What is the best way to determine if your system is coming close to taxing
the resources of the power supply?
Thanks in advance,
Eric Scofield
easier to work the other-way-around, diagnose a problem rather than
looking for one where it might not exist.
I have been upgrading my Gateway system little by little as of lately, and
frankly this is my first time tinkering with computer upgrading. I know
that the power supply that came with the computer is a 200 W PSU. I was
planning on adding a second hard drive and a new sound card and was worried
that the available power may not be sufficient.
- Eric
I have been upgrading my Gateway system little by little as of lately, and
frankly this is my first time tinkering with computer upgrading. I know
that the power supply that came with the computer is a 200 W PSU. I was
planning on adding a second hard drive and a new sound card and was worried
that the available power may not be sufficient.
- Eric
I have been upgrading my Gateway system little by little as of lately, and
frankly this is my first time tinkering with computer upgrading. I know
that the power supply that came with the computer is a 200 W PSU. I was
planning on adding a second hard drive and a new sound card and was worried
that the available power may not be sufficient.
- Eric
I have about 5 old Gateway systems here that started out with 200W PSU
in them. Those 200W PSU were ok for up to a 1GHz P3 with a couple of
HDD and a moderate video card, but not much more. If the rest of the
system is original, adding a second HDD and a sound card shouldn't
require a PSU replacement, but a significant video card,
motherboard/CPU upgrade, would. Of course this is assuming a PSU
operating properly, if it's at end-of-life it may be necessary to
replace it regardless.
Many of the older, mid-tower Gateway cases used a proprietary PSU
form-factor, that is narrower and has a rectangluar exhaust with the
only fan underneith the PSU... these chassis require a lot more work
to replace the PSU with one that's standard-ATX, including drilling
new mounting holes, cutting out a larger rear hole for the fan and AC
plug, and the measurements for these must be pretty accurate because
most of their cases had very little margin for error, the interior
width was barely more than the width of a standard PSU.
Dave
Eric Scofield said:What is the best way to determine if your system is coming close to taxing
the resources of the power supply?
Eric Scofield
in them. Those 200W PSU were ok for up to a 1GHz P3 with a couple of
HDD and a moderate video card, but not much more. If the rest of the
system is original, adding a second HDD and a sound card shouldn't
require a PSU replacement, but a significant video card,
motherboard/CPU upgrade, would. Of course this is assuming a PSU
operating properly, if it's at end-of-life it may be necessary to
replace it regardless.
Many of the older, mid-tower Gateway cases used a proprietary PSU
form-factor, that is narrower and has a rectangluar exhaust with the
only fan underneith the PSU... these chassis require a lot more work
to replace the PSU with one that's standard-ATX, including drilling
new mounting holes, cutting out a larger rear hole for the fan and AC
plug, and the measurements for these must be pretty accurate because
most of their cases had very little margin for error, the interior
width was barely more than the width of a standard PSU.
Yeah, I have a Gateway from 1999. It has a PIII 450 MHz processor in it.
I'm assuming that I can get several more years from the power supply.
Besides, if I were to get a new motherboard and CPU, then I would never
reuse an older Gateway case. I'd go more top-of-the-line as far as cases go
so that my newer computer would be easier to upgrade in the future.
- Eric
same era, but are really worth around 200W. In the past I've had to
pull them for upgrades that worked fine with 300W Antec and Sparkle
PSU.
So you DID replace the PSU successfully.
That's good information to know in
case I am in need of replacing mine. It wouldn't really hurt if I replaced
the PSU with a 300 W or 330 W Antec PSU even if the existing PSU is still
adequate, would it?
I could use the practice anyways. I want to keep this
computer for my family and build my own from scratch. It's over four years
old, but it's more than fast enough for everything they have to do. I've
already added two more 128 MB PC100 SDRAM from Crucial, replaced the
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM with a faster CD-RW/DVD drive from SONY (CRX300A) and added
an Antec rear case fan. My next mission is to replace the PSU with at least
a 300 W one and add a bigger, faster hard drive (possibly an 80 GB) and make
it my system drive with the old as slave.
