Psu

I am looking to replace the psu in my tower as I think it is past its sell by date :-D (just like me!!) it has served me well, nearly five years, though it has never been over stressed but I believe that psu's lose alot of efficency about 20% for each year or there abouts, so I am guessing that mine is near death!! anyway I was wanting to know if this type of psu that I am looking at as a replacement is good enough for my rig.......

http://pcsuppliers.co.uk/product_P5...ilder_Series_500_Watt_Power_Supply_ATX_Uk.htm

bare in mind that I am in the U.K and cannot order from newegg!!

I am not on the machine at the moment to be able to tell you what components are in the shell, all I can say is it has AMD Dual Core 4000+ cpu 1gb ddr2 pc-6400 (soon to be replaced with a 2gb dual kit ordered today) 160gb hdd Nvid vid card (unsure as to what series but I think it is a 700) unsure also about psu (350w I think).

iain.t :major

 

That one will surely last you ten years but I find it expensive and somewhat overpowered for you. However, it's an excellent product and will be good for a new build down the road.

 

Hi IainT

That will do fine. I have a Corsair HX470 in my main rig which is only slightly more powerful than yours. The HX Series are modular which is a big plus for me. I hate having unused cables cluttering up my case.

I have never bought from that site but they seem good on price and if you have used them then stick with it. I get most of my components for performance systems from OverclockersUK (who are a bit pricey but soecialise in high end stuff) and more generic stuff from ebuyer and dabs.

I am not a psu expert but Corsair seem to have rebranded their PSUs into Builder, ethusiast and professional series with a few HX series left over. The builder series would appear to be the entry level.

I found this one on overclockers which is slightly cheaper than the corsair on the same site. If you are not bothered about modular then OCZ do one fo £40. Personally I would be choosing between the one you have linked too and this one. I like both Corsair and OCZ
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-037-OC&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1098

 

Thanks for both of your insight on this, I am going to go ahead and buy the corsair today , I am a little confused about the ammount of RAM my board can take... on crucial scanner it says that I have 4 slots that can hold 2GB in each a total of 8GB,same result in speccy, though I have only 2 slots on the board, so that would mean that I can only put a max of 4GB?? why is it that speccy and crucial are saying I have more slots than what I have available :confused.

Thanks for the input

Iain.

 

Do you know your motherboard name and model?

 

I have attached my speccy log for you to have a look over.

 

Is this the board, Biostar? Only 2 gigs for this one if I'm right. Tough board to find, was this a prebuilt?

 

Your "motherboard" seems to relate to the chipset on the board rather than the motherboard make and model.

NF-MCP61

ie NVidia N-Force MCP61

Is your PC home built or pre-built? if pre-built what is the make and model?

Have a look on the board itself. Sometimes it is written on the board.

I suspect that your chipset is what specifies the max amount of RAM per chanel is but the manufacturer can chose how many chanels to install. If your board has two slots then the max is prob 4GB. That said I doubt you will get a big performance increase above 4GB.

 

Posted at same time

 

Hi thanks again for the input, I bought the rig second user but it was a homebuild,with a "snide" copy of OS installed so I put XP pro on when I got it (2008 ish) and recently upgraded to 7 Ultimate, I am awaiting for my new RAM arriving (ddr2 pc6400 800mhz 2GB) when i open the case to replace the ram I will look to see if I can Identify the motherboards manufacturer.

Iain.

 

Hi,
The board that I have in the tower is an ECS HT2000.....

http://www.ecs.com.tw/ECSWebSite/Pr...x?DetailID=789&CategoryID=1&MenuID=21&LanID=8

Thanks.

 

I take it this link answers your question about RAM?

 

Yep : 4GB max / 2GB max in each slot using Dual Channel DDR2 PC2 6400 800mhz.

Thanks again for the input, just wondering though, is this a good board to have ??, I haven't had any issues with it over the 4yrs I have had it, an it seems to be ready enough for it to be future proof!!.
Also the Vid card that I put in ha squite a large alley heatsink that sits on the on boards vid chips heatsink will this cause any issues ?? I will take a pic' and upload it so you can see what i mean.

Iain.

 

Just use HWMonitor occasionally to check your temps. Anything over 80C, be it AMD or Intel is a serious concern, I keep my Intels @ 70C.

 

Thanks augie,
these were the readings that speccy gave me on the last report...

CPU : AMD Athlon 64 X2 4000+ 36 °C
Motherboard : NF-MCP61 (Socket M2 ) 40 °C
Graphics : 256MB GeForce 7300 LE (MSI) 52 °C

I will use that utility that you suggested to keep an eye on it .

Iain.

 

Im not that familiar with it but it is still working and does what you want so I would say it is spot on... My philosophy is if it aint broke, dont fix it. My rig is about five years old and still does what I want so I see no point in changing it (although I have just ordered a new HD coz mine is becoming full, and I am toying with the adding some extra RAM like yourself )

Glad your all sorted.

 

That extra gig of ram has gave it a new lease of life :-D i might need to put a seatbelt on it if i upgraded to its max :-D:-D.
Thanks again.

Iain.