Power supply specs?

In a seemingly never ending quest to find the best video card for a low price (which is posted in another thread)... I have encountered yet another question that must be answered before I can hit the cute little BUY button.

Power supply.

I have done what searching I know to do through both Hewlett Packard, the makers of my machine, and XP the OS on my machine, and can find no reference to what my current power supply is.

I looked on the back of the machine at the sticker, but do not know how to interpret what is written there or if it is even the info I am looking for. I also popped the cover off of my machine and looked at the sticker on the side of the power supply. I am hoping not to have to remove the power supply at this time since it is a bear to get to, having to remove the drives just to pull the power supply back far enough to clear the cradle.

Anyway, the info on the back of the machine and the info inside the case is:

AC INPUT 100 - 127V~4.0A
50/60Hz 200 - 240V~2.0A

S/N: 02100050171
DLT200139 00

Is any of this the info I need?

I tried Googling the S/N and DLT, no usable results that I could see.

A little help? NewEgg video card specs say things like:
"420 Watt ATX 2.0 or greater power supply. Consult your computer system manual to ensure the power supply is designed to accommodate a high-end graphics card with a peak dissipation above 75 watts."

I don't have a manual, and HELP and SUPPORT is not very bloody helpful or supportive! lol

Oh geez... duh, AC INPUT... that's what it needs from the wall plug. Grrr! I haven't been awake long... it's my only excuse.

HP site, my specs:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN#N293
See something I don't?

 

I didnt see any power supply info, so I'll bet it is just your average power supply(300-400W). Quite often bundle PC's are shipped with the bare minimum. I would suggest if your going to upgrade your gfx card and you can afford it, a 500W + power supply would be a good idea. Many people dont realize just how important a good power supply is. Fortunately they are not too pricey

 

Thanks Jazagod, I was pretty much counting on them using the bare minimum, lol. Me? A cynic? Noooo, surely not.

Are they all the same size, mount configuration? Or is there more info I need (and don't have lol)?

 

Does it give an amperage on the 12v rail on the sticker? What video card are you planning on upgrading to and what is currently running?

 

Geezus, just looked at Power Supplies at NewEgg... so much freakin info to sift through! I just want to up grade my video card! I don't want to have to take a six month night course on the finer points of computer hardware!

I am feeling way out of my depth here. I don't want to give up and call what I have 'good' but this task is getting more and more daunting.
Someone wanna take me to raise? I'll eat my veggies and clean my room,

 

Hi

For future reference, you may want to download the manuals for your system from this page

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/manualCategory?lc=en&cc=us&dlc=en&product=296682&lang=en&#

If you are going to play around with it, they will come in handy

 

Sheesh721,

I gave all of the writing I could find. I am getting the idea that I will have to dismantle my machine to get more info.

As for the video card, I have not chosen one yet, but I am aiming for 256MB, and hopefully core clock in the 400MHz+ range. I would like to get more than 4 PixelPipelines, but I really do not see that happening within my price range.

"What is currently running?"
Do you mean my current video card?
It is a NVidia GeForce4 MX420, PCI.
Sound is a Realtek AC'97 Audio for VIA (R) Audio Controller.
Ethernet is Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC.

 

Thanks Shanemail, unfortunately searching the three docs didn't not turn up power supply info... either I need to look manually or the Find in Adobe doesn't like me. lol

 

Not all psu's are the same. You have an ATX mid tower. My best guess by your link. so you will want to look into ATX psu's. Take a peek at this link for a good idea and not a university degree.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_tlc.asp?CatId=106

 

7000 series nvidia cards are close to what you said for your wants. They can range from 80$ to 300$. 150$ will get you a gfx card you can be proud of. I'm not going to get techy with specs, because just saying these cards are decent is enough.

 

Your motherboard takes 20 pin power and your graphics slot is a 4x AGP. AGP video cards are typically backwards compatible to 4x, but it will run slower than reviews say it will being it is not the standard 8x AGP.

To be honest I wouldn't spend a lot of money on a video card because it will draw too much power and your processor/memory will be a bottleneck. Something like this (I don't recommend the brand) is powered off the motherboard and won't eat much power...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161055

You can run the greatest graphics card in the world, and you won't see much improvement over a mainstream card... you have too many bottlenecks. I would spend modestly $50-100 to get the most value out of your upgrade. It's really not worth spending $50-75 on a PSU and another $150 or so on a video card. You can get a whole new computer for a couple hundred more.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883107288

 

lol Sheesh721,

I was thinking the same thing! Why dump 2-300, still have the same mother board and such, when 4-500 will get me a brand new machine with better everything.

PSU, I was looking at this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817709011

See anything wrong with that? It looks like it has enough connectors for all of my stuff... I have a very old hard drive slaved... any one of those three extra four pins will do the trick, right?

I know I should put this on my Video Card thread, but... how big a deal is the DirectX version on the card? Can I get a card that says DirectX8 and still run DirectX9?

 

From memory (dodgy at the best of times )
you were only looking to spend about $50 on the graphics card
I would say ebay would be about your only chance for a card meeting those stats.

 

I wouldn't buy that brand, and it's way more power than you'll likely need. Depending on the card you select a good 350-400 watt power supply will be more than enough and possibly overkill. You could probably even get away with less. I'd choose a good brand over more power.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817103484
^This is probably a lot more than you were looking to spend, but it's an example of getting a better quality psu. The total wattage doesn't mean everything.

And no, if your card only supports DX8 it will not be able to use any higher DX version.

 

lol Shanemail,
Yeah, it is starting to look that way huh?
Damn, I don't want to do that. I will go open box in a heart beat from someone like NewEgg or Tiger Direct, but not really in a hurry to do that through E-Bay.

