First post, by TheWeekendSlice
Hi everyone,
So recently I got the urge to build a Windows 98 retro PC.
I already have a Gigabyte GA-7N400 nforce2 socket A (462) motherboard, an Athlon XP 2600 + (333 FSB so I think it's a Thoroughbread) and some RAM plus a Gainward GeForce 4 Ti4200.
I already have a Thermaltake TR2 500W PP PSU from back in the day with 28A on the 5V rail. I was planning on using this PSU to power the PC, but I've seen quite a few posts online on a number of forums where people said that this line of PSUs was terrible. And I've had it for quite a while now as well (since 07-08) so it's a little old.
I bought a new case, fans to keep it all nice and cool, I have an SSD coming soon (120GB).
I mistakenly bought a Seasonic GC-500 PSU 80+ Gold with these specs: it has 20A on the +3.3V, 20A on the +5V rail, 41A on the +12V rail, 3A on +5 Vsb
Question 1: Would this PSU be enough to power the following system?
- Athlon XP 2600+
- 512 or 1024 MB RAM DDR-333
- 1 120 mm fan (connected to the motherboard)
- 3 120 mm fans (with molex connectors (can use sata-to-molex for them))
- 2 80 mm fans (molex-to-sata),
- 1 DVD-RW, 1 Floppy,
- 1 120 GB SSD (if the adapter works, if not I'll use an 80 GB WD HDD),
- Geforce 4 TI 4200
- AOpen Yamaha 744 soundcard
Or would a TX650M from Corsair be better? +3.3V 25A, +5V 25A, +12V 51A , -12V 0.8A, +5Vsb 3A.
I also found a seller with a Voodoo 3 2000 AGP for sale at an ok price and pictures of it working. I jumped at the chance to buy it without realizing that it doesn't work in the above mentioned system. I've looked everywhere for an APG 1 motherboard for sale locally, but can't find anything trustworthy. Then I stumbled on a forum post here that said that the ECS EliteGroup P4S5A motherboard has an universal AGP Slot that would work with Voodoo cards. I looked around and found someone from another country selling a kit made up of:
ECS EliteGroup P4S5A Rev 1 2A
Pentium 4 1.7Ghz
RAM 256 Mb (1X256mb) DDR included.
Backplate I/O Shield Included.
The seller says that it's working.
Price + shipping = 56 USD.
So here I am planning a Pentium 4 build as well.
Would that motherboard be considered of good quality? Or is the ASUS P4S533-E a better choice?
I can get an ASUS P4S533-E for 64 USD but it comes without a CPU, RAM or I/O Shield (the shield is a question mark, but it's definitely not mentioned in the ad.
So for system 2, what kind of power supply would be enough? PhilsComputerLab on Youtube mentioned that P4 systems can work with modern PSUs.
So let's take this example:
- Pentium 4 1.7Ghz
- ECS EliteGroup P4S5A Rev 1 2A
- 2 x 256 DDR1
- Voodoo 3 2000 AGP
- 1 x 120 GB SSD (or an HDD if the adapter for the SSD doesn't work)
- 1 x 60mm fan (mounted to the Voodoo 3 by me with zip ties) (molex)
- 4 x 120 mm fans (molex) (don't know if the motherboard has any fan connectors)
- 1 x DVD-RW
- 1 x Floppy
Would the Seasonic GC-500 PSU 80+ Gold PSU be ok for this PC? (again, it has 20A on the +3.3V, 20A on the +5V rail, 41A on the +12V rail, 3A on +5 Vsb)
I was considering getting the TX650M for the Athlon PC and using the Seasonic GC-500 in the Pentium 4 one.
The TX650M is the cheapest PSU I could find that has more than 20A on the +5V rail. It's 110$.
For a while I was considering just switching between the Athlon XP+motherboard+Geforce 4 TI4200 and the Pentium 4+motherboard+Voodoo 3 within the same case, but I found a cheap Deepcool case that has what I need (fan placement + optical drive bays for the floppy drive (with an adapter) and the dvd-rw. So I just need to sort out the PSU situation:
- should I use that Thermaltake TR2 500W PP PSU for the Athlon PC?
- if not, would the Seasonic GC-500 be enough for the Athlon PC?
- if yes, would the EVGA BR 450W (https://eu.evga.com/products/product.aspx?pn=100-BR-0450-K2) (20A on the +5v rail) be enough for the Pentium 4 PC? I don't have the EVGA BR 450W, but I was considering it for the P4 system
- if the Seasonic GC-500 is not enough for the Athlon PC, would the Corsair TX6550M be enough for the Athlon PC?
- and then (using the TX650M in the Athlon PC) would the Seasonic GC-500 be ok for the Pentium 4 PC?
Do you know any other PSU under 100$ with 25A on the +5V rail?
So please go over the above and let me know your thoughts, input, advice, it would be highly appreciated. I know the post above is messy as heck, but it's kind of what's going on in my head right now.
I know all of the above has been discussed all over this forum, but there's so much to read that after a few days I just decided to gather all my questions in one place.
Please keep in mind that for both of the systems discussed above I just want to use them to play a few games on Windows 98 (the Voodoo 3 is for 2-3 Glide games) and I have no plans to upgrade them down the line, I just need them to be functional and stable for 4-8 hour gaming sessions.