Should I upgrade my power supply?

[Computergasm]

Current system: Dell P4 1.8, 850 chipset, 400mhz FSB, 512 RDRAM, 80 gig HD, floppy, CD-ROM and CD-R/W drives, and I think a 250 watt power supply. Upgrades: P4 2.6 and 128mb ATI Radeon 9700 Pro. Do you think I need a bigger power supply?

 

[microAmp]

From what I've been seeing around here, Dell uses a proprietary power supply. Using a Dell power supply on a 3rd party motherboard (ASUS, ABit, EPoX, etc.) can fry the motherboard.

 

[eklass]

"if it ain't broken, don't fix it"

 

[Rav3n]

I would put in the upgrades and see what happens... if your computer is acting funny, then remove one of the new upgrades and try again. If your PS is not big enough to handle the stuff, worst comes to worst your computer just does not boot - or it starts being all strange... but you are not going to find out if you don't try

 

[redbeard1]

From what I've been seeing around here, Dell uses a proprietary power supply. Using a Dell power supply on a 3rd party motherboard (ASUS, ABit, EPoX, etc.) can fry the motherboard.

What he said...

Dell power supply issues

Though there are converters available to use standard parts in dell systems. A google search should find some of them.


Edit:

For sale

 

[tjaisv]

But Computergasm didn't say he was upgrading his mobo. Nevertheless, 250w may be cutting it, particularly with a 2.6 P4 and 9700 Pro. Are you sure your Dell power supply is 250w?

Go ahead with your upgrades and see if your power supply will run everything, you won't damage anything (except maybe your power supply, which would overload if it couldn't handle the added power).

 

[microAmp]

Originally posted by: tjaisv
But Computergasm didn't say he was upgrading his mobo. Nevertheless, 250w may be cutting it, particularly with a 2.6 P4 and 9700 Pro. Are you sure your Dell power supply is 250w?

Though you are right, my statement will also work the other way, using another power supply (Antec, Sparkle, etc.) on a Dell motherboard can fry the board.