Any recommendations, best bang for buck, PCI?

 

You have an AGP 4x slot, I'd use it.

 

Sheesh721,
If my machine likely already has a 300-400W power supply, then what am I doing? Do I need to do this?

lol I am lost, feel like I am going in circles here. lol

I guess it is time to get out the screw driver and find out what I have. lol Should have just bit the bullet and done that in the first place.

...then try, somehow, to figure out if I need a better PSU. lol

 

There's already something in it, or so the HP site says. HP chat help said I should go with a PCI card. Could going with an AGP card cause issues? Software issues? Hardware issues?

 

You probably have a 250-325 or so I would say. And you might be able to run a low end AGP/PCI video card off it. I would get the screwdriver and read the amperage sticker. Tell us what amperage you get off each line.

 

Okay, will do.

Thank you! Ya'll are great!

 

Output: 200W MAX (guess that answers that question.)
Not sure how to indicate it... isn't the solid line over a broken line AC? Well, I will use AC to indicate a solid line over a broken line, hope it doesn't confuse anyone if it is not correct.

+5V AC/ 23A, +3.3V AC/ 10A,
+12V AC/ 10A, -12V AC/ 10.8A
+5VSB AC/ 2A
+5V & +12V TOTAL OUTPUT power can't exceed 163W.

 

That's just enough to power your system. What were you hoping to achieve with a new video card? From there we can recommend items to buy.

 

I have one game and it lags a bit, lol, seems silly... but I am hoping to get other games. The game is Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay, if you look at the recommended specs on the box, I am in good shape... but that doesn't line up with reality.
It has to be DirectX9.
XP Home

I also like to watch DVDs since I have a new 19" wide screen.

I work with still images so that is not a big deal, artwork seems pretty tame.

 

Most games written for DirectX 9 will also play on DX8, you just won't get all the effects. Are you sure it needs DX9?
Something like this card is probably all you need
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161055

Something like these would work as well..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...&Subcategory=48&description=&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

The more powerful you go the more likely you may have to change your power supply.

 

Just so this doesn't head of into software talk, I'll head it off at the pass...
I uninstalled most of the junk that came preinstalled on my HP machine, and I used BlackViper's XP services list to trim the fat. I think I start up with roughly 13 processes.

 

I asked earlier, are we sure there will be no trouble with removing whatever is currently in the AGP slot and using an AGP card?

If there are no issues, then this one looks nice, lol:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102410R

Does it look as much to you as it does to me that I have NO IDEA what I am doing? lol

 

BTW 30 bucks or so for a new power supply is fine, I am hoping to be able to take my current power supply and current video card and put them in another (older) machine. So buying both is okay, so long as it isn't going over 100 bucks for both, all costs totaled.

 

I am not sure of much of anything at this point. lol

I guess it doesn't need DirectX9 for video, just sound and DVD-ROM...

But why would I want to go with an older version of DirectX on a new piece of hardware?

 

You wouldn't. I was just saying even with DirectX 8 you could probably still play that game you were looking for. DX9 is not hard to find and is well within your budget. Get something DX 9 compatible.

 

A conservative calculation says those numbers translate to 400VA, which in turn translates to around 280 watts consumed by your power supply. But not all of that would be available to your motherboard -- some of that power will be lost as heat within the power supply itself.

I'd say that it would be reasonable to assume that you have a power supply capable of providing no more than 250 watts to your system, given the specified AC input. And it may not be that much. In other words, you're well short of what that video card needs.

P.S. -- I checked those figures against a 250 watt PSU I have lying around. Its AC input is rated at 115v 6A -- which tells me that switching power supplies have a lower power factor, and/or lose more power to heat within themselves, than I had assumed above. Your PSU may not be good for much more than 200 watts.

(Then I discovered that I had missed the second page of this thread. You can ignore this post as unnecessary if you wish! :-/ )

 

Not a chance Rob M.! lol Information is too useful to disregard! You just helped me narrow down my search criteria... I either need a more powerful PSU than I thought, or one that does not have switching. Sounds useful to me!

Thank you for your input and time, feel free to chime in any time you want.

http://www.directron.com/mps3atx20.html

Have an opinion on this^ brand or specs? Thus far it is the only one I have found that seems to have the right physical dimensions.

HP says I have a Micro ATX form factor, but soooo many of the PSUs I look at that say they are a Micro ATX are too small to bolt up in my case.

 

Wattage = Current X Volts

127VAC X 4.0 Amps = 508 Watts

I think everything else has been said.

 

Unfortunately, it's not that simple when you're dealing with non-linear loads like computer PSUs. See APC's article on the difference between VA (which is what's calculated above) and watts.

Power factor varies somewhat with the type of electrical equipment. It's usually around 0.6 - 0.75. So the VA figure above (508VA) translates to something in the area of 508 x 0.7 = 355 watts. Or less.

But as I said above, that figure isn't the wattage that the PSU will provide the system. It's only the wattage that the PSU will draw when it's supplying its rated power to the system. The power available to the system will be considerably less. Note my observation re a 250w PSU in my previous post and do the math. Its VA figure calculates to 690VA. Yes, its maximum output in watts is not much more than a third of its input VA rating.

Different PSU manufacturers calculate the maximum rated load in slightly different ways. The conservative ones will use the figure developed by summing the maximum power available on every rail; others will give you the sum of the power available on two or three rails if the load on the other rails is nominal or even neglible. The latter PSU will not be able to maintain the voltage on those rails if there is significant draw on other rails.

The article at <http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/410/3> may be of interest to those who want more info on the accuracy of power supply ratings and reviews.