PC Power Supply Upgrade? (1 Viewer)

[Kraig Lang]

Hi All, Quick question for anyone who's done this. I have a great PC, but I think I've modded too much and need to upgrade the power supply. I'm assuming, anyway. The symptom I have is that when I crank up the graphics card (ATI 9700Pro) I lose signal on the monitor after a short period of time. [Edit] I've also had problems in the past with the recovery app that ATI puts in their drivers as well. I think it's called VPU Recover [End Edit]

The module I have is a Zinfandel PS2 (250W). It's an HP system, that I've added sound and graphics to.

Do you think that the power supply is the problem? Being an HP box, am I gonna have problems finding a compatible upgrade path?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks all,

Kraig

 

[Chris]

Can you give the details on the motherboard and/or other specs?

You might try running Everest or Belarc (http://www.belarc.com/) and post main details (motherboard model, CPU type, memory + drive IDs) then we can calculate your usage of power..

However, the ATI 9700 Pro has posted in the manual a requirement of a 300W or higher PS

 

[SethH]

There's a good chance that the PSU is proprietary. If so, HP will probably charge a ridiculous amount for it. My parents needed to get a new PSU for their gateway one time. After the quote of $200+ from gateway, they decided on a new computer instead.

 

[Kraig Lang]

That's sorta what I was thinking. I'm tempted to canabilize the darn thing and build from scratch. I hate that I have an OEM motherboard.

The system is as such;

P4 3.0e
HP OEM MOBO
1GB RAM
ATI 9700Pro
Audixy 2 ex
Couple of HDs

What I really hate about this is that the case has a frontside rack with all the USB, Firewire, and Memcard ports that anyone could ask for. If I switch, I lose all that and will need to buy more cards.

Well, I've got a call out to some local "Geek" shops. Depending on the response from them, I'll make my decision.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Chris]

Yeah, you're way over.. realistically, you should be looking at about a 350/400W supply.

 

[DaveNel]

Yeah but I would get a 500 watter just to be safe and also in case he adds anything else to the board that draws alot of watts. Better safe now than sorry later so he wont run into this again

 

[Harold Wazzu]

Antec TRUE PSUs are good ones I think a 430w would be perfect for you.

 

[Shane Roach]

Kraig,

If you do decide to rebuild the system in a new case, you won't necessarily lose your ports and card readers. Many cases have front-mounted USB, Firewire and audio jacks, and card readers that mount in a 3.5" floppy drive bay are plentiful and inexpensive.

As an aside, I recently retired my 4-year-old Compaq in favor of a new homemade monster. The PSU in the old machine was rated at 146W. My new PSU, an OCZ, is good for 520.

 

[Kraig Lang]

Well, it's pretty much shot. The power supply is definitely proprietary, and HP has no upgrade path available. Argh!

So now it looks like I'm on a quest. I've pretty much decided that after 10 year of playing with middle of the road PCs, I'm gonna go all out and get my dream system. I just haven't decided if I want to build my own or go with a pre-built.

I've been reading up on systems all day long and also spoke with a local shop. I've got a system set to pull the trigger on at Dell for $2794 after discounts and a $300 rebate. It's one of their XPS systems. Wow is really all I can say. I thought my system was good, but these. Holy Schnikes.

What I did was pull the parts list and sent it over to the local shop to see what it would be for them to get all the parts. To be honest though, I like the thought of having a 3 to 4 year warranty on a system that I would be spending that much on. If I built it myself, well, I don't know if I have the patience.

If I do this, the system I have now will either become a dedicated studio system in my music studio or dedicated home entertainment PC. Not quite sure yet.

Any input would be great, but I do thank you for all your help.

Kraig

 

[DaveNel]

Well thats not true, I just put a power supply in a HP case like that but you have to modify a little to get it to fit in the case. In fact the one I put in the case was only a 300 but thats all that was needed.

A dynex power supply will work fine.. But as I stated you will have to modify the case a little to get it to fit..

You can get these from best buy..

 

[SethH]

This may sound nuts, but look at the Dell Optiplex 280. I just got one at work. The thing's loaded, so I went to see how much it cost. It was about $2300. It has a 3.8GHz P4 and 2GB of DDR2 RAM. It also has a 250GB SATA hard drive and it's super quiet. It's also got a DVD burner and standard DVD drive. Oh yeah, and that price includes a 20" LCD monitor.

 

[Mike Fassler]

pc power and cooling makes aftermarket PSU's for oem type systems as well and they will fit and have the proper connectors on them.

 

[Walt Williams]

I upgraded the PSU in my HP to an Antec 350W a while ago. It did involve grinding a small piece off the back of the case but other than that it went smoothly. It's about a year and a half old and you probably have the same case. Actually I upgraded almost everything imaginable in it before I got sick of having a prefab computer and just built my own uber fast gaming rig.

 

[DaveNel]

Thats what I mentioned above, HP charges way to much for power supplies they have in HP computers. They are made like that so you have to buy one of theyre power supplies..

But if you look hard enough, You can go to best buy, get a power supply from them.. Modify a little .. like 5-10 minutes or so and that power supply will fit in the case..

HP price : $139.00
Best buy price : 54.00

Thats a big difference...