Old Gateway Power Supply

  • Thread starter Thread starter Eric Scofield
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Eric Scofield

I have an old Gateway E-4200 computer.

I am looking to upgrade the computer as a side project.

I noticed that the power supply is proprietary.

I was wondering if anyone has tried to modify the case in any way
to accept standard sized power supplies?

If so, could they tell me what they did?

Thanks,

Eric
 
I have an old Gateway E-4200 computer.

I am looking to upgrade the computer as a side project.

I noticed that the power supply is proprietary.

I was wondering if anyone has tried to modify the case in any way
to accept standard sized power supplies?

If so, could they tell me what they did?

Thanks,

Eric
Click to expand...

Yes, have do so a half-dozen times. Don't recall if any of the
cases started out their career as "E4200" systems but many of the
towers and some of the (horizontal, under-monitor) desktops
started out with same proprietary form-factor power supply. The
horizontal desktops were much more limited because their height
was less than that of a standard ATX power supply, but from a
brief web search your E-4200 appears very similar if not
identical to typical GW tower of that era.

Power supply needs rear hole enlarged for power outlet, switch
(if replacement has a switch), and larger rear fan exhaust. 4
holes need drilled to match up to the threaded mounting holes,
for screws to fasten PSU to rear of case. Ideally a screwed-down
bracket (or just a screw head itself would work) would be placed
on the motherboard tray wall of the case to help support the
weight of the other end of the power supply. I have a picture
that shows a piece of scrap metal I used to support it, but the
case is sturdy enough that it's not really "necessary".

The rear wall of the case gets narrower right at the top, and at
that point it may be too narrow for the width of a standard power
supply, so power supply should be mounted about (roughly) 15 mm
down from the top edge, as shown in pictures. For a more modern
built you might also consider inproving airflow by cutting out a
fan hole in rear, or cutting out the grill if there already is a
fan mount. Likewise the front plastic bezel constricts airflow
and modifying it a bit will help, in addition to adding taller
feet to the bottom and not setting case on shag carpeting or
other surface that would reduce air intake though the bottom
front of the bezel... though yours probably does have very small
holes in the front of the bezel too, yet those holes are so small
that by themselves the intake area isn't sufficient for modern
parts like an Athlon XP, 64, or P4 CPU based platform (roughly
speaking, heat per family of technology can vary some).

Changing the hard drive bay, mounting, is optional... it does
help to keep drives cool but certainly if you're not used to
working with sheet metal then it wouldn't be time-effective to
change that. Many people would opt to buy a new case instead of
modifying an old Gateway but they were fairly nice cases for
their time, to get a case with metal that thick you'd be looking
at spending at least $60 on average, without power supply.

http://69.36.189.159/usr_1034/gw_case
 
I have an old Gateway E-4200 computer.

I am looking to upgrade the computer as a side project.

I noticed that the power supply is proprietary.

I was wondering if anyone has tried to modify the case in any way
to accept standard sized power supplies?

If so, could they tell me what they did?

Thanks,

Eric
Click to expand...

Also note that the cases I pictured have the rear I/O shield as
part of the rear wall of the case instead of a removable panel.
A replacement motherboard would need match that old standard for
port placement (which will lacks a RJ45 hole for many boards
having integral network adapter). A rectangular hole could be
cut out to accept a snap-in I/O plate but that practically
doubles the difficulty and time to mod the case so the question
then comes up again, is it really worth the time to reuse the
case? I decided it was worthwhile since I had multiple cases and
like to reuse parts whenever possible as it's kinder to the
environment, not to mention that it leaves more $$$ for the parts
inside, but tools cost $$$$ too and not everyone shares this
situation & goal.
 
I would like to attempt this as a side project.

One of the main reasons I am trying this is because I recently added a new
CD Rewritable Drive, and I just bought a new 128 MB Radeon 9200 for the
computer, but these are taxing the old 200 W Power Supply well beyond it's
ability.

I can't even run the new graphics card.

I would to try just the rear case adjustments that you made. I never really
worked with sheet metal before, so I wouldn't even know how to make the Hard
Drive bay that you put in the bottom front of those cases. What tools will
I need to attempt the case mod? Also, what dimensions did you use for rear
case cutouts?

Do you reccomend a certain Power Supply for my case? I have a 450 Mhz
Pentium III, 384 MB memory, Zip 100 Drive, CD-Rewritable/DVD-Rom Drive
(48x24x48, 16x), 16 MB ATI RAGE 128 Graphics Card, 12 GB Hard Drive. I was
thinking of adding a new bigger hard drive as well as the RADEON 9200
Graphics Card to the computer. What do you think?

Thanks,

Eric
 
I would like to attempt this as a side project.

One of the main reasons I am trying this is because I recently added a new
CD Rewritable Drive, and I just bought a new 128 MB Radeon 9200 for the
computer, but these are taxing the old 200 W Power Supply well beyond it's
ability.

