Power supply upgrade for HP XW4200

[Deputy]

Looking to you guys for help. I have an HP XW4200. It curently has a standard 400 watt power supply, Pentium 4 3.8GIG procerssor (dual core), 4 gig of RAM, and an nVidia 9600GT with 2 GIG RAM on Windows XP. So far it has been runnign quite well. No overheating and the 400 watt power supply has been adequate. However, I would like to up the wattage in the power supply so I can take advantage of newer, more powerful video cards. Here's the problem. The power supply in the comp is a "proprietary power suppy. So I can't just order any old power supply and bolt it in. HP did make an "upgrade kit" of a 500 watt power supply. The part number is PK746A. That is what I would like to find. I searched but haven't been able to locate one. I use the computer mainly for gaming. It has been more than adequate so far. I just wanted to up it's abiities so I can run a more capable graphics card. My money tree died last year so I am NOT able to buy a whole new comp just to play games :lol:

Absolute last resort is trying to find a power supply that would fit in the case and have higher wattage. I would most likely have to drill new mounting holes as the current power supply doesn't use the same bolt pattern as new ones. Also not sure whether the connections would all be there.
Also, the current power supply uses a 24 Pin connector. Not sure what that means
Dep

 

[holdingholder]

Well first, I think you are actually running a p4 with hyper-threading, not a dual-core, with hyper-threading it will still show up as two CPU's in device manager. Therefore, I would suggest to you that upgrading the psu so you can upgrade your graphics card probably would not be worth it since any modern card worth it's salt that needs such power would probably be severely bottle-necked by your CPU. GPU'S that would be able to run on your current power supply are probably more up your alley. I'm not much of an ATI/AMD graphics guy but I think that I've heard that the 5770 is capable with such a psu, but even that I think would be held back by your processor.

 

[Deputy]

Ahhhh...yes it has Hyper-threading, so that would explain the dual core indications. I will look into the 5770. I'm not much on ATI either, but if it would help me out, I would take the gamble. I was under the impression that newer video cards take the load OFF the processor and that was one of their big advantages. I don't picture running a "killer card", maybe something like a GeForce GTX 560. Which is probably the equivalent of the ATI card you mentioned. Still, I would like to find that power supply if possible. I sent of couple of e-mails out to some comp parts sources in Canada and England. Maybe I'll get lucky

 

[Deputy]

Anyone else know where I can get the PK746A made by Hewlett Packard or any other power supply that would fit my system?