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Simple power supply question

S

SkipE

Member

I have a rather old PII-400 system and I believe the PS is going. I say that because of the smells (smells like it's burning) and the noises. If I shutdown (I don't do this anymore) and reboot after a couple of hours wait, the noises are unbelievable, and for quite some time. I bought a Voodoo3-2000 about 9 months ago, and I'm thinking it's burning up my PS because it wasn't designed to handle this. If I remember correctly I used to have an Intel vid with only 4MB, now I'm up to 16MB.

So I'm looking to replace my PS, but I don't know what to buy? What's AT and ATX? Do you think I have an AT PS or an ATX? How can I check? Should I get a 300W PS?

Thanks for any help...
 
With a PII you could have either an AT or an ATX board. Check the main supply end that plugs into the motherboard. The ATX connector will be one piece, while the AT connection will be in two separate power blocks, with the black wires in the center. Go to your local CompUSA or whatever and buy the appropriate power supply. If you have several drives, CD-RW, Zip, etc buy a higher-rated PS. 300 W won't hurt anything and if you've added devices, may help. If you have a simple machine without lots of guts, 250 W will be fine.
The old power supply can be removed by taking out the three or four screws that hold it in place. First, note where all the wires go!! Take your time and match up where each wire goes onto your LED block for power, reset, HDD light, speaker, etc, as these have to be connected properly. Then plug in the new power supply, wire it up and turn it on.
 
Just as a FYI, you can buy an ATX powersupply and if needed, buy a ATX-AT adapter so you can use it on AT boards....

Here is an example of an adapter at 3dcool.com
http://www.3dcool.com/atxtoatconverter.shtml

Here is an example of an ATX power supply tester (simple volt meter?):
http://www.3dcool.com/atxpowersupplytester.shtml

Kinda funny I saw this post as I just noticed the AT-ATX converter last night on their website...didn't even know they made them.
 
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