Replacing my Power Supply

L

LewisC

New Member
Hi, my power supply recently blew and I am in need of a replacement.

Initially I took my computer to a local repair store, where they explained what was wrong and that it would cost £95 to replace my power supply.
They said this was a reasonable price as they would need a high-end power supply to support my computer graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 1024MB DDR2).

My question is, would I be better off buying a suitable power supply and installing it myself, or to pay the £95 pounds? (Please note that I haven't got barely any knowledge on building a computer)

And if so, would you recommend any power supplies?

Thank you for reading!
 
They said this was a reasonable price as they would need a high-end power supply to support my computer graphics card (NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT 1024MB DDR2).
Click to expand...

Whats the rest of your specs,The 8800GT isn't exactly what i would consider a power demanding card..ive ran an 8800GT in the system in my sig on a Gigabyte Superb 460W and it was fine.
 
vistakid10 said:
Yes you would be better off installing it yourself. A Corsair CX 600 PSU would be enough and it's a great unit at a cheap cost http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/cmpsu-600cxv2uk.html there are other good units too, but something in the 500-600W range would be fine for an 8800 GT. Only buy from brands like Corsair, XFX, Seasonic, OCZ or Antec (there's probably a brand I've forgotten about though).
Click to expand...

Thermaltake is good PSU also. I buy 500 watt thermaltake PSU for 50 dollar. about £32
 
vistakid10 said:
Yes you would be better off installing it yourself. A Corsair CX 600 PSU would be enough and it's a great unit at a cheap cost http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/cmpsu-600cxv2uk.html there are other good units too, but something in the 500-600W range would be fine for an 8800 GT. Only buy from brands like Corsair, XFX, Seasonic, OCZ or Antec (there's probably a brand I've forgotten about though).
Click to expand...

I have no knowledge on installing/adding components to computers, is it a relatively easily process?


Nevakonaza said:
Whats the rest of your specs,The 8800GT isn't exactly what i would consider a power demanding card..ive ran an 8800GT in the system in my sig on a Gigabyte Superb 460W and it was fine.
Click to expand...

Here's some further specs (Pretty old computer)
Here's all I know:

Quad Core AMD Phenom 9800 2.6GHz
4gb DDR2 RAM
500gb Hard drive

Do you reckon buying a new computer is an option?
 
vistakid10 said:
Yes you would be better off installing it yourself. A Corsair CX 600 PSU would be enough and it's a great unit at a cheap cost http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/cmpsu-600cxv2uk.html there are other good units too, but something in the 500-600W range would be fine for an 8800 GT. Only buy from brands like Corsair, XFX, Seasonic, OCZ or Antec (there's probably a brand I've forgotten about though).
Click to expand...

Yeah, really a cx430 should be able to run an 8800, but i'd play it safe on a 500+, these 2 are heaper and still good, the xfx 550w actually has more power than the cx600 and is cheaper, but just as good quality.

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/cmpsu-500cxv2uk.html

http://www.novatech.co.uk/products/components/powersupplies/p1-550s-ukb9.html

some other good ones of a different site

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-006-XF&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1497

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-034-CS&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1084

modular so un-needed cables can be unplugged

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-013-PP&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2179

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-229-SV&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=2283
 
Thanks a lot for all the reply guys.
I ended up going for XFX ProSeries 550W Core Edition Power Supply.
Saved myself £45 and learnt quite a lot about computer components.
Once, again thanks!
 
You made an excellent choice there by going for XFX; they make some of the best units out there. :good:

Literally all you need to do to remove and install a new power supply is remove the old PSU by unplugging everything it is connected to (board, CPU power, hard drives, optical drives, any fans etc), then remove the 4 screws which hold the PSU to the chassis, and then simply screw the new PSU in, plug it all back up and you're done.

If your case is decent you can neatly tuck all the cables away behind things too to make your build look cleaner and to give better airflow. It's usually highly recommended you do, but it's not absolutely essential.
 
If you're scared that you'll mess something up, take a post it note and mark every spot where you took a plug out of your motherboard/hard drive/video card.
 
claptonman said:
If you're scared that you'll mess something up, take a post it note and mark every spot where you took a plug out of your motherboard/hard drive/video card.
Click to expand...

Hey welcome back Claptonman :)

anyway, that is pretty good idea. As i was repair my truck with my dad. We always mark on timing belt. Plus I read color code on motherboard and color wire.
 
Or he could leave the psu wired, pull it out, put the xfx in, then un-plug a wire and plug in the same one off the xfx one by one until he's done
 
Thanks for the advice on replacing the PSU.
But I've encountered a problem when trying to remove the broken one from my computer.

I managed to remove the PSU (finally) and after I have found a 'Serial ATA'.
I have found 4 sockets on my motherboard and was wondering which 2 I should use?

It looks like this on my motherboard:
http://depositphotos.com/1783760/stock-photo-SATA-socket.html

Each socket has a different colour, and is labelled appropriately (SATAII_BLUE, SATAII, BLACK, SATAII_RED, SATAII_ORANGE)

Was wondering whether it matters which sockets I use, or whether I need to use it at all?

Thanks
 
Those you would use sata cables to go to your devices like hard drives and cdrom drives. Power supply doesn't get hooked up to them. Data cables only.
 
johnb35 said:
Those you would use sata cables to go to your devices like hard drives and cdrom drives. Power supply doesn't get hooked up to them. Data cables only.
Click to expand...

Yeah I know, but I've got a random Serial ATA cable which was inside the computer before I remove my PSU, and I have no idea where to plug it into since there are 4 sockets for it.

Some of the sockets have more labelling:
Blue - port2.0
Red - port 2.1
Black - port 1.0
Orange - port1.1
 
johnb35 said:
Those you would use sata cables to go to your devices like hard drives and cdrom drives. Power supply doesn't get hooked up to them. Data cables only.
Click to expand...

Yep the PSU cables only plug into the 24 pin ATX connector and the 4- or 8-pin CPU connector on the board 99 times out of 100.
 
Sorry, no idea what was said, any idea you could simplify it? :P
So does that mean that I do not have to use my serial ATA at all?
 
You need to only plug the big 24-pin power connector and the little 4-pin or 8-pin CPU connector into the board and nothing else. You need to plug power into the hard drives and DVD drive(s) though.

24pin-atx-power.jpg

This is the big 24 pin power cable (sometimes referred to as an 'ATX cable')

p4.jpg

This is the 4-pin power cable to power your CPU (sometimes it has 8 pins)

LGGSAH62N_sata2.jpg

This is the SATA power and data cables which you plug into your DVD drive or hard drive like above. The thin red cable (it may be a different colour) plugs straight into the board, and the wider cable goes from the power supply.

motherboard_40_1.jpg

The plug circled in red is where your ATX cable goes, and the plug circled in yellow is where your 4- or 8- pin CPU power cable goes.
 
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