Dell upgrade - new vid card and PSU - halp?!

[teqvet]

Blah. Definitely goin to need some assistance on this. I was doing some reading on the Dimension 9110 and they made mention of BTX being used. I am not sure how/if this would effect me regarding the PSU type, as the majority of PSU's seem to eb ATX? Maybe it's a non issue for me period?

Here are the products I am currently looking at:

Thermaltake Purepower W0100RU ATX 12V 2.0 500W Power Supply - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817153052

Hanns·G HG-216DPB Black 21.6" 5ms Widescreen LCD Monitor - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824254028

SAPPHIRE 100226L Radeon HD 3850 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 HDCP Ready CrossFire Supported Video Card - Retail
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102715


This comes from the online service manual that can be found @ http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim9100/en/SM/specs.htm#wp1053343:

Processor
Processor type
Intel® Pentium® 4 Socket-T with Hyper-Threading or Dual-Core support

Cache
1 MB or 2 MB

Memory Type
dual-channel 400-, 533-, and 667-MHz DDR2

Memory connectors
four

Memory capacities
256 MB, 512 MB, or 1 GB

Minimum memory
512 MB

Maximum memory
4 GB

BIOS address
F0000h

Computer Information

Chipset
Intel 945P

DMA channels
eight

Interrupt levels
24

BIOS chip (NVRAM)
4 Mb

NIC
integrated-network interface capable of 10/100 communication

System clock
800- or 1066-MHz data rate

Video Type
PCI Express

Audio Type
internal 7.1 channel or PCI option cards

Expansion Bus

Bus type
PCI 32 bit
PCI Express x1, x4, and x16

Bus speed
PCI 33 MHz
PCI Express 100 MHz

Bus throughput
PCI Express:
x1 slot bidirectional speed — 500 MB/s
x4 slot bidirectional speed — 2 GB/s
x16 slot bidirectional speed — 8 GB/s

PCI

connectors
three

connector size
120 pins

connector data width (maximum)
32 bits

PCI Express
connector
one x1

connector size
36 pins

connector data width (maximum)
1 PCI Express lane

PCI Express
connector
one x4

connector size
98 pins

connector data width (maximum)
4 PCI Express lanes

PCI Express
connector
one x16

connector size
164 pins

connector data width (maximum)
16 PCI Express lanes

Drives

Externally accessible:
two 3.5-inch drive bays (FlexBay)

two 5.25-inch drive bays

Available devices
serial ATA drives (2), floppy drive, USB memory devices, CD drive, CD-RW drive, DVD drive, DVD-RW drive, Media Card Reader, and DVD/CD-RW combo drive

Internally accessible:
two 3.5-inch hard-drive bays

Connectors
External connectors:

IEEE 1394

one front-panel 6-pin serial connector (with optional card)

Video
15-pin VGA connector
28-pin DVI connector

Network adapter
RJ-45 connector

USB
two front-panel and five back-panel USB 2.0-compliant connectors

Audio
five back-panel connectors for line-in, line-out, microphone, surround, and center/Low Frequency Effects (LFE) channel; two front-panel connectors for headphones/microphone

System board connectors:
Primary IDE drive
40-pin connector

Serial ATA
four 7-pin connectors

FlexBay Drive

USB 10-pin header for optional floppy drive or optional Media Card Reader (3.5-inch bay devices)

Fan
two 3-pin and one 5-pin connector

PCI
three 120-pin connectors

PCI Express x1
36-pin connector

PCI Express x4
98-pin connector

PCI Express x16
164-pin connector

If any further info is needed to assist in advising, just let me know.

 

[teqvet]

Wow, after a lucky google (where earlier I had gotten no luck for some reason) I found that the PSU being used is in fact an ATX. The case is a BTX design, but that did not alter the PSU type that was being used, so it looks like I am safe there. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1712&page=3

 

[Noya]

Go for this Corsair (450watts, 33amps, 80+ effeciency, 5 year warranty) for $61 shipped, $51 after Corsair rebate
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx-450w-power-supply/q/loc/101/205466485.html

These monitors have much better reviews for a few dollars more than the Hans
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824252008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824009094

And if you really want to max out new games on a 1680x1050 monitor you may want to fork out some extra for a 512mb 8800GT, namely this very cool running Gigabyte model at $259. It's also the shortest 8800 out there and would probably fit your Dell case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125081
http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/view.php?cid=3&id=2435

Just look at the blue lines. Similar res to your soon to be monitor and OVER DOUBLE the frames for $59 more.
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics_2007.html?modelx=33&model1=1057&model2=1061&chart=278

So, $59 more for the 8800GT and $20-30 more for a better monitor will get you much more performance for less than $90 more than what you had in mind.

 

[teqvet]

How does that differ from the TT?

Sorry newbish.

 

[Noya]

How does that differ from the TT?

Sorry newbish.

TT...? ThermalTake?

First off, Corsair is regarded as one of the best mainstream power suppliers (actually made by Seasonic).

Lets see, the 450vx has 33amps on the +12v rail (what powers everything...performace video cards need lots of amps.) The TT has 2 @ 14 and 15 amps...which you would think = 29amps, but in reality it's probably more like 25amps or less. I don't know the math, but you can't just add the two +12v rails together.

Next, the 450vx has 85% effeciency while the TT has 70%. The higher the effeciency = less electricity turning to HEAT (and heat is the enemy of electronic components). If you look at well known and higher quality power supplies, they all have 80%+ effeciency ratings, to where the cheapest crap has 60-65% and so on.

Overall, the 450vx is just a much higher quality unit and well worth the extra $10'ish over the TT.


Also, I would advise you to almost never buy your PSU from newegg. Their prices are always on the high side (for PSU's) and they almost never have free shipping on the models worth buying.

Example:
$88 shipped:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139003&Tpk=corsair%2b450vx

$61 shipped with Google checkout:
http://www.buy.com/prod/corsair-vx-450w-power-supply/q/loc/101/205466485.html

and they both have $10 rebates.

 

[tlmck]

Total 12v wattage / 12 = 12v amperage.

 

[batuchka]

Hmm don't mean to sound like a wet blanket but with P4 + 8800 i am thinking on demanding games you'd find the processor bottlenecking in your system but if this is a eventual upgrade cycle that would lead to a completely new DIY rig in the future then go for itIf u want instant processor upgrade and not have to but OS then keep an eye out for cheap Dell motherboard sales. A Dimension 9150 lets u use up to Pentium D while 9200 gains access to a Quad. You wanna dabble with AMD dual cores then get an E521 mobo (going for peanuts) Either way you may want to ask questions and see if any of these could fit into your case but the plus side is there all BTX mobos ^^ Me? I concluded moving away from Dell/brandname computers since DIY makes me know exactly what is in my PC now and in the future