Do i need a new PSU?

[EvilBoris]

At the moment I've got a 250watt psu in my PC.
Recently my PC is having trouble loading from the 2nd (ATA) HDD, I have to wait like 5 minutes for it to unfreeze.
Currently I've got a heap of stuff in my pc,

1 sata hdd
1 ata HDD
wireless card
sound blaster audigy zs 2 plat pro
bFG 6800 ultra (takes 2 power leads)
and all the other ram and CPu and gubbins,

would this cause power issues cause the 2nd HDD to freeze at all?
once its going its fine, and everything else seems fine.

[Rossco]

That most likely is the problem, you shouldn't have any troubles with a 500watt PSU. Same thing happened to a friend, PC wasn't running well as it should of, and a new PSU sorted it out. Only ?15-20 too.

[Ciaran]

Sounds the likely solution. Before I got a new PSU every so often my 2nd HDD would just turn off a random times.

350-400watt would be more than enough if its a decent quality PSU. Stay away from Q-tec and other cheap brands.

[EvilBoris]

the 500w q-tec one was 50 quid in maplin!

ouch

can someone reccommend me one?

[Super Stu]

This is where a lot of apparent snobbery will kick in. You can browse performance figures for power output, voltage rail uniformity etc until you're blue in the face. Fact is, I don't mind paying a little extra for peace of mind, in the same way as you might put in expensive motor oil or expensive tyres on your car.

I've got an Enermax, and I've no doubt I'll get another Enermax if I require a bit more oomph in future.

[demon9k]

Tagen 480W supply here:

4 Hdd, 3 DVD/CD-R, 9800 Pro, CPU fan, 4 case fans, case fan controller. Not even run out of connections yet

Custom PC gave it best buy a while back. It will set you back around ?60 this week on overclockers, ?70 there after. I wouldn't think you would need that much juice for your system but you never know when you will need more.

[Jei]

The 6800 ultra requires a minimum of 350watt so i'd say yes it deffo is ur problem.

Tagen 420w or 480 will do the trick

[sithlordx]

Antec True Power 480Watts here on a very powerful system

?50 job done!!!

[FelixofMars]

I would say ?50 is a fair price for a decent power supply really.

the 500w q-tec one was 50 quid in maplin!

ouch

can someone reccommend me one?