide lead to stop it locking up