Hi, Like many others, I'm looking to upgrade my DELL C521 slim case PC for gaming. I know, I should have put more effort into my original PC selection but here we are. It will be some time before I can afford a new one. I've had some good advice on the graphics card, the MSI 8600GT (www.ebuyer.com) which is low profile so it fits no problem. The main worry is power, The DELL C521 comes with a 280 W PSU, heat dissapation is 955.39 BTU/hr maximum. The MSI 8600 GT graphics card asks for a 400W PSU. So, where do I begin to find out about PSU's ? makes/models/compatibility ? Could I damage the current PSU if I just plugged it ? or are there automatic cut outs for high current / high temp ? Any help here is very much appreciated. regards dblyth2007
Check with PCPower and cooling .com they sell PSU's that fit some Dells.
Its ok, monitored the current before (with Radeon X3100 Pro) and after with the MSI 8600 GT. It only changed from about 0.75A peak to 0.8A peak @ 230/240 VAC. Well within the spec of the 280W PSU, unless I'm missing something. Thanks
yeah... just a bit... Bobb was referring to the web site: PC Power and Cooling. This company manufactures and sells power supply replacements for some Dell systems. -Wolf sends Edit: Doesn't look like they have one though.
...Ah, I see where you're coming from, I did understand that Bob was refering to websites. I monitored the current because I was desperate to just plug it in and see what improvement it made to Gears of War. Nice :-) Peak watts jumped from 172W to 184W, so no problem with my PSU and system works fine, even over clocking the GPU to 700 and Mem to 900. I guess MSI specify 400W just to cover themselves on more power hungry gaming machines. Thanks for taking a look.
Just as a confirmation, I recently upgraded my Dell c521 and it is running AWESOME now! Athlon X2 5400 2.8 gHz 4 gb OCZ 800 mHz RAM Chaintech 8600gt 512 mB 160 gb SATA HD 16x SATA DVD RW+ No problems with stock 280W PSU and stock cooling, and all for less than $250.
