PSU Upgrade for DELL C521

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

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

...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.

The 8600GT from MSI will run perfectly, even OC'd on the standard dell c521 PSU, I bought one of them not long ago and I've never had any problems with it. It's borderline but it should be fine.

This would REALLY be stretching it, but do you think the C521 PSU could handle a low profile 9600 GT?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814162016

I figure it can't use that much more power than an 8600 GTS as it has a 55nm vs. 65nm core size.

I went to my local Microcenter and upgraded my C521.

I got the Socket AM2 6000+ 3.1 Ghz Dual Core Processor, 4GB DDR2 Ram and a Geforce 9400GT 512MB Graphics and have no problems at all. The 9400Gt is a Low-Profile compatible but I had to buy the Lo-profile kit seprate. It comes with a VGA Extention for the graphics card to make everything fit up right and the little metal brackets that go in the back. Also got a DVI cable thats running my 24" widescreen LCD Monitor.
System runs great. I think Dell just Under-rates there Power Suply's...

My opinion is BUY THE GEFORCE 9400GT its 2x better than the 8400GS and has 1080p support.

Actually the specs i found was that we had a 305 Watt PSU. The 9400GT states it needs 300watts or greater but if you owned a company wouldn't you over state things like that just a little bit to cover your a** so you dont blow peoples systems up... Think about it.

(metaphore) I know im right at the edge of the cliff, But I stopped just in time so I dont fall. Now imma sit back and watch the sunrise.

I'm not big on PC Games but I do play Xbox 360 & PS3 Roms and play em on my computer. Plus I dont get the red ring of death on that crappy xbox lol!

Mastermind 4.0,

darkhalls,
Take the measurements of your psu, then do a google search for " TFX power supplies" ( without the quotes )

TFX is thin form factor, they may be out there, but I haven't seen any over 300 watts.

Hi Mastermind

Thanks for the info. Glad I didn't just rely on the standard 280w. Seems an external PSU is definitely the way to go and the cheapest option. I would be interested to see how you have mounted yours, if you wouldn't mind providing a picture. Its not something I've had to do before, so knowing how you did yours would be useful!

Thanks!

Sorry forgot it was a forum. lol