Thread: Almost there! Trying to locate a suitable dc-dc power supply.

That's the spec I have just ordered (AMD of course).
I have ordered an M2-atx which will do up to 160 Watts, whether it will be enough, we will have to see.
The motherboard manual says 300W min. But I figured lack of peripherals and using a 2.5" mobile drive should help matters.
I could measure the power usage on the bench if I knew how. My Dad has a clamp meter that goes around cable and measures the amp draw, which coupled with Voltage should allow me to work it out.... it's been a while!!

Total wattage is only part of the story...while your power supply might have enought total wattage (amperage), there might not be enough amperage on a specific rail, i.e. the 12V rail or the 5V rail.

What processor are you running? Intel Core 2 duo? P4? AMD? How many hard drives? 2.5" or 3.5"? Are you going to have a CDRW/DVDRW? Are you going to power your monitor from the same power supply? I don't know if you have shared all these specs in another post or not, but as you can see it isn't easy to just say "Yeah, this power supply will work" without a lot more info.

Not meaning to hijack or anything but my spec is going to be....
AMD dual core 4200+ (2.2GHz 65W) 2GB Ram 2.5" HDD NO DVD, maybe a usb hub for gps, wireless, ipod, touchscreen.
Seperate power for screen

A 160W power supply, such as the M2-ATX should be fine. Your processor draws 65W, or 5.42 amps. The M2 supplies 8 amps on the 12V rail. Obviously you are going to use some current powering your motherboard as well, but the CPU is the big draw, and you are only using 65W at full utilization which won't be most of the time. Since you are using a 2.5" HD your power comes off of the 5V rail, so no issues there. Good luck!

Thanks mate, it may answer Phuz's question also.
Cheers