Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > New PSU for Inspiron 530/ATI 4850?

New PSU for Inspiron 530/ATI 4850?

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - New PSU for Inspiron 530/ATI 4850?

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Hello,

Not all that long ago I got an Inspiron 530 for a very budget price seeking to save money (student atm). Looking back, I'd definitely have saved my money until I had more to invest and learn how to build my own. However, hindsight being what it is, I purchased a http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6814102802 and quickly realized that my PSU will not be cutting it.

In a perfect world, I'd ebay the dell and build my own, but that not being the case I'm looking to replace the stock 305w PSU with something more up to par. I read some reviews and was looking at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 817171035. Is this something that will fit the bill for my Dell? From what I understand, I need a 24pin connector for my mobo and something for my vid card, hard drive, dvd drive, and the card dock included on the dell. I'm covered on the mobo connector, but i'm unsure of the rest. I would think the PSU's 6pin pcie to 6pin pcie connector would cover my vid card, but I'm confused because sapphire included a 6pin pcie to a 3 pin molex. I'm also not entirely sure what I need for the others, outside of sata.

So, tl;dr version: does this PSU fit the bill for my dell and new GPU? Is there something cheaper my student budget might look at? Told something like http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817703016 wouldn't be all bad for example.

Many thanks for any help/feedback.

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Any standard ATX power supply will fit in the 530. The coolermaster wouldn't be my first choice. Go with a 400w Corsair, 430w Antec Earthwatts or a 400w Seasonic.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817139008
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817371006
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Prod [...] 6817151061

All 3 listed have plenty of power for your system and the HD4850, all are top quality, over 80% efficiency and come with good warranties.

Reply to dirtmountain

In as much as I appreciate the budget suggestions (as I really don't think the rest of a Dell is worth anything more at this point), the 4850 claims it needs at least 450w. I realize that PSU wattage is not the end-all/be-all of PSU performance and that I'm definitely a luddite at this point, but doesn't that leave all of these PSU's leaving something to be desired?

Reply to oneeyedhobbit

They usually greatly inflate the power supply in their recommendations because they don't know the quality, age or the rest of the system. In this link to the latest $600 system builder marathon which uses a more powerful and power hungry graphic card you can see that the total system usage is at 256 watts (no overclock since yours isn't) giving you plenty of headroom.

 

http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 10-14.html


Message edited by dirtmountain on 07-07-2009 at 01:39:55 PM
Reply to dirtmountain

Thanks for the info. I need to crack my case open one more time after work to make sure I have connections for everything necessary. The only thing I'm not sure about is the card reader that came standard on the Dell. I'll definitely save some money and swing for a more budget friendly psu then.

Edit: Actually, is there anyway to test my power usage? Seeing the above machine perform so low is definitely encouraging, but its also a very different machine. I just want to make certain before I drop more cash on something.


Message edited by oneeyedhobbit on 07-07-2009 at 07:11:03 PM
Reply to oneeyedhobbit

Here's a link to a calculator.
http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

Here's a link to an excellent article with the best monitoring hardware i've seen yet to measure actual power usage. "PC power consumption: How many watts do we need? "

 

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/c [...] ttage.html

 

says Gaming computer : E8600/HD4850 system draws about 189 watts


Message edited by dirtmountain on 07-07-2009 at 11:57:30 PM
Reply to dirtmountain

Wow, thanks dirt. You've been extremely helpful =). Probably picking up the Antec as soon as I confirm that it will have all the cables/connectors I need. Thanks again =).

Reply to oneeyedhobbit
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