Hello, I'm thinking of buying a new psu so that I can upgrade to a better video card. Howerver, I am really scared and i don't really know how to do it. I have opened my Sony Vaio PC before just to take a look before, but I have never really messed with anything inside. I know I can replace the AGP video card and ram easily. (Just plug in and plug out), but the PSU is a different story. Can anyone please help me in a detailed safe step-by-step guide in installing a new power supply. My specs: p4 2.6 1 gig ddr ram ATI radeon 9600xt (upgrading to 7600gt, but I need a new psu). 300w crap psu. The psu I plan on getting is this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817153023 It was on the front page of Newegg and an "uber" deal, so I guess its good. Thanks And also, is that PSU compatible with my motherboard? Sorry I don't know much about PSU compatibility. I don't really know my motherboard, but I would guess its a standard Intel one that most consumer PC's come with. thx again And one last thing lol. I have an AGP 4x/8x slot, no PCI-express slot. Does that PSU still work with AGP 4x/8x interfaces? I'm just wondering, because on the connecters is a "PCI-E", so dunno. Thx alot.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO do not buy that power supply. It's Not what you want. For $40, buy the Fortron AX-400. WAY better. Depending on your sony vaio case, you may have a very small power supply in there, a micro ATX. If it measures about 4 inches, you may need to mod it. This can be as simple as just ghetto rigging it to the outside with duct tape, or with cutting the case and all. Assuming it's full size, you buy a better supply, it's just 4 screws on the back, pull it out, put in the new one. If it says PCI-E, that means it can support a pci-e card. It also means you can do AGP, PCI, whatever. It'll be fine.
Yeah, check the measurements of the existing one. Don't worry about electrocuting yourself, all the dangerous voltages are isolated inside the PSU and you can't touch them without breaking the PSU open. And yeah, that PSU looks rubbish tbh. Seasonic, Tagan, Enermax etc are much better. Get one from the above manufacturers that matches the physical dimensions of your existing one, and buy it. Then its a simple case of unplugging the old one (taking note of what you unplug) and hooking up the new one to all the places you unplugged the old one from. Bosch!
Actually, for what your doing that PSU is fine. I know someone who has it powering a similar system to yours, it works fine. Although the one the other guy said would probably be better, Thermaltake is not a bad brand from my experience.
Well i measured my psu and its 175mm WidthX95mm Legth\ and here is the nitty-gritty: 'm aiming for the Radeon x1650 Pro AGP card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814102057. Which requires a 400w psu i think. So the question is if this PSU http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104953 is good enough? Fixed links I heard FSP Group Forton is a great brand and lots of people reccomended it. Is it enough to power that card? Thanks.
Your PSU link isn't working. but it sounds like you're gonna need 480w+ or more? FSP are indeed good PSU's. You'd need at least the 500w model (US$90). But Hiper Type-R's are decent enough PSU's as well... and for the same price as that FSP... you could get the 580w [Modular] model. I've got three of those in different rigs meself (blue, red + black, to suit the various themes used in each rig ), and they both look good, and perform well
Most people severely overestimate their power needs, so in all reality you can take most suggestions for ratings with a grain of salt. My fileserver runs five hard drives, a DVD drive and whatever core's in the celeron Ds (might be prescott, I've longsince forgotten) plus a number of USB devices including an external USB-powered hard drive all fine on 300w. Mind you I want to stick my old 6800GT in there soon since my proper gaming rig isn't available and I doubt it could handle that (and I'm not risking a terabyte to find out), but a quality power supply tends to go a pretty long way. I'd avoid thermaltake PSUs regardless. They're decent enough for the money, but irritatingly loud. I like Antec units myself, but there are plenty of great brands out there. As for actually putting in a new one... I've never heard of someone electrocuting themselves doing so. Unless you go out of your way, I don't think it's even possible. What I'd suggest is having it plugged in but the main overall power switch on the back next to the plug set to off, so that it's grounded but not actually receiving any juice. That or fully unplugged if you feel more comfortable, but unless you crack open the box and start touching multiple metal points, you really can't harm yourself. Or at least I haven't, and I've done quite a few PSU installs, and I *have* opened the things up and poked around a bit (do NOT do that unless you know how to do it safely; I do). But all of the semi-exposed metal bits are sheathed in plastic... you're at a higher risk of electrocution just plugging in any ol' plug to the mains outlets, since for a very brief period there's live metal exposed. A system of that level will NOT need 500+ watts; I think 400w or so should be enough like Bbq said (well, I'm assuming that model is 400w, going by the 400 in the name). But on the other hand, extra never hurts (unless it's some crap brand with artifically high numbers) and if you need to upgrade the system again later, it's one less component that needs to be bought again. Only PSU dimension you'd need to be concerned about is depth, as height and width are industry standard (at least excluding proprietary stuff). And unless you're in the massive 650w+ units, they're all close to the same depth as well.
i think the 7600gt is a far better card than the x1600pro's as well the 7600 clock real well too for a extra boost
Antec is good, so are tagan, seasonic, enermax. many theraltake are crap but not all, depending on your budget. have no fear u shall not die, im 14 : ) and i have already had 2 dead psu blow and im stil alive ... hopefully
400 watts is fine for what it looks like you are running...that thermaltake u put on there has a pretty low eff rating, but again, for what you are running u are prolly fine...between the two you are looking at id prolly go fortron
