Upgrading my PC for the first time 1

[kerryking112]

I have a Dell...which is nightmarish enough. I really don't know exactly what I'm doing. I'm trying to figure this out though. I have a Pentium 4, 3.0 GHz with 1022 Gb of RAM. My video card is an ATI Radeon x300. I only have an 80 GB hard drive in there too. Just the stock stuff that came with it. I'm fine with the one gig of RAM, as it suits my needs for the moment. The only things I want to do are add a video card with a higher number of pixel pipelines...like the x850 or something on the cheaper end of the spectrum...and I would also like to add another hard drive. I recently got a 300 GB Seagate ATA hard drive for Christmas...but it would appear that the only hard drive this computer can use is SATA. Am I being a n00b in assuming so? Is there anyway I could just add another IDE cable in there that would fit the ATA instead of the SATA? Or should I just return the ATA to CompUSA and get a SATA drive? And another problem is that I only have a 350 watt power supply in there. If I add another hard drive AND the x850...I'm afraid I'll start getting BSoD's and random shutdowns. I've read about a new kind of power supply made by Thermaltake that plugs directly onto the video card. It works with the built in power supply somehow and frees up wattage for other system devices such as...in my case...extra hard drives. The only problem is, that installing an internal supply greater than 350 watts will burn up my motherboard. Will this Thermaltake supply interfere with my motherboard as well? Or will it be completely separate.

http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/product/Power/PurePower/w0130ru/w0130ru.asp

^That is the Thermaltake supply that I was referring to. And I just realized something. I'm gonna have to remove a CD-RW or a DVD drive to put that thing in there. Damned if I do and damned if I don't I tell you...

 

[tomaso11]

The reason they dont tell you is because they dont know.
They are saying "Dell do not sell an upgrade power supply"
Unless you are speaking to a Dell system builder which I doubt!(its probably some guy in India who has never seen inside a PC) so heres a link to power supply vendor who says different.

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/

its not the cheapest option but its a starting point.

Thomas

 

[kerryking112]

I just found this as well.

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/std/sku=dellconverter

Any count?

 

[tomaso11]

Yes that shows the old non standard connectors you wont need it yours will plug straight in

Thomas

 

[kerryking112]

My motherboard has both of the PSU inputs shown in that diagram...so I'm assuming (based on the vagueness of the mobo requirements description at the bottom of that page) that my PC has the proprietary PSU inputs, and that putting a regular ATX supply in there without this adapter will only end up in a piece of crispy silicon for me to clamp my teeth down as Michael Dell slowly rapes me anally.

Would I be correct in assuming so?

 

[SkipCox]

Here's the psu pinout...

http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim5150/en/sm/techov1.htm#wp1067881

That pinout matches a couple of 24pin ATX v2 psu's I looked up and the one I have in my hand.

Screw spacing seems to be the same as off the shelf stuff but please realize that's just a guess...I don't have a 5150 in front of me. I do believe you'll need to be careful getting a good physical fit in the 5150 case and might need to trim some sheetmetal.

That said, and since you're trying to do your own legwork, it's still possible you have enough overhead in the current psu to run the gear you plan on adding.

As a caveat, I can't strees the importance of a quality psu enough. Although I've had good luck with cheapo units and bad luck with one 90 dollar unit, I still spend the bucks for a psu with outstanding +12vdc rails and with a good rating from users.

It's likely we're stepping all over each other with responses since we know what we're dealing with here. Read all of 'em and follow the links...you're the one with the machine sitting in front of you.


Skip

http://skipcox.net

 

[tomaso11]

I dont think so (and if you teeth are clamped how will you scream out sooowiee) Check the link to pcpowercooling and navigate to

http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewproduct.php?show=S47D

.Then check out the pictures and the specs cross reference against other quality units from any chosen manufacturer and look into the requirement for the adapter. It only applys to pre 2002 models when they used to fiddle with the wiring. Dell are all about bulk buying and bulk selling they probably found a 2c saving buying standard supplies multiplied a million times is worth having I read somewhere they baulk at fitting the "Intel inside" stickers. Not that I dont love my Dell (apart from the Bios restrictions)

Thomas

 

[SkipCox]

tomaso,

Frankly, if I was willing to spend money for a good psu and could find a deal like you linked to for 150 bucks...I'd go for it and never look back.

Good find.

Skip

http://skipcox.net

 

[tomaso11]

Skip, thanks we just need to convince kerryking now!!
How about that 300GB Seagate ATA? I think it needs returning dont you.

Thomas

 

[kerryking112]

I spoke to Dell...and as usual, spoke to an Indian man who knew nothing about what I needed. He gave me a number that was a dead end tech support number. When I would push 1 to enter the extension, I would enter the extension and then it would ask me if I received a full order or a partial order. It was a big circular customer service maze. How hard is it to have like...3 guys on your staff who know what a power supply is...or what it does? Is it that difficult to pay an IT person $12.50 an hour to just answer technical questions correctly? Then again, there are probably thousands of people with my same issues...all wanting to upgrade at the same time I'm sure.

I'm just gonna order that Silencer Thomas linked to, since it's designed for Dell...and if it's a proprietary connector I'll get the adapter for it for 15 bucks. And if I manage to fry my motherboard I'll probably commit suicide.

Also, apparently on their screen at Dell there is a section that says "Upgradeable Power Supply?: No" Because based on the lag and tone of voice in this man's responses, there's no way it could've said otherwise.

 

[kerryking112]

Oh I already fixed the hard drive issue. I got a 250 GB Western Digital Sata for $79.99 at Best Buy. They had a killer deal on it.

 

[tomaso11]

Glad your getting there and thanks for the star it made my day!

Thomas

 

[SkipCox]

Make no mistake tomaso...you earned that star with your link to that psu. My searches missed it.
A psu of that apparent quality that requires no case modification is a heckuva find for a bunch of Dell owners.

Skip

http://skipcox.net

 

[kerryking112]

Well...I took a leap of faith and just bought an NVidia card. If it shut my computer down...I was going to set it aside and put my old Radeon x300 back in there and order that Silencer 470w PSU and then put it in. But the card seems to work great...My games look awesome...and it's simply because I tripled the amount of pixel pipes I had from 4-12. I can run Sims 2 on the fastest speed! They don't lag and hop around the screen anymore. I also plugged up the other hard drive I had in there too. So everything I needed is done...and it seems to work fine on the default PSU that came in it. They must be rated extremely conservatively. But thanks alot for the help guys. I'm glad I came here before I made a really stupid mistake in just buying a standard ATX power supply.

 

[SkipCox]

I said...
"That said, and since you're trying to do your own legwork, it's still possible you have enough overhead in the current psu to run the gear you plan on adding."
But, most important to you, Thomas posted not only the solution but also did everything he could to let you know that you did not have a weirdo psu that was wired like Dell did in the late 90's and early years of the new millenia.

You found all the information that did not apply to your machine and seemingly ignored the pinouts and links that said your psu was configured like most any other ATX2 psu.

I'm also afraid of trashing a machine because I used the wrong part but, the research we did for you pointed to pretty easy psu swap if you needed one.

Glad it all worked out for you but bookmark the link Thomas provided for future use. It's worth the extra money to have a source for a psu that is a bolt in with no need to trim the case for clearance.

On a hunch, I called one of the suppliers we use at work. He stocks that very same psu and claims it has never failed. Because of the high cost, he uses that psu as a replacement for servers and uses lower cost "generic" psu's for workstations of the Dell/HP/Compaq ilk. Cliff also said his last install was for a pumped up video editing rig for a local tv station and cost them about 300 bucks.

Sounds like that thing would be a good choice for any of us.

Skip

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