A new Power Supply?

[elvisuk]

H! i am thinking about getting a new power supply i am looking at

EECS 400W Power Plus PSU, 135mm Fan
Price: £58.25 (£66.99 inc. VAT)

www.quietpc.com/gb-en-gbp/products/powersupplies

Any suggestions?

Thanks ;D

[computing50yrs]

The price seems to be over the top, a 550W PSU at £37.00 with 120m fan from my supplier, but watch out a lot of PSU only have SATA power connectors

[elvisuk]

H! computing50yrs,

Yes that why i ask for suggestions ;D i keep looking but that's the only one i like at the moo

[elvisuk]

And i am using SATA on this computer not ide ;D

[mikkh]

400W seems a little on the low side, although it should be OK if you don't have a monster graphics card

This looks a decent bargain from Maplins

www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=229204

[elvisuk]

H! Mikkh,

Thanks never thort about Maplins i will have a look Monday ;D i like the price Atrix 650w Transparent Power Supply only £29.99 and the 2 x 8cm fans for silent operation.

Thanks Mikkh.

[elvisuk]

H! Mikkh,

I have onboard graphics at the moment as it needs a PCI express card? i only have AGP and PCI cards older stuff.

This was supposed to be a cheap computer and it's turning out to be expensive.

Should of got a Laptop i was going to

[ken]

Computers never turn out as cheap as you expect Elvis. Modern stuff more so as you have found out, older parts dont work. Your onboard graphics are probably better than any PCI card you've got and AGP is out. Although a PCI card with dedicated memory might be better than sharing the main RAM. As long as you dont want to play high powered games, you shouldn't have to pay too much or a reasonable E-PCI card. If you want gaming graphics, you wont get much change out of £200.00. You could go the whole hog and put a HD4870 x 2 in for a little over 300 quid. Although I would put at least a 850 watt PSU in if you do.

KC

[mikkh]

A cheap PCIeXpress card would release the RAM any on-board graphics are using and would make a lot of difference for anything but real high end games

Money well spent IMO, and you needn't go mad (like Ken does :-P)
Something like this for £40 would suit most people

www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=4480

.... and I wouldn't regret not buying a laptop too much. They bring their own set of problems, like fiddly keyboards, annoying touchpads, mostly under powered graphics, weak CPU performance compared to the same desktop model and are very poor for upgrading.

They look trendy, which I think is the reason most people buy them !

[elvisuk]

H! KC & Mikkh

This computer is not meant to be a games computer it's just a middle of the road computer as for a E-PCI card "in for a little over 300 quid." (you nearly gave me a hart attack) I'm looking more like £50 to £70 as mikkh says "A cheap PCIeXpress card would release the RAM any on-board graphics are using" mu last AGP card cost me £70 which was a good price at the time.

The link Mikkh put on looks good i will what as i still have to get my nightmare to run yet

Thanks Mikkh and KC for your help much appreciated as always ;D

[ken]

I might have gone a little bit over the top with the Palit HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition, but my little Phenom 9850 sure can put them big Intel i7's in their place, with any lesser card. Although it did cost me another 128 quid, just to keep it cool.

You never know Elvis, a new graphics card might kick it into touch, although I think it might take a little bit more than that.

KC

[elvisuk]

H! KC, ;D

Yes i know what you are saying and if i had the money, time and if i won the lottery then i would spend lots and lots of money on a computer but i have a little problem with money and that is i never seem to have any

"although I think it might take a little bit more than that." yes so do i

;D

[ken]

Software usually has a straight forward answer Elvis, but some hardware isn't quite as easy. It could be something dead simple, but without having it in front of you it's not so easy to figure out. Hardware has developed so quickly lately, most people haven't got spare parts they can use to check things. Every time they bring out a new processor they change the memory type. Hardware is getting better, but its becoming less user friendly.

KC

[elvisuk]

H! Mikkh, ;D

Went in to town today and called into Maplings but the power supply Atrix 650w Transparent Power Supply only £29.99 was sold out

So i am still looking

[mikkh]

Well the offer is on till after my birthday (so get saving, I'll have one too ;o) and Maplins have a few other branches
Surely they haven't sold out nationwide?

This looks a good buy too, but the postage may push the price too high if you don't live near Nottingham to pick it up yourself

www.web-systems.co.uk/?page=Products&pid=4248

[elvisuk]

H! Mikkh,

Thy had 2 in Sunday but zero Monday i don't know wear Nottingham is i will have to look on a map I have the cash but not the power supply ;D 3 days hanging around still it's a good buy even with the postage, I'll have a think about it and decide tomorrow i do most of my computer shopping on the inter net any way so it wont matter about the 3 days hanging around ;D

Have you shop with them?

I will have to keep an eye on Maplins

Thanks

[mikkh]

Yes, I get a lot of parts from there. They're usually the cheapest in Nottingham, but I get some things cheaper elsewhere.

[elvisuk]

H! Mikkh,

Well i have just ordered Eye-T 650W Modular PSU and a Palit GeForce 9400GT Super 512MB (Dual DVI+HDTV) PCiEx i will need one anyway and i save a bit on postage ;D that way.

I will let you know when thy come.

Thanks for the Link ;D

[jojo]

On the subject of power supplies.

There was mention in another thread of someone who leaves his computer on most of the day but puts it into standby.

I also leave my computer on most of the day so I can use it when I want to. I don't use standby simply because it seemed to me that the power supply would continue drawing the same power regardless.

As for saving components, it also seemed to me that continually being powered up and down would cause more harm than being on continuously.

Is there any advantage to standby?

[ken]

There are different trains of thought; on the continuous, over powering down Jojo. I think the same as you. My computers used to run 24/7, but I shut mine down since I had one catch fire. That was a freak really, it was a faulty cable module on a brand new PSU. I powered up for the first time and it flamed up. I am still using the same PSU, after they sent me a new set of cables for it. It has got me thinking though and now my computers are shut down if I'm not there. They run at full power all the time I am home, and I get mail alerts even when the screen saver is on. Avast scans my computer while it in screen saver mode and 3 Tbs takes a while to do. It picks up where it left off when you set it that way. Computers love to power down, but they are very slow to wake up again. I also stop mine from turning off peripherals when they are not being used. If I want to send an email, I don't want to wait for the cable modem to wake up. My graphics card is even set to turbo all the time, otherwise the thing gets hot quicker than the fans react. I don't think a couple of fans will break the bank. The Beast is a bit juicy, but I knew that when I built it.

KC

[elvisuk]

H! Mikkh,

My power supply came today with my E-pci card at 11.46 only took 1 1/2 days not bad, the stuff looks good have not got time for them today maybe tomorrow.

Thanks for your help ;D

[ken]

You should be flying today then Elvis.

KC

[elvisuk]

No KC i have not got any Red Bull

I have to fix my leek too day so i will have to get started tomorrow

[jojo]

Thanks Ken.