Can I use my old PSU?

oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
2,448
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Dammit, my motherboard went and died on me!

I need new RAM, video card and CPU. Hopefully my HDDs and optical drives survived.
I know the PSU works, but I do not know if a PSU designed for a P4C will work with C2D or AM2?
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
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Aug 23, 2003
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Plug it in and find out.
 

Aluvus

Platinum Member
Apr 27, 2006
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Power supplies are not designed for one particular processor.

Would help to know the make/model of the power supply. And what other hardwre you have.
 

jzodda

Senior member
Apr 12, 2000
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Originally posted by: oynaz
Dammit, my motherboard went and died on me!

I need new RAM, video card and CPU. Hopefully my HDDs and optical drives survived.
I know the PSU works, but I do not know if a PSU designed for a P4C will work with C2D or AM2?


would help if you gave some more details. Lets start with the wattage of the current power supply. What is it?
 

oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
2,448
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It is a Chill 350 watt CPU. It has the 20-pin connector for the motherboard, and a 4-pin connector for the CPU. Do I need anything else for modern motherboards and CPUs?
 

semo

Senior member
Dec 24, 2004
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to me it sounds like your mobo took you ram, processor and video card down with it. i didn't know a mobo could do that but i would suspect the psu was responsible. shouldn't that be the first assumption?
 

oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
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I have checked the PSU, and it works fine. I must admit I have not checked the CPU and RAM, but a replacement motherboard is so expensive that I might as well upgrade.
 

semo

Senior member
Dec 24, 2004
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since your psu has only got a 20-pin connector, i would say buy a new one since all(?) new motherboards use the atx 2.x standard. i don't know about all motherboards but dfi boards explicitly state in their manual (and forums) that you have to use a 24-pin psu and it also need to be over 400 watts (420 or 480, i forget). you can use your psu on a dfi board but you will get no support (even from forums). dfi are mostly hardcore enthusiast boards but i guess every board will have some minimum psu requirements.

let us know what motherboard you intend to purchase.
 

fire400

Diamond Member
Nov 21, 2005
5,204
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Originally posted by: jpeyton
Plug it in and find out.

and risk frying a bunch of other stuff in the case, lol, sounds like something I would do nonetheless.

I had an Aspire 500w (520w max load) with dual 12v and no pci-e connectors... yes this one had some blue LED's! 24-pin version too.

went from: P4 478 Prescott 2.8GHz 865G mobo with 2GB 2-3-2-5 with X800pro w/Artic Cooling

to: Core2 E300 with 1GB and x1900XT 512 - lol and it worked, I wasn't surprised though since I already did the math beforehand.

boots up everytime. I wouldn't buy from Aspire anymore though.
 

oynaz

Platinum Member
May 14, 2003
2,448
2
81
Damn. I need a new PSU. The old one works fine, but only has a 20-pin connecter. Is the Enermax FMA2 any good?
 

semo

Senior member
Dec 24, 2004
292
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i would go with something from corsair or the fsp group. corsair psus are seasonic (m-12 i think) rebrands and come with a 5 year warranty. the fsp epsilon are apparently very good but when i was shopping for a psu for a friend, corsair psus were all the rage.