Antec is a good reccomendation for a PSU? How about a hard drive? The one
I have is 5400 RPM; should I go with 7200 RPM or faster? Would you
reccomend added a case fan in front of the hard drive? I haven't really
looked at the front of the case too much. I wonder if it even has holes to
screw a fan into?
So you DID replace the PSU successfully.
If you only wanted to drill the PSU screw-mounting holes you could
probably get away with using a Sparkle/Fortron 300-350W with the 120mm
fan underneith, like this:
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/17-104-966-02.JPG
http://69.36.189.159/usr_1034/gw_psu.jpg
To convert the case to using a standard ATX PSU, you'd need to cut out
similarly to how I've marked this case:
http://69.36.189.159/usr_1034/gw_rear_psu.jpg
Except, some PSU vary on exactly where the AC plug is located, you
might need to cut the left side top slightly higher, but the
straight-across marking I made fits most of the PSU I have here.
One thing I'd forgotten about these is that this one has a
stamped-in-metal rear I/O shield for the motherboard ports, while the
next-older style has the snap-in shield plate. It's the semi-standard
arrangement, would fit many boards but some new boards with multiple
rear USB ports or differing sound jacks, particularly when there's no
gameport, are incompatible with the existing holes, making it unusable
without cutting out more holes, or what I'll end up doing to this one,
just cutting out the whole rectangular area to accept a standard
snap-in rear I/O plate, as usually comes with those motherboards
having the non-standard rear ports.
Even those boards with the standard ports, may have a network adapter
port that isn't provided for with this case's cutouts.
If you only wanted to drill the PSU screw-mounting holes you could
probably get away with using a Sparkle/Fortron 300-350W with the 120mm
fan underneith, like this:
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/17-104-966-02.JPG
That is assuming you'd use the fan under it too, to ensure enough
ventilation.
That's great information. Thank you very much. What exactly is your tool
of choice when making these adjustments to the case, and more importantly
what precautions should I take when attemping a case adjustment? Having
never done one before, I don't want to ruin anything.
Sincerely,
Eric Scofield
tape off the border of the case metal with masking tape to prevent
scratches and set it on cardboard to keep the rest from scratching up.
Next I briefly file it and sand it just enough to be rid of any
roughness and burrs, overdoing the sanding results in discoloration of
the outside wall of the case, it'd be shiney instead of the factory
finish, which is a coated metal then thinly clearcoated... it would've
been nice if the clearcoat was a bit thicker, it does tend to
deteriorate somewhat after a few years, but at least the rest of the
colored paint is thicker than average.
As for the recessed I/O ports, I could probably do a rough job of it
with a sabre saw then a lot more filing out the roughness, but it's
easier to just drill out the rivets, cut it from the back-side on a
bench, then pick up a $1 pack of screws/bolts at the hardware store to
reattach it through the rivet holes.
I also forgot to mention that the left-side cover needs a slight
notch or bend in it to clear the lower-right PSU mounting screw, or if
you are daring, the PSU should be secure enough without that screw
because of how thick the metal is... it's really much nicer to work
on and use these thick-walled cases compared to some of the
alternatives... modern cases are great but only if you know how thick
the metal is before purchase, and most cases with metal this thick
cost more, usually >$60 even without the plastic overcoat.
I'm not suggesting that the case is THAT good, but after adapted to a
standard PSU and better rear air exhaust it's perfectly fine for a
modern system.
One other thing I forgot to mention is that many if not all of thse
have pressed-in motherboard standoffs... There is a standoff on the
left-side, 2nd from the bottom, that isn't used on many full-ATX
motherboards, may need pulled out with pliers. mATX boards do use
this standoff though.
I may try this. What are they exact dimensions of the lines you drew on the
case? I also notices you plan on cutting a new rear case fan slot, but will
you also cut off the grate on the one below it? You seem very adequate with
making case adjustments. Having you been doing them for a long time?
Thanks again.
- Eric Scofield
It would be nice to do this. I plan however on keeping this computer for my
family and building my own from scratch. I wish to ensure that it lasts
them many more years so that they don't have to go and spend money on a new
one (money they can't afford right now). What is average shelf life for a
computer like my Gateway in your opinion?
- Eric