"propietary" PSU (DELL)

[StraightPipe]

I've put alot of extras into my Dell. all the PCI slots are now full and I'm thinking about adding more hard drives, I'm wondering if I'm going to be ok with my current power supply (250 w)


ATI 9700
SB Live
768 PC2100 DDR RAM
Adaptec 1200A PCI RAID Card
2 WD800JB (80gig hard drives in RAID0)
60gig WD
40X CD-R
16X DVD-ROM
Trendware Gigabit ethernet NIC (i use the onboard LAN and this 2nd NIC) (i think the giga-nic uses some juice because of the heatsink on it)
2nd mouse, keyboard, and monitor through a Slim KVM switch
USB printer and USB game pad

I want to add 1-2 more Western Digital 120Gig drives onto my RAID card (this will take me to 4-5 hard drives, and i think I'm about to run out of power connections for more drives too)

here are some Dell system specs

I got in touch with dell, and after 2 emails I was given some good info, but they said "The PSU units are indeed Dell's proprietary PSUs. Thus it would be recommended to upgrade from Dell only."

I'm wondering 2 things.

1.Do I need to upgrade my PSU (from 250)? (how much should i get?)

2.Does it have to be dell? (will any PSU work? or are there generic (non-dell) PSU's that work in dell systems)

3.would it be ok to just add another drive, and hope it works? (I'm out of connectors, but i hear i can get a splitter to add another)

Thank you for helping a PSU noob

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

The PSU will have to be from dell. They use a different ATX pin count. (not sure). You "might" be able to undo and re-arrange the wires from another PSU assuming theyt even use the same color, but it's risky at best and could lead to permanent hardware damage.

You can try adding another hard drive.

One of three things happens.

- System works perfectly
- system becomes erratically unstable
- system refuses to boot due to lack of power.

Time will tell

 

[Accord99]

All of the recent Dell systems use a standard ATX power supply, including the 4550. The main problem is that depending on the Dell case, common ATX power supplies with the on/off switch won't fit into opening at the back of the case. If that's the situation, then either you would need to do so modification on the case, or look in the PC Power and Cooling 400W Silencer unit which should work without problems.

Actually, I'm curious as how you will fit the drives into the case, as there's only 6 usable bays in the 4550 case. The Dell 250W PSU is pretty powerful, I have a 4600 with a P4 3Ghz, overclocked ATI 9800, 3 HDs, one DVD burner, one modem and 2 sticks of 512MB DDR400 memory, and there's no power problems, so I'm inclined to believe that it should be able to handle 2 additional drives.

 

[John]

You probably won't need a new powersupply. However PC Power & Cooling has some excellent power supplies that will fit your Dell.

 

[Montano]

I would definately upgrade to a 350 -400 watt PSU.

 

[StraightPipe]

Originally posted by: Accord99

Actually, I'm curious as how you will fit the drives into the case, as there's only 6 usable bays in the 4550 case. The Dell 250W PSU is pretty powerful, I have a 4600 with a P4 3Ghz, overclocked ATI 9800, 3 HDs, one DVD burner, one modem and 2 sticks of 512MB DDR400 memory, and there's no power problems, so I'm inclined to believe that it should be able to handle 2 additional drives.

I'm wondering the same thing,
Top to bottom:
DVD
CD-R
------
Floppy - I'm probly going to yank this to put another HD
Boot HD (60gig)
------
HD (80gig) RAID0
HD (80gig) RAID0
------

I'm thinking I can yank the floppy, and possibly the DVD player (since I have one in my other PC)

but the floppy uses a different power connector than my HD needs.

I also have been thinking I might be able to rig up some kind of basket underneath the existing Hard drive basket, to hold atleast 2 more. (anyone with advice on how to do this would be very helpfull)

Is there a way to "split" the connections for the power supply? (i think I used the last ones on my RAID setup)

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Montano
I would definately upgrade to a 350 -400 watt PSU.

Why? Dell 250W PSU's seem to be better than 95% of all aftermarket "400W" PSU's.

You'd probably want to ask the question on the Dell Forums, as people are more knowledeable there. However, I've found out that you can certainly max out the system (as much stuff as you can fit, physically inside the case) and you're fine. They dont put 5.25" and 3.5" bays there just to look good.

 

[StraightPipe]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: Montano
I would definately upgrade to a 350 -400 watt PSU.

