In earlier eras most cases were beige, and since most components drew far less
power than similar components do now, power supplies received little attention.
Recently, however, cases for the home market have become considerably more
elaborate, with lights, side windows, glow-in-the-dark cables and other shiny/-
glowing embellishments. Cases now come in a plethora of styles and colors
to suit anyone’s taste. And as current components require much more power,
power supply quality and size is an important issue
If you are only building an office computer, the style of case will be of little
concern to you. You might want a inexpensive ATX case (ATX is a specification
which refers to the size of the motherboard. Any ATX motherboard, and the
parts designed therefore, will fit in any ATX case), and an inexpensive power
supply as you won’t be running a high-end processor or graphics card. As
a guide, youll want a power supply with a rating of more than 300 watts;
any less wont reliably power modern components. Most case/PSU bundles are
adequate, but tend to feature a lower quality power supply than those that are
sold separately from cases. If possible, avoid power supplies with sleeve bearing
fans, as these are of considerably lesser quality.
Before purchasing any PSU, make sure that the supplied wattage is sufficient
for your components. Power requirements are usually listed in the manuals that
came with your components. It is important to note a power supply’s total
power, and the power at each voltage: 3.3, 5 and 12V. If any of these do not
meet your requirements, the rest of the specifications don’t matter.
Some companies have calculators to help you determine what your power
supply needs are; if you are the type to just plug in the numbers without reading
the details, you should buy a power supply that is 1.5 to 2 times the wattage
that results from these calculators.
For a quiet system, you can choose a fanless power supply – more expensive
but well worth it if noise is a concern, but be sure to monitor system temperatures
to make sure cooling is adequate.
For cases and power supply here are some things to consider: