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Power supply advice

sehuirotosehuiroto Registered User new member
edited April 2009 in Moe's Stupid Technology Tavern
I've decided it's finally time to upgrade my video card. The GeForce 9800 GT is what I have decided on. Reviews of the card have stated that it is best to upgrade your power supply before installing it. My PC is now a few years old. It's a Dell Dimension E510 and comes with the standard 305w power supply. A 450w to 500w is what is recommended by people that have purchased this card. PC gaming has never really been at the top of my list, but I do want to be able to play the great games that do happen to come out on PC; games like Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3 to name a few, are the reason for this upgrade. What would be the most cost effective PSU to purchase for my needs? Which will work with my current PC? I appreciate any help that I can get. Thanks.

sehuiroto on

Posts

  • ScrubletScrublet Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    With more system specs (CPU, drives, etc.), people here can recommend you a power supply. However, I'm not sure if you'll be able to upgrade your Dell. I remember I had a Dell a long time ago, one of their last systems in beige cases before they went with their dark blue/purple color scheme. The Dell I had then was heavily proprietary. I don't know how feasible it is to pull a supply out of the current ones and replace it.

    If someone can confirm that you can ditch the power supply, I prefer Enermax these days. This $50 rebate supply from Newegg would probably more than cover you.

    Scrublet on
    subedii wrote: »
    I hear PC gaming is huge off the coast of Somalia right now.

    PSN: TheScrublet
  • Desert_Eagle25Desert_Eagle25 Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    PC Power and Cooling and Corsair are your best bets for upper-echelon power supplies. Great track records for both companies. Again, try Newegg.com.

    Make sure to get a PSU that uses a SINGLE 12v rail (not 2-3, more rails = bad) running at the highest Amperage you can. For example, i'm running on a PC Power and Cooling PSU... 650W, 12v1@49A, which means its 650 Watts, a single 12v rail, running at 49A.

    Desert_Eagle25 on
  • FryholeFryhole Registered User regular
    edited April 2009
    Scrublet wrote: »
    With more system specs (CPU, drives, etc.), people here can recommend you a power supply. However, I'm not sure if you'll be able to upgrade your Dell. I remember I had a Dell a long time ago, one of their last systems in beige cases before they went with their dark blue/purple color scheme. The Dell I had then was heavily proprietary. I don't know how feasible it is to pull a supply out of the current ones and replace it.

    If someone can confirm that you can ditch the power supply, I prefer Enermax these days. This $50 rebate supply from Newegg would probably more than cover you.

    This is good advice - I just worked on somebody's Dell, they had the PSU hanging out of the case, because they didn't know wtf they were doing and bought one that didn't fit. :winky:

    Fryhole on
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