Guide for Selecting a Power Supply

[milkyway44]

Thank you for the reply, Dave.  🙂

I will have to get in the case and look.  Not sure if I will do that today or if I will hit it later when I'm home (I'm still in the city with my computer and I haven't exactly been feeling dandy...I broke out a blanket last night, because I couldn't keep warm!).  And it sounds like I need to pick out the PSU and vid card at roughly the same time.  Not really a problem, though, since I was getting the PSU for the vid anyway 🙂

As for the case, yeah if I could do like I did my last PC, I just left the side of the case off.  Didn't have any heat issues.  Did have to clean it more, but either you have heat issues or you clean.  Not sure how well that would work with this case, especially if the case is designed to suck out air and such.  I still have a lot of exploring to do with it (I have done a little optimising on Windows, though, shutting off unneeded services and some other things...that Remote Registry service really made my eyes widen when I saw it...wow!  talk about a bad idea!  immediately after I disabled mine, I disabled it on my sister's desktop here in the same room, too!).

Anyway, I really should eat my food, but if I have more questions, I will pop back up and ask them.  I'm not afraid to ask questions!  😉

[JWegge]

I have 4 working pavilion media centers (from m7067c to m8100cto) which I know use ATX power supplies.  Each of the original power supplies used a "side" in-take vent and fan to blow heat out the rear.  I just replaced the original m8100cto power supply with an Antec Earthwatts 500W which had a similar fan configuation to the original HP power supply.

It appears to be a tight fit between the top of the power supply and the case top.... but many higher wattage ATX power supplies now seem to have their in-take vent on the top of the power supply rather than side.  Will I have an airflow problem if the next replacement power supply has the in-take vent on the top of rather than rear?

Thanks for any guidance.

JWegge

[cla-2010]

I'm going to by a new PC desktop HPG5220it, but I'm not able to find which kind of PSU is provided by default,

can you help me to find this info?

my intention is to upgrade this PC with a video card e.g. HD5670 or HD5750 & I'm concerned about PSU watts

thanks a lot in advance

cla

[erico]

Hi,

---

@cla-2010 wrote:

I'm going to by a new PC desktop HPG5220it, but I'm not able to find which kind of PSU is provided by default,

can you help me to find this info?

my intention is to upgrade this PC with a video card e.g. HD5670 or HD5750 & I'm concerned about PSU watts

thanks a lot in advance

cla

---

Your PC has a mid-sized ATX case thus an ATX motherboard (M2N68-LA (NARRA6) mfgegatron

The OEM PSU is 300W and has no six pin PCIe connector (which both the HD5670 and 5750 require)

You will need a PSU that supplies a minimum of 400 Watts and has a six pin PCIe connector.  ATX12V / EPS12v 

I suggest the OCZ StealthXstream II found at Newegg.

Happy holidays,

erico

[erico]

Hi,

---

@cla-2010 wrote:

I'm going to by a new PC desktop HPG5220it, but I'm not able to find which kind of PSU is provided by default,

can you help me to find this info?

my intention is to upgrade this PC with a video card e.g. HD5670 or HD5750 & I'm concerned about PSU watts

thanks a lot in advance

cla

---

Your PC has a mid-sized ATX case and a micro ATX motherboard (M2N68-LA (NARRA6) mfgegatron

The OEM PSU is 300W and has no six pin PCIe connector (which both the HD5670 and 5750 require)

You will need a PSU that supplies a minimum of 400 Watts and has a six pin PCIe connector.  ATX12V / EPS12v 

I suggest the OCZ StealthXstream II found at Newegg.

Happy holidays,

erico

[zachhhhh]

hi, don't know if i'm supposed to post this here or not:

http://h30434.www3.hp.com/t5/Desktop-Hardware/upgrading-my-PSU-and-graphic-card/td-p/432139

help would be appreciated, thanks

[JNagarya]

Can't find a better place to post this query --

Want to upgrade a Bestec ATX-300-12Z Rev. CDR PSU sufficient for the following. 

System is an HP Pavilion a1253w Media Center with:

AMD 64 4000+ CPU (upgrade from 3200+)

4 GB RAM (upgrade from 512)

1 Floppy (added)

1 CDRW-DVD Read/Write Optical (came with model)

1 Blu-Ray Optical (added)

2 Seagate Barracuda 500GB SATA HDs (replaced single 100GB)

And while I'm at it, advice on HDMI (no onboard SPDIF)/VGA/DVI Graphics card to replace onboard graphics. 

No gaming; video only, out to 32" Samsung HDTV and Samsung 21" Monitor.  Both HDTV and Monitor have HDMI and DVI as two of three options.