Why? Dell 250W PSU's seem to be better than 95% of all aftermarket "400W" PSU's.

You'd probably want to ask the question on the Dell Forums, as people are more knowledeable there. However, I've found out that you can certainly max out the system (as much stuff as you can fit, physically inside the case) and you're fine. They dont put 5.25" and 3.5" bays there just to look good.

I've already maxed out may case (and thinking about rigging it to hold more).

I'll check out the dell forums.

Would it be safe to put in the extra drives (assuming I can find a place to put them) on the existing PSU? (if i overload it what am i risking? (burning up the current PSU? or just no post, what?)

is it possible to get a "splitter"? (does it matter which components "share" a line?)

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Like this?

 

[StraightPipe]

yeah, I found some on price watch, for $1, no shipping... I wonder if they will actually send me one without ordering anything else...

 

[EmoshBZ]

dell sucks bullocks!

 

[StraightPipe]

there customer service sucksass, but seems to be on par with other companies (gateway, micron PC)

but you cant deny that they build good systems quickly and provide excellent warranty support.
(when I complained that Ididnt get enough life out of a pair of batteries in my cordless mouse I had an whole new mouse/keyboard combo on my door in 3 days, with self addressed and pre-metered package to send my old one back)

anywho you can definately build one cheaper on your own, but you get no software and only manufactures warranties (dell will fix my stuff even if i break it!)

the case I got is pretty sweet too, it swings open with mobo on one side and all my drives on the other ( so you have lots of room to work in there), came with nice drive rails + extras pinned to the inside of the case, and the PCI slots are all screwless (has a big arm the clips over all of them)

dell does pretty well these days.

 

[Looney]

Originally posted by: dexvx

Originally posted by: Montano
I would definately upgrade to a 350 -400 watt PSU.

Why? Dell 250W PSU's seem to be better than 95% of all aftermarket "400W" PSU's.

You'd probably want to ask the question on the Dell Forums, as people are more knowledeable there. However, I've found out that you can certainly max out the system (as much stuff as you can fit, physically inside the case) and you're fine. They dont put 5.25" and 3.5" bays there just to look good.

The people that manufacture the case generally have no idea what's going to be in the system. So they may be expecting people to use 300+ in the case, but for some reason Dell decided to go with 250s.

That being said, 250 is definitely pushing the limits if you want 4 hdd, dvd driver, and burner, and today's highend videocards and CPUs. You might even get away with it at first, but stability might become an issue. With PS being so cheap these days, and if you can afford what i see you're putting in your system, you might as well upgrade to a bigger and better PS.

 

[dexvx]

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

The people that manufacture the case generally have no idea what's going to be in the system. So they may be expecting people to use 300+ in the case, but for some reason Dell decided to go with 250s.

Ummm... They know perfectly whats going to be in the cases because they design the cases. For the Dimension 8300, they expect 2 5.25" devices and 2 external 3.5" devices and 2 internal 3.5" devices along with maxed 1AGP and 4PCI slots with a maxed 3.2Ghz HT Proc and max 2GB DDR400. On average, if you max out all the molexes, 250W will be enough. They dont hire dozens of engineers to sit on their asses all day slap together a system and pray it works well.

Since people with Dells dont own stuff that are extremely high power absorbing, like peltiers and water cooling, that wont be a problem.

Originally posted by: Moralpanic

That being said, 250 is definitely pushing the limits if you want 4 hdd, dvd driver, and burner, and today's highend videocards and CPUs. You might even get away with it at first, but stability might become an issue. With PS being so cheap these days, and if you can afford what i see you're putting in your system, you might as well upgrade to a bigger and better PS.

Cheap PSU's != high quality. I'd take a 250W Dell over some POS 400W anyday. Hell, I'd take a 250W Dell over a 350W Antec Smart (not Tru). People with those Shuttle XPC systems, which comes with 200W PSU's are putting in 3.0C's with Radeon 9700 AIW's with no problems at all. Quality > Quantity.

Take a look at some of the Dell Rackmount servers (designed for maximum stability and 24/7 on time at 100% load). A Dell 325W PSU powers the following system:

Dual 3.2Ghz Xeons
A high powered E7505 EATX Motherboard
8GB (4x2GB) DDR266 Registered ECC
Dual MT1000 Fibre Channel NICS
PERC 4-DI RAID 5 with 3x 73GB 15K U320 Harddrives
Not to mention some of the loudest and most powerful fans in the industry.