Should I upgrade my power supply?

[SlimNinja]

I have a 3Ghz P4 Dell Dimension 5150 (also known as the E510), little over a year old. It has the stock 305W PSU. Over time I've upgraded and added stuff....It currently has 2 optical drives, 2 hard drives, 1.5GB RAM, and a Geforce 6800 video card.

Am I living on the edge? Should I upgrade my PSU? I called PC Power & Cooling, they said the Silencer 470 ATX would fit my computer....Guess Dell quit using proprietary stuff, eh?

Thanks

 

[doolittle]

Really, I always thought the dell's needed the power switch removed - maybe they meant this Silencer 470 Dell unit?

 

[SlimNinja]

Really, I always thought the dell's needed the power switch removed - maybe they meant this Silencer 470 Dell unit?

Hmm, they didn't mention that....the guy on the phone just said that theres so little piece of plastic in between the PSU and the side of the case that makes it a tight fit, but that was all. :?

Looking at the back of the case though, it doesnt look like it makes any difference. The power switch doesnt interfere with anything that I can see.

 

[doolittle]

Well that is good, I recall having to take my roto-zip to a few dell's back in the day

But if that is the case, I would try and use any ATX PSU (well maybe with similiar dimensions) unless you want to pay for PCP&C's top-notch quality & reliability.

 

[SlimNinja]

Well that is good, I recall having to take my roto-zip to a few dell's back in the day

But if that is the case, I would try and use any ATX PSU (well maybe with similiar dimensions) unless you want to pay for PCP&C's top-notch quality & reliability.

Well, considering I'd be paying nearly as much for a good quality PSU from another manufacturer, I might as well get the best....rather important part there.

 

[SlimNinja]

BTW, anything I should know when I go to install it....I just replace the old one, plug the connectors into the appropriate things and boot er up?

 

[doolittle]

yep it's that easy, the new PCP&C unit should have a few extra connectors so zip-ties are your friend.

I have an older turbo-cool 510 ATX unit in my fileserver - I sleep very well at night 8)