PSU

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Mav

Hi all,

Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a 300W PSU in a Celeron based system
(currently has a 150W PSU)?

Thanks very much

Mav
 
Hi all,

Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a 300W PSU in a Celeron based system
(currently has a 150W PSU)?

Thanks very much

Mav
Click to expand...

No, it won't hurt to upgrade, unless it's generic... in other words,
buy name-brand quality.

Unless this is some odd OEM (like Compaq), have you verified that it's
a full, standard PS2, ATX size? Besides the OEMs, most systems using
~ 150W had micro, mATX power supply in them.
 
Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a 300W PSU in a Celeron based
system
(currently has a 150W PSU)?

Thanks very much
Click to expand...

As long as the connectors have the same voltages on the same pins there
should not be a problem. The computer will only use the ammount of power it
needs and the bigger the supply the beter ( atleast up to a point of maybe 5
or 10 times bigger) . Your only problem is will it fit the case.
 
Mav said:
Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a 300W PSU in a Celeron based system
(currently has a 150W PSU)?
Click to expand...

No, as long as it is a working, decent quality PSU.
 
Mav said:
Is there any reason why I shouldn't put a 300W PSU in a
Celeron based system (currently has a 150W PSU)?
Click to expand...

If your computer doesn't need more than 150W and you currently have a
good PSU, it may be a waste because according to what I've read where
actual amps were measured, even a pretty fast system with a fast video
card probably consumes less than 200W, and I measured only 40W from a
1.6 GHz Duron (no drives, super-slow video card).

I once tried to upgrade my 466 MHz Celeron system with a better 300W
PSU, and the HD would no longer spin because the system didn't draw
enough power for the PSU to work right, but it worked fine with an
Athlon XP1800+. I doubt you'll have a problem like this, unless you
buy a wierd surplus PSU, as i did.

Whatever you get, be sure to choose quality over raw power numbers
because bad PSUs fail a lot and usually don't live up to their
ratings. Fortron/Sparkle is a really good make, and a 350W from
www.newegg.com for $38 should be able to power almost anything, and
they have the same company's budget 350W "Hi Q" and "Power Q" brands
for as little as $20.
 
If your computer doesn't need more than 150W and you currently have a
good PSU, it may be a waste because according to what I've read where
actual amps were measured, even a pretty fast system with a fast video
card probably consumes less than 200W, and I measured only 40W from a
1.6 GHz Duron (no drives, super-slow video card).

I once tried to upgrade my 466 MHz Celeron system with a better 300W
PSU, and the HD would no longer spin because the system didn't draw
enough power for the PSU to work right, but it worked fine with an
Athlon XP1800+. I doubt you'll have a problem like this, unless you
buy a wierd surplus PSU, as i did.
Click to expand...

If you mean that Delta power supply, it was specifically designed for
a particular application, so while most PSU would have "generic"
system application, it did away with sufficient internal loading to
keep it running. In other words, it's just that the Compaq target
system used significant 3V power but often systems don't.

If it's that Delta, you can take (half of) an old AT motherboard power
connector, attach a ~10 Ohm resistor across it (3V and GND) for the
load, which will plug into the aux plug.... or just lopp off the
connector if you don't have a spare AT mate and solder directly to the
wires.

These days most any decent power supply will run with no external load
due to the internal loading built into the design, except a few odd
ones as you mentioned.
Whatever you get, be sure to choose quality over raw power numbers
because bad PSUs fail a lot and usually don't live up to their
ratings. Fortron/Sparkle is a really good make, and a 350W from
www.newegg.com for $38 should be able to power almost anything, and
they have the same company's budget 350W "Hi Q" and "Power Q" brands
for as little as $20.
Click to expand...

Just watch out for the sleeve-bearing fans on some of those lower-end
Sparkle/Fortons, IIRC the "Q" series and at least a few AOpen FSPs
have the Yate Loon fans which are a real liability after a year or
two, unless relubed.
 
Thanks very much everyone.

That answered a lot of questions I didn't know I had!

Thanks
Regards

Mav
 
I'll second the comment about a QUALITY power supply...you don't want to
swap in a power supply that has poor filtering (lots of ripple) as it'll
kill (slowly or quickly) the boards in your pc or give you flaky
performance.
 
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