MSI KT6 Delta MOBO - recommended power supply

Question

My power supply exploded , I think, and I cannot power up the system.  Hopefully this has not affected the rest of the system: chip, graphcard etc.
What voltage power supply should I have for this particular motherboard?
cheers

Answer 1

I'm sorry some of you are having problems with cheap power supplies.  That is beside the point, however.  I can only state what I know from experience, as I have never taken any classes in switching supply design.  I have absolutely zero (0) problems with cheap supplies.  And any motherboard that is so power hungry that it can itself overdraw a power supply is very poor design.  As I said, I ran my HP Pavilion xt983 with a 200-watt cheap-o PSU with all that stuff in my previous post for over 4 years with no problems (and the PSU still works even after the mobo died from bad capacitors).  I am using it to rebuild the exact same (minus HP mobo) system when the replacement mobo (crappy Chaintech) comes back this week from being repaired under warranty.
I never said wattage was the only metric - it's just a guide, as no manufacturer I know of specifies exactly how much and what type of current anything they build uses in the computer world (nor would I trust the spec if they did) - it changes under load.  Most people use max figures to decide how much current they need.  I just don't want people thinking they need an expensive PSU to run their good to mediocre PC.  I don't use junk and my PCs last for years on end (actually never had one I built die for any reason, knock on wood).  You do not need a high-wattage or even big namebrand PSU at all, unless you are building a very high-end PC (with light cathodes, water cooling, light kits, multiple every kind of drives, etc. - meaning you plan to abuse the system).  The run-of-the-mill PC needs no more than a cheap (non-junky) PSU that can provide at least 17 amps on the 12V rail.  That's what I use and that's what I recommend.  Wattage should be at 300+ watts to "allow for expansion".  Use the calculator.  See what all you have to add to get up anywhere near 430 Watts.  It can be done, but I would never tax a system that way.  The bottom line is watts are only a limiting factor, not a design factor.  If you add up all the rails on a typical 430-Watt PSU, it is way over 430 watts.  However, if you use all the 12V amps it can turn out and still stay near 12 volts, most of the 5V amps, and most of the 3.3V amps by overloading the system with doodads and whatnots, the 430W limit will matter.  As long as you build what I consider a normal system, you'll never use 430 Watts.  All decent PSUs can supply enough 3.3V and 5V current (should be around 30-40+ amps each), but many of them are deficient on the 12V rail.  Looking for a PSU that can churn out 17+ amps on the 12V rail usually means it can handle about any normal load (meaning single processor, mobo, a HDD or two, a FDD, a few sticks of RAM, and  DR/DVD burner or two, and a few expansion cards with no strange mods like lights and 100 fans, water cooling, etc.) on all rails.
So, to recap:  For everyday computing, watts are only a limiting factor, so don't get less than 300 in case you really want that power hungry device of the future or want to build a top-end system now.  Current is critical, so don't get anything that's puny on any rail (3.3+5V = ~30-40+ amps each and 12V = 17+ amps).  Ignore all the "this power supply rocks" junk you'll see in bulletin boards and on Newegg (and other retailers) and look at the specs yourself.  Namebrand means as much as you think it does - some have a good rep, some have a bad rep, some have no rep.