Power Supply Unit Recommendations?

[BobH]

Knowing full well that each and every one of you is tired of hearing me whine about my old P4 (budget doesn't stretch to replacing it just now), I come once again with hat in hand asking for your advice and wise counsel.

About 2 years ago,(perhaps longer) I had a PSU go bad in this old Dell system. I decided that the limitations ton the number of HDDs the case would mount meant that I needed an aftermarket case. I had a local technician transfer the components to the ATX case I've written so much about of late. I replaced the old OEM PSU at the time or shortly thereafter because I was running out of power cables and wattage to run the CD, DVD, 2 Internal HDDs, and numerous external USB devices. I also got rid of noisy fans inside the case and replaced them with ultra quiet ones - and more of them.

Well, yesterday, the system refused to POST. Today, I tested the PSU and found that it is not functioning properly. This is a 650W Ultra brand only about 2 years old. I have no idea what happened to the unit but I suspect recent power grid blips might be the cause. I do have the computer and all components plugged into a UPS unit with power conditioning and surge protection on all outlets.

I am now shopping for a PSU. I will be building the system anew after the first of the year with an Intel Core i5 and a new motherboard and 16GB of RAM. I will use the existing 2 HDDs and the CD and DVD and floppy drive (yes, I still have a 3.5" floppy drive) plus the plethora of USB attached devices. At some point in the future I might want to add graphics cards; so I want enough juice to run everything - at least 750W and maybe more. Of course, price is the usual problem for a retiree's budget. Because I had a bad experience with Ultra, I will not consider anything they offer, but I don't want to drop hundreds on buying a gamers dream, either.

Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated and gratefully received.

[viking33]

750 watts is huge and more than enough to run all of those extras. I have a 600 W aftermarket PSU and it's been cooking along fine. Running about the same amount of "goodies" as you have on your list, without even breathing hard.
Of course, so far as PSUs are concerned, more is better than using an anemic little
unit that some of the OEM packages sneak in on you.
Look around my old reliable directron.com as they usually have some bargains in their offerings.

( I can't recall the brand name of my PSU but hope you will forgive me for not wanting ti dig into the case to find it )

[BobH]

Go ye and sin no more, my son! All is forgiven.

You might not be old enough to remember Lil Abner, but there was a character known in Dogpatch as Joe Bltsplk (or something like that). He walked around barefoot with a cloud over his head and rain pouring on his head all the time. Disasters occurred by the moment.

I have been that guy this week!

Thanks, Bob! I'll give your link a look see.

[BobH]

I bought a Corsair 750W PSU thru Amazon.

It is awesome!