To determine if your power supply is providing enough watts for your PC, you must add up the "watt requirements" of each component. The table below lists these requirements:

PC Component	Watt Requirements
Pentium CPU	35-40
486 CPU	35
386 CPU	24
286 CPU	20-40
1 MB RAM	5
Expansion Card	5-15
3 1/2" floppy drive	5
5 1/4" floppy drive	10-15
3 1/2" hard drive	5-15
5 1/4" hard drive	15-30
CD-ROM drive	20-25
motherboard	20-75
monitor (if powered by PC)	35+

If your total "watt requirements" exceeds the total number of watts your power supply produces, you need a new power supply.

Other reasons to buy a new power supply include:

• If you try to start your PC and nothing happens.
• If your power supply is too noisy. This indicates the fan is beginning to die.
• If you PC works, but you can't hear the fan, move quick! The fan is dead and your PC is still working. Your PC will overheat and components will begin to die one by one.
• If you see smoke coming from your PC or blown circuit breakers!