I can't even run the new graphics card.
Click to expand...

Not surprising, the original 200W PSU was very good quality for a
200W unit, but most definitely only worth 200W.

I would to try just the rear case adjustments that you made. I never really
worked with sheet metal before, so I wouldn't even know how to make the Hard
Drive bay that you put in the bottom front of those cases. What tools will
I need to attempt the case mod? Also, what dimensions did you use for rear
case cutouts?
Click to expand...

Just ignore the drive bay since you reported no drive cooling
problems, I simply decided to do that since i was reworking whole
case, among other minor mods that weren't in the pictures.

Easiest way to enlarge the rear PSU hole is with a sabre saw or
electric nibbler. THe metal is a bit thick for cheap or
non-electric nibblers so the sabre saw is the most likely
candidate. Note that whole system needs disassembled when
cutting out the hole since metal shavings may fly everywhere.

After cutting with sabre saw or nibbler you might file it a bit
and/or sand, at least to get rid of burrs that might cut you or
potentially fall off later, but how much final finishing with
file or sandpaper depends on how "pretty" you want it to look...
after all it's the rear of the box and isn't visable in everyday
use.

Then of course the holes drilled for the scew mounts need be
slightly larger than the screws, 1/8" hole is close and can be
reamed out a bit or next larger size bit you have is better.

Easiest way to mark the holes is to get the power supply, take a
piece of paper and trace over the rear end of it so you have the
outline of the rear including power socket, switch, fan hole and
screw holes, then cut out a template from that tracing. Mark
that onto the case and if using a sabre saw, put some masking
tape on the bottom of the saw's feet if there are rough and might
scratch the area while cutting. In my pictures I showed two
different cutouts, the exactly details of it don't matter as much
as a few key items like having the top left side high enough that
the outlet or switch clears, but not so high that you cut out the
area were the screw goes, and mounting it about 15mm below the
top lip so the side-panel has clearance to be reinstalled.

It is also helpful to use pan-head screws for at least 3 of the 4
positions due to clearance with side-panels. Screws are 6-32
size. If you don't have pan-heads or local hardware store
doesn't either, you might find that GW used pan-heads in other
positions in the case (like hard drive or plastic facia mounting)
and can swap in different screws and use those for the PSU
mounting, or as a last resort you can always cut/file away a tiny
bit of the side panels so they clear the screws... this isn't
something you'll need to remember, it'll be obvious if this is an
issue towards the end of the project.


Do you reccomend a certain Power Supply for my case? I have a 450 Mhz
Pentium III, 384 MB memory, Zip 100 Drive, CD-Rewritable/DVD-Rom Drive
(48x24x48, 16x), 16 MB ATI RAGE 128 Graphics Card, 12 GB Hard Drive. I was
thinking of adding a new bigger hard drive as well as the RADEON 9200
Graphics Card to the computer. What do you think?
Click to expand...


It's not a very demanding system, any quality name-brand 300W
should suffice, you could buy a larger wattage if you had plans
for reusing the PSU in another system at a later date but it
certainly wouldn't be necessary just to power that system as is
or with the further upgrade you mention.

I suggest something like a 300W Antec, 340-260W
Thermaltake/Enlight, or 300W Sparkle/Fortron. The 300W
Sparkle/Fortrons also come in a version with a large 120mm fan on
the bottom which is usually very quiet, it would probably be my
first choice if I didn't already have other suitable PSU.
Example:

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-103-485&depa=0
The linked pictures don't show the fan though, it can be seen on
the very similar 350W (Fortron) version here, though both have
same fan:
http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-104-966&depa=0
 
I would like to attempt this as a side project.

One of the main reasons I am trying this is because I recently added a new
CD Rewritable Drive, and I just bought a new 128 MB Radeon 9200 for the
computer, but these are taxing the old 200 W Power Supply well beyond it's
ability.

I can't even run the new graphics card.

I would to try just the rear case adjustments that you made. I never really
worked with sheet metal before, so I wouldn't even know how to make the Hard
Drive bay that you put in the bottom front of those cases. What tools will
I need to attempt the case mod? Also, what dimensions did you use for rear
case cutouts?

Do you reccomend a certain Power Supply for my case? I have a 450 Mhz
Pentium III, 384 MB memory, Zip 100 Drive, CD-Rewritable/DVD-Rom Drive
(48x24x48, 16x), 16 MB ATI RAGE 128 Graphics Card, 12 GB Hard Drive. I was
thinking of adding a new bigger hard drive as well as the RADEON 9200
Graphics Card to the computer. What do you think?

Thanks,

Eric
Click to expand...

Why don't you buy a new case, motherboard, CPU and RAM and move the
CDRW/DVD, graphics card and disks into the new box. It will be a whole lot
easier and it won't cost you that much more.
 
Actually it would cost me a lot more.

I modified the case for the price of a 350 W PSU.

It was quick, easy, and inexpensive.

That is why I didn't go with a new box.
 
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