Replacing a psu in an old computer for my parents

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axlrose

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Jun 11, 2008
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okay, so my parents surf the web and send e-mail and that's about the extent of their computer use. they have a six year old computer that just went out in a storm. it appears it fried the psu. i am thinking of getting them a new psu first to see if that solves the problem. if everything else is still working, i can save them the $1000 they were willing to budget for me to build them a new pc that would surf the net. i was thinking of this for $50 as it would be more power than it pc would ever use, but in the even that i put it in and there were other problems, it would work fine for a new build anyway.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=17-139-004

is there anyway to save myself some future issue by knowing if this would not fit in their tower for some reason or whatever might be an issue with buying a new psu for a six year old big box store computer?

thanks guys.
 
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shovenose

shovenose

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@thechief73: i tried shaking a stick at an old fsp 300w psu i had sitting in the garage. nothing happened :)

@axlrose: yes i agree with ct1615's suggestion of the antec earthwatts 380d. its a great psu for a great price
 
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thechief73

thechief73

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^Six years old, It should still be an ATX 12v with the 24pin motherboard power conector.

Just in case count the number of pins on the motherboard power connector, if it has 20, pick up an ATX 12v PSU with 20+4pin(alot of modern PSU's have this anyways), if it has 24pins any modern PSU will be fine.
 
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axlrose

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the earthwatts is on its way. i couldn't pass it up for $25. you guys were spot on there. i'll have to open up the old pc and see if the pins are the same or not. if it's 20 instead of 24, can i still find that?

thanks guys.
 
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J

JDFan

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Should be fine unless the system is a DELL (six years ago they were using a propeitary wiring pinout on the MOBO connector so if it is be sure to check that the wiring on the 20 in is correct !) -- they swapped a couple of pins so if you plug a non DELL psu into the DELL MOBO it will not start and if you plug the DELL PSU into a non dell MOBO it would burn it out !!

From WIKIPEDIA :

Issues with Dell power supplies

Older Dell computers, particularly those from the Pentium II and III times, are notable for using proprietary power wiring on their power supplies and motherboards. While the motherboard connectors appear to be standard ATX, and will actually fit a standard power supply, they are not compatible. Not only have wires been switched from one location to another, but the number of wires for a given voltage have been changed. Thus, the pins cannot simply be rearranged.[2]

The change affects not only 20-pin ATX connectors, but also auxiliary 6-pin connectors. Modern Dell systems might use standard ATX connectors.[3] Dell PC owners should be careful when attempting to mix non-Dell motherboards and power supplies, as it can cause damage to the power supply or other components. If the power supply color coding on the wiring does not match ATX standards, then it is probably proprietary. Wiring diagrams for Dell systems are usually available on Dell's support page.
Click to expand...
 
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