Newb needs help picking PSU upgrade

Hey all. I'm not a novice but know just enough to screw things up.

I recently purchased probably the last AGP video card I will ever buy, a 1 gig ATI 4650. Unfortunately, I realized too late that its specs demand a minimum 400W power supply. My machine, a crumbling old Dell from 2004, has only a 305W supply.

What I need is a new PSU, nothing fancy but in the 400-600W range, which is compatible with my motherboard and will fit into my case.

The machine model number is Dimension 8300. Specs are here:

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim8300/sm/specs.htm

Any assistance for this newb will be greatly appreciated.

 

Greetings, yeeha.

A good online calculator is located here - plug in your specs, and you should get a good ballpark wattage figure.

Your present PSU - does the physical size/footprint look fairly common?

 

Will post those details in a moment.. I am about to open everything up and see if it will work with my old PSU.

As far as actually picking the PSU, my main concern is compatibility. I've already been operating at 50 watts above the rated capacity for this PSU, so I'm confident that an extra 100 or 200 watts will be more than adequate.

This machine is at the end of its life, and I will not be adding any additional hardware to it.

(Current specs: P4 Northwood 3ghz, 4 gigs PC 3200, 2x 7200RPM 160G SATA drives, Sound Blaster X-fi card, extra optical drive. Really that's about it. All future investments will be for a new machine.)

 

With no more upgrades on the horizon, doesn't make a whole lot of sense to get a powerhouse PSU.

If the size/footprint looks OK, check out something like this Silencer MK II 500w. I've been using PC Power and Cooling for years, and the Silencer is one of the best bangs-for-the-bucks on the market.

 

well, it all seems to work with only the 305W... though I am having trouble getting the drivers to install..

I'm a little worried that I might get a BSOD if the thing runs out of power while a game is running, though. I plan on getting a new psu anyway. In the meantime, am I placing the card or other system components at risk of destruction by running all of this on an under-rated PSU?

thanks for your help, btw.

 

Yes.

My advice would be to not run the 4650 until you do provide a new supply. That PSU I linked to (or one similar) should be adequate - use 500w as your bottom line. Any good area retailer should carry at least one quality PSU OEM line - insist on a name brand associated with power supplies.

 

Yikes. I should have read this post earlier, I guess.

So far, no disasters. The card actually performed seemingly well on the graphics portions of 3DMark06 (the CPU blew chunks @ 0 FPS).

I just ordered this off of Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&cm_mmc=TEMC-RMA-Approvel-_-Content-_-text-_-

But I made no real effort to determine if it would fit... just grabbed an ATX supply that had a large number of reviews. So it may be back to the drawing board.

Even if it fits and works, do you actually recommend I send it back and get another one? And why do you say I should use 500W as a floor? The card only asks for 400, and is not catastrophically failing (yet) at 305W.

Isn't 450 sufficient? Or are you just thinking from a "build in a comfortable margin" perspective?


Edit: Thanks again, and I just remembered to actually click the Thanks! button. Thanks!

 

Hi, yeeha...

No, that PSU's fine, especially if you've already ordered it - I just tend to err on the side of caution.

If the ATI 4650's running happily now, you should be good to go with the new supply.

 

WOW... JUST WOW...

Dell is now telling me that if I install a more powerful PSU than 305W it will DESTROY MY MOTHERBOARD...

I have not heard of this? Opinions on whether this is accurate, or if this is their way of saying "nah we don't support that" ??

 

That's bullshit. You could put a 1 KW PSU in the machine, and it's not going to destroy a motherboard.

Whether or not it will void any warranties? I have no idea. I think your "nah we don't support that" is hitting the nail on the head.

 

Thanks man, IGNORE MY ANNOYING PM

 

No problem. The only thing I can think of is that Dell sometimes uses some funky pinouts in their connectors (I guess they try to keep their PSUs proprietary) - you'll have to watch out for that. If the connectors don't match, you might have to find an adaptor - most outlets and shops carry them.

As far as the wattage is concerned, however, I stand behind what I said.

 

Blah, ended up talking to dell again to make sure i had the right form factor/dimensions and they once again said it is a 100% certainty a bigger PSU will fry my mobo. Something about it being an "old computer with a maximum power rating".

At the same time, I've seen some scattered accounts online about people swapping out a standard ATX with more wattage and having no problem.

I hope i get the lucky coin flip.