Power Supply On The Outside

[gottylynx]

if i dont want to replace my old power supply because im lazy and i dont want to disconnect all the wires could i just buy a 250 w supply place it inside my comp with the fan breathable (i have lot of space in my comp on the bottom floor) and plug in the device would that work


i dont want to replace my supply because if i do it will destroy my computer because my computer is so use to 160w 250 or 300 will send a power surge like hell through it frying all my parts....

[Bobby]

Welcome to the forums!!!

Um... regardless of whether you use a 160w, 250w or 500w, your parts will pull the same amount of power from the newer ps and not risk frying any of your parts.

Of course you should get at least 300w, 350w would be better.

-Bobby

[Oklahoma Wolf]

And don't buy a Deer/Foxconn/Allied/L&C/US-Can/Eagle/Austin :D

Sparkle (Fortron) and Antec seem to have the best overall quality around here these days, and Fortrons can be had for real cheap (at least in the US).

[Bobby]

Wolf - are you peeking at my system? :p

I have a Fortron 350w. It put out 454w in a recent test and I'm running a ton of stuff on it (3 hd's, 2 opticals, 7 fans, and o/c'd to 3.0ghz) and it's been great :D

-Bobby

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Originally posted by Bobby
Wolf - are you peeking at my system? :p

I have a Fortron 350w. It put out 454w in a recent test and I'm running a ton of stuff on it (3 hd's, 2 opticals, 7 fans, and o/c'd to 3.0ghz) and it's been great :D

-Bobby

lol maybe I am :p

As far as Fortrons go I trust Larva's advice on them, and my own experience with Channel Well units tells me I can trust Antec too (at least the PSUs made by Channel Well - Truepower, SL, and some but not all of the older pp units).

[JDXNC]

Your PSU is also part of your systems cooling, it removes the hot air that rises to the top of the case and pulls in new air, unless you have other sources of ventalation you must put the new PSU in the same place as the old one for this to function properly.

And as stated before, your components won't die from a power supply with a higher rating.

Do the job right the first time and save yourself trouble down the road.... its not really a big job, takes me all of about 3 mins to change a power supply.

[emericanchaos]

yeah for real. plus if you switch everything over to the other PSU you're going to have to go through and unplug everything anyways so just un screw it from the case and slide in the new one.

[star882]

"Sparkle (Fortron) and Antec seem to have the best overall quality around here these days, and Fortrons can be had for real cheap (at least in the US)."
You forgot Channel Well(same stuff as Antec Truepower), PC Power & Cooling, and Enermax.

[Oklahoma Wolf]

Originally posted by star882
You forgot Channel Well(same stuff as Antec Truepower), PC Power & Cooling, and Enermax.

I didn't forget, just didn't want to cause confusion by throwing out a brand name that wasn't easy to find in the US (Channel Well), overly expensive (PC P&C), or somewhat poor value (Enermax). Not that any of these are bad, mind you, I just wanted to keep my advice brief for the time being.

I have two friends running Enermax 431's and loving them, I've never heard a thing bad about PC P&C other than price, and my Channel Well just rocks (as does the 2 owned by my roommates) - I still stand by my Fortron or Antec recommendation though in terms of value or availability.

[trimai]

Oklahoma Wolf:

From your signature, I saw that you are using the Channel Well 420w. Do you like this P/S? How is its performance? I just bought the same P/S (used) on EBAY for US 10.00 (+ 10 more for shipping).

[Oklahoma Wolf]

I love it - holds my rails very stable with very little fluctuation at all. So far nothing I can do really challenges it, though I did have to replace the fan once because it was getting noisy. Sometimes it runs a little warm, but even with only the one fan it does a great job. There is a two fan version floating around, but the single fan ones have much bigger heatsinks to compensate.

This is partly what sold me on it - the discovery that it was the same unit as an Antec pp412x (not the best review but I looked for build quality in the pics): http://www.mikhailtech.com/articles/psu/cwt420/

Edit: almost forgot, it has adjustable pots for the rails :)

[diggingforgold]

Just give in and get a 300W-400W PSU. All you need to do is just unplug the ATX cable that runs into your motherboard, unplug the components, then just unscrew like 4 screws and the old one will come out no problem. Then all you need to do is slide in your new one, screw it in, and plug in the connectors where they fit.

The problem with having two PSU's is, how would you switch it on without a motherboard, and if you do, how would you get all the components to turn on when your other power supply turns on? Of course there are ways to do this (you can find them by using the search button), but it's more of a pain than just a simple replacement.

If you are replacing the PSU because it doesn't have enough power for your needs, then by all means, pull the old one and replace it with a more powerful one.

But if the problem lies with not having enough molex plugs (hard drive/cdrom power plugs), then you can go out and buy a cheap molex splitter for just a few bucks anywhere.

Hope this helps, and if it makes no sense, don't bother re-reading it- I typed this up at 1AM, and I can hardly keep awake... let alone type...