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[tuftedduck]

I am wondering if I may tap into the experience and knowledge of the techy experts for a bit of advice on the subject of a replacement psu.

Over the last few months various important components have failed and been replaced and what passes for the TD mind has been whirling around with the thought that his psu may well benefit from a wee bit looking at. It is functioning without problem at the moment but it has been pumping power into the pc for about twelve hours a day for about six years now, and, aware of the horror stories about what can occur if it were to fail in mid flight, I thought about replacing it............just in case.

The question is which new one to get, or at least what sort of power I would need.

I have an Asrock AliveNF6G-VSTA mobo with onboard graphics, have two seagate internal Hdds, one at 80Gbs about a year old as master and a 160Gbs about 6 months old as slave. The psu also powers a cd writer and a dvd reader, oh and a wee floppy drive.

My printers, scanner, monitor and external HDD have their own power sources from the mains, the only usb devices taking power from the pc are the sppedtouch 330 modem and the multi-card reader.

I would imagine that a fairly bog-standard job would do ( given the correct dimensions to fit in the case.............don't know what these dimensions are off the top of my head and without digging into the tower, but I imagine that they are all much of a muchness.)

Would appreciate any guidance and advice. Thank you.

[dave.m]

TD,
Chickenkiller (SORRY about his name) and Tom Royal both came up with options in this thread:
http://forums.vnunet.com/thread.jspa?threadID=137276&tstart=0

I just Googled PSU for your MOBO model
http://tinyurl.com/6myg6r

dave

I didn't pick his username, 

[tuftedduck]

Chickenkiller ? 

Thank you for the links and info.............should have done a bit of googling myself. I had not realised that psus were or can be mobo specific to some extent.

Will read up, and then part with some brass. 

[Floydoid]

I don't know what the wattage of your current PSU is, but I'd recommend you go for at least 450W.  A little while back I went a 'cheap & cheerful one' and find it does the job, is quiet and doesn't overheat like the old one did.

Same brand as the one I got: http://www.ebuyer.com/product/120676 (should suit you down to the ground)

Note, the main power connector is '20+4' - for an older mobo you won't need the +4 bit which handily detaches from the 20-pin connector.

[tuftedduck]

Thank you, also.

[oldfogy]

When and if you do eventually change your PSU, one thing to check on is if it comes out of standby without any problems.

I say this because a couple of years ago I changed the case on my (original Medion) PC and after that standby would not work.
I always ended up having to turn it off and back on at the wall socket to get the PC back on.
Although it's never been a real big problem as I very rarely leave the PC idle anyway, so I never ever got the problem sorted, and the PC still works fine as is.

To follow on from the above:

Earlier this year I decided to upgrade the PSU to a 650watt, only to find the PC would not even start at all, although the new PSU works fine on a couple of other systems it was tested on.
I then noticed that both the old and new PSU were of the same make.
(not the make as originally supplied with the system)
So it could well be something my Mobo does not like with this brand of PSU.

Fortunately it did not cost too much £26.00 so it's still in the box waiting to be used elsewhere.

[tuftedduck]

Thank you all for your comments, advices and links.

Thank you, OF, for the cautionary tales.

The more I think of the potential horrendous consequences of getting this wrong, the more I think of the veritible national grid of wires and cables in the tower, the more I think that I would be happier to take the machine in to the local rebuild techie and ask him to do the needful.
Cost money, but could very well be the safest option.

I know, I'm a coward..............but I would be a coward with a working machine and not an expensive door-stop.

[roseway]

It's an easy enough job to do, once you've done it for the first time, but it probably is a bit daunting when you haven't done it before. Getting the techie to do it shouldn't cost a fortune - it would only take him about 20 minutes.

[tuftedduck]

An update on this thread, and a chance for TD to tell the world how proud he is of himself 

I had bought a new psu after taking all the above advice, but had rather shied away from the idea of installing it.
Today I had a plaintive cry of despair from a lady of the village who's machine was sulking and which had no power............so took my new shiny psu along there and fitted it. All is now well, and her wee PC is whirring away like a good 'un again 

No easy task in that the lady is quite deaf and I am mumbling and slurring all over the place due to recent events, so communication was not the best.

Anyway, job done and it did prove to be as easy as you good folks indicated it would be.

Thanks again for the help ( from me and from the lady )

[kitz]

Well done TD. Proud of you.

Now youve conquered that - you can look at building your own PC 

Although, the one thing I dislike most about building a PC is putting in the CPU / heatsink.  I'm told that Im "too gentle" with them, as I sometimes struggle with the retaining clips.
Shame that slot1's werent developed further, as I had no problem fitting those on PII + PIII machines

[scottiesmum]

Well Done TD ...   :clap2: :clap2: ,  not being a technophile  (is there such a word !!)   I'm not too sure what you've done             but I'm very impressed   !   

[UncleUB]

Goon on yer TD, and my address is........................................

[roseway]

Easy wasn't it TD? Water off a duck's back.

[tuftedduck]

I think I will go into business as a guru...............have now done  installing (a) ram modules (b) new hard drives and (c) a psu.

Can't be anything left to learn, he says smugly 

Careful now, unkyUb..............with all my new expertise, I don't come cheaply ! 

Water off a ducks back indeed. Groan. 

[oldfogy]

I think I will go into business as a guru...............

Can't be anything left to learn, he says smugly 

Just let me know when you have a solution to my PSU problem please..................
(As outlined above)