PIII vs PIV Power supply

[Guest_imported]

I have recently upgraded my PC from a PIII 450 on an Epox motherboard to a PIV 1.8 on a gigabyte titan motherboard. However, a friend of mine said I can fry the processor if I run a PIV off a power supply designed for PIII. Is this true? It seems to be working fine for the moment, but I'd rather not fry my components, if at all possible.

 

[dinosnake]

The ATX power supply is fairly standard - however there are 2 main standards, ATX and ATX12V (not counting AMD-approval on certain power supplies). The newer ATX12V standard increases power across the board (12V, 3,3V, 5V) to handle the demands of newer, high performance motherboard / CPU combinations (the higher the clock speed the more power it uses, all else being equal).

If your old power supply can't handle the demands of the new components then yes, your friend was right - the power supply might fail in time and possibly take out the motherboard. If you feel insecure (if your supply is, say, 250W or less) then for peace of mind swap to a higher, better quality one now - if only to sleep at nights, if it really bothers you. A new supply, especially ATX12V, will have better regulation of the 3.3V supply for the CPU (make sure it does). If over 250W it still depends on how much you have in the system. Your mileage may vary...

 

[paparazi]

I have had to tell yet another customer there system is scrap because of a PSU failure.
Systems built in cheap cases often have extremely cheap power supplies, and things have got much worse in the last 2-3 years.
When cheap cases are brought in bulk for as little as £12/$18, what chance is there that the power supplies are going to be any good! you only have to take one out and hold it to feel the weight or lack of it! to see just how poor these generic supplies have become.
Unfortunately we are all guilty of cutting costs but be warned, if the day comes it could be much more than a $18 power supply you have to fork out for. Martin Just trying to help, sometimes falling short, I am only human after all.

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

paparazi is exactly right, my boss just bought himself a case for the computer im building for him and i put it together and it wouldnt turn on, i htought my cabling to the mobo was wrong but it turned out the psu was faulty. IT DIDNT EVEN WORK AND IT WAS BRAND NEW!!!!! wtf is that, so as paparazi said, a cheap case = cheap psu, get a good psu with lots of power and youll be just fine, ohh yeah make sure it is p4 recommended