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OffTopic > I Need A New Power Supply

#168095 - the-anonymous-coward - Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:14 am

Thought I would run this by you guys while I pick my way through the internet learning. I don't know much about power supplies. There are a lot of articles on them, but not all are very clear or don't cover exactly what I am looking for. So, I need a new power supply to run my new graphics card (at least 450 watts). Here are my questions. If you could answer them or refer me to an article that covers all this, I would be grateful. BTW the card is a NVIDIA 9800 GTX.

- Will a more powerful power supply damage the stock hardware?
- Will any PS of sufficient wattage work?
- If not, what are the different kinds?
- The gfx card came with a power cable that is to be attacked to it and somewhere inside the computer, but I don't see where it would connect even if the stock PS was powerful enough. Am I missing it? Will the new PS have a connection for it?
- Do power supplies come in a standard size? How will I know if it will fit?

I will stop there. I am learning about this stuff and still looking elsewhere. Hopefully this will be the last mod I have to do for sometime. Oh, and if you're wondering why I bought the card without checking the wattage thing out, it was a gift and I made some mistakes in explaining things and blah blah blah. It is my fault, but hopefully I am not out of luck.

#168120 - Lynx - Fri Apr 10, 2009 3:31 pm

I'm guessing (without looking up that specific video card) that you need a P/S with PCI-E or SLI connectors on it.

Now, there is a standard size for ATX P/Ss but I have seen some cases that are a little tight with some P/Ss.

As for the rating,, it is the rating of current draw the P/S can handle. So, as long as you get one bigger than what is required to power your hardware, you should be fine. The only time it is an issue is if (for example) you buy a 280W P/S and have 5 hard drives, a few CD-ROM drives, etc.. where you are trying to pull more than 280W from the supply. This will cause it to overheat or fail prematurely, if it doesn't just shut down (overload protection). To help figure this out, you can use a P/S calculator. Here is a link to NewEgg.com's calculator.

Another thing is that you can't fully trust the ratings. I say it like that because if you go to a store that has the P/Ss out of the box, you can find two P/Ss that are both rated at 550W. But, when you pick up the $20 version in one hand, and the $90 version in the other, you can clearly feel the difference. The $90 version is built better, most likely has better components, and tend to have a better life span.

Normally when I'm looking for a P/S, I just make sure it has enough connectors for the hardware I am looking to power. If you need PCI-E or SLI power connectors, most likely you will end up in a wattage for power computers that draw that kind of power. Also, watch the number of SATA, Peripheral, floppy, etc. connectors. You don't want to buy a P/S that only has 2 sata connectors if you need more. Sure, there are adapters, but they just clutter the case up more.
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#168170 - the-anonymous-coward - Sun Apr 12, 2009 9:50 pm

Thanks. I am actually rushing to pack right now and will be out of town the next few days, but when I get back I will check this stuff out. Thanks for the help.