Replacing power supply (1 Viewer)

[Jon_Are]

Looks like I have a dead power supply on my back-up PC, so I'm looking for a cheap, generic replacement.

What considerations (as far as specs) should I pay attention to? I assume I should get the same wattage...what else is important?

Are the generic power supplies compatible with most anything, assuming specs are pretty well matched up?

Thanks,

Jon

 

[dberthia]

How to Choose a Computer Power Supply

 

[Nathan Eddy]

I hope that link above wasn't your only resource! Choosing a power supply unit is a lot more complicated, especially if you are upgrading anything demanding (powerful new video card, for instance).

However, it sounds like you were only upgrading the PSU. Now, I've never had a PSU go out on me, but it's definitely not unheard of since manufactures will stick cheap, barely-powerful-enough PSUs in there. If you've added lots of ram, drives, audio cards, graphics cards, too little power may have been the reason it went out to begin with--you were trying to run too much with it. And, you could damage the components in your computer, or just make it unstable without enough clean, steady power (but you probably know that from HT gear).

There are calculators online that allow you to input your processor, ram, components, etc. to see how many watts you need, and exactly how you need them (different "rails"), etc. I'd definitely recommend getting something a little bigger than you need if you ever plan on upgrading (or already have upgraded) *anything.*

I picked up a new Antec Truepower Trio 550W, SLI ready, for $70 when a local Compusa went out of business recently. I upgraded to a new video card, and needed to make sure I could power it (still intended on doubling ram). A nice jump over my 305W that 2-yr-old Dell came with, and it's an *excellent* PSU. You can get something cheaper, less powerful, if your needs are less. But this one can now be had for as low as $59 online, apparently.