In short, machine needs a PSU upgrade even without graphics card upgrade, so that is the first consideration.

Thanks.

[Big_Dave]

JNagarya,

You should open up your PC and measure the physical dimensions of your power supply.  Here is a list of things to consider:

1. Specifications
2. Total wattage - important
3. 12+ volt amperage rating - important
4. Modular - not mandatory but I like the flexibility
5. Warranty
6. i7 and SLI ready
7. Efficiency rating
8. Cost
9. Physical size -- standard ATX PSU is 5.5" by 5.9" by 3.4" give or take a few tenths

www.newegg.com has lots of PSUs choices.  Corsair, OCZ, Rosewill, Thermaltake.....

If a standard size PSU will fit then the Corsair VX 550 is a good choice. On the video card replacement, I like the newer NVIDIA 450 or 460 1GB models.  They seem to have better backwards compatibility with older PCs.

Review the ATI and NVIDIA performance specifications. Look at the memory bandwidth specifications and the DirectX level support.

How to replace a power supply.

How to replace a video card.

[JNagarya]

Big Dave --

As you know, or should know, I posted equivalent query in another forum, some days ago, clearly identifying the machine -- and your response was to ask me to identify the machine.  I responded by pointing out that I had clearly identified the machine, and how you could determine that by reading the "Subject" line.  As you also know, you've not responded to that post.

For the others here who are knowledgeable and responsive: 

1.  The machine is an HP Pavilion Media Center a1253w.

2.  The power supply is a Bestec ATX-300-12Z Rev. CDR.

Here are facts to consider, "Big Dave":

1.  A query should receive response; and the response should be specific to the query, not instead canned boilerplate.

2.  There is no rule as to which order a computer upgrade must be done.  I requested information as to which cards -- "cards" being plural -- would be compatible with that machine, the intent being to evaluate a range of compatible cards, rather than being limited to someone else's choice of one.  The card chosen (and the machine as currently configured) would then determine the power supply to buy.  Perhaps my preferring to do it in reverse of the usual order -- power supply first, card second -- confused you.

3.  I am not a newbie.  As for your advice to "open up your PC": I did so in order to upgrade the processor, install the RAM upgrade, install the two SATAs and floppy, the additional optical drive, etc.  That's also how I determined the model number of the current power supply. 

4.  I have read the entire thread, and picked up from it some useful tips -- such as measuring the power supply dimensions (a useful bit of information I note you picked up and added to your boilerplate).  Also in reading the entire thread I noted that your response to queries is always the same boilerplate, regardless the specificis of the query.

5.  As for specifications and total wattage of the existing power supply: a guide, but ultimately irrelevant, as that is to be replaced.  The +12 amperage is 19.  The current configuration of the machine -- 4GB RAM, 2 Optical drives, 2 500GB SATA drives, etc. -- and the card I would choose would determine the power supply requirements.

6.  This is the HP website; the bare facts of the makeup of the machine I did not provide are readily available, and can be found should additional information be needed.  

7.  "i7 and SLI ready".  The board is an Asus/Amberine, 939 Slot, and the limits on processor upgrades are in the online specs.  I upgraded the processor, as I believe I noted, from shipped-with AMD 64 3200+ to AMD 64 4000+.  I would have upgraded to AMD 64 X2 4800+, the maximum processor the board will take according to the online specs, but the price for them is over-the-top.

8.  As for other items in your boilerplate: total wattage appears to be 300; but the sticker also says, "Maximum Wattage: 288".

If the "Corsair VX 550" is 550 Watts, but, say, 400 or 450 Watts would provide ample headroom, 550 would be overkill, and threaten the life of the wallet.  And I'm happy for you that you like the "newer NVidia 450 or 460 1GB models".  Still, I'd rather look at a range of cards, as I might not have the same likes as you.

Thus my query is met with your usual boilerplate, some of it obviously inapplicable ("i7"-ready; I have no idea as to the meaning of "SLI"; is it too inapplicalbe?), instead of being answered.  I find it tiresome and tiring to have to ask the same question twice -- now three times -- only to get, first, no response; and then boilerplate which is abstract, general, vague, and not tailored to the particular question.  I'll bet you too find it tiresome and tiring to ask the same question more than once because all you get in response is boilerplate which doesn't answer the specific question.

What I don't know how to do is the math by means of which to determine the optimal wattage of the power supply.  The prupose of this machine is watching film, and perhaps a small amount of video editing; absolutely no "gaming".

As for power supply: I would prefer a suggested range which includes more than the high end brands typically recommended here; certainly there are power supplies of sufficient quality which don't cost an arm-and-a-leg. 

[Big_Dave]

JNagarya,

I sent you an offline message.