Got two friends at work who both said that since fitting AGP graffix cards they have been having problems with the machines shutting down while playing games or doing something a bit more graffix intrinsic than your normal web surfing etc...

Both have 250w PSU's and the cards they bought both state they need minimum 400w PSU's (actually one guys card only needs a 350w PSU)

Anyway, I said I would have a nose online to see who does PSU's and how much, and found this one;

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...duct_uid=61308

It's a 500w PSU, which I suggested as it'll have plenty of power in reserve. Both machines use ATX style mobo's etc (think both have P4 chips, can't remember)

Anyway, my question is - how does the whole bunch of wires that has all the plugs on it for CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, HDD's, gfx cards etc connect to the PSU? In the extra pics on ebuyer's site, it just shows a bunch of wires coming out of a grommet on the back, but not how many plugs etc it has.

Do you have to open the PSU up to plug in a "sub loom" type thing, ie using the loom from your old PSU, thus taking it apart, unplugging it all, and plugging it into the new one?

Any advice - they both want me to order these tonight if poss, but I want to make sure I am getting the right thing....

Ta muchness!

 

if nobody answers have a look on here http://www.tech-forums.net/index.php?s=

Yes you do have to sign up to post but its worth it as theres nothing these guys dont know

 

Top marks! Thanks chap!

 

Ł11 for a 500W power supply, I can 99.9% guarantee, will be utterly shite and unreliable!

For the last few years, I've always sworn by Enermax PSUs......a few examples in the link below:

Enermax Power Supplies

Oh, and no, newer power supplies will normally come with more than enough cabling & connectors pre-connected......you don't need to mess around with opening them up (highly unrecommended) to do anything.

 

They ain't gonna wanna pay Ł50-Ł60 for them tho...

I just go on what ebuyer says in it's ratings

 

Heheh, I hold ebuyer with about as much respect as I hold ebay......ie. zero!

But, some people have had good reports about them, I guess.

 

Hmm, dunno what to do now then...

On one hand I know they ain't gonna wanna spend "money" on a PSU, but on the other hand I don't really wanna be held responsible if it melts the mobo and CPU
Hmm...

 

I had the same problem running my Nvidia 7800GTX, freezing then randomly reboots

I bought a 500w PSU and it still did it, then i bought a better 550w PSU for Ł65 and it still does it, i then proceeded to do more tests on the PC to find my 2x RAM sticks were running different speeds and clashing, so bought 2x 1GB matched Corsair platinum sticks (Ł150) and it still does it

I have since tonight bought extra cooling for the CPU and GFX card, bought a big mofo arctic cooler and an exhaust fan, upto ive had no crashes but we will see!

 

Look at it, next to a 20p coin

 

I know one guy had a problem with RAM after fitting the AGP card, and changed the RAM as the two sticks were conflicting with each other, but they work fine now, and the problem with them was the dreaded blue screen of death. Now he has the same problem as the other guy - the PC just shutting down when playing games. This sounds a lot to be to do with insufficient PSU As the problems with both (shutting down) have only been since the AGP cards have been fitted and running.

 

Similar size to my graphics card, next to a full-sized pint-glass!

 

Yeah mines a huge bugger of a card aswell

Im seriously running out of room in my PC tower

 

Thrush, ideally they want a top quality PSU

 

If they go cheapo style at least buy one at around Ł30. The 500w psu do not hold 500w much in the same way as the 200w speakers in your car are only 45w RMS etc..

 

most motherboards come with software that will monitor CPU temps. Its worth keeping an eye on this especially if they are using AMD chips as these get HOT!

re your question about how to connect up a PSU. The psu should come with all the connections you need. All you simply do is unplug the exisitng power supply loom in the same way you would a cars loom, remove the power supply and then replace with the new one and reconnect everything back up with the new loom from the new power supply.

 

Right, told him that the cheapo one is probably not a great idea, so told him to get on ebuyer and pick one out, and he just sent me this link;

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/produ...uct_uid=102994

 

Looks just the same but with neon lights. Try this one, its a real 380w what should be enough for what one of your mates needs.

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=123527

There is more chance of my balls producing 550w than that ebuyer one It will only in my opinion hold about 300w sustained.

 

Nevermind - he's bought it now