Dell PSU

Cob · 7 Nov 2006 at 22:14

I've a mate at work who wants to upgrade his excuse of a PSU in his Dell Dimension 5150. Will he be able to straight swop it for 'big-name' model or do Dell use an odd propietary size for their cases?

Yewen · 7 Nov 2006 at 22:17

The pins on the PSU will most likely be different.

If you have a Dell PC, the supplied PSU will be enough for the system.

Cob · 7 Nov 2006 at 22:22

He wants to put an X1900 XT in it. It's only around 300w and has no pci-e plug and only 2 (!) molex connectors.

Yewen · 8 Nov 2006 at 01:40

Really should not be looking at that type of upgrade then.

You need to look at the PSU you have, and the motherboard and find out if they are wired up as standard.

LanceCrossfire · 8 Nov 2006 at 03:43

dells are tricky, we get a fare amount at work to service. a lot of them have there own type of psu, built specifically for those cases(or some rare form factor) a lot of the tower units though can have a regular atx psu put in them... grab an atx psu and give it ago...

Cob · 8 Nov 2006 at 14:03

Yea there seems to be quite a bit of evidence that they've started using standard PSUs lately. I've told him I'll lend him a cheap generic PSU to see if it fits before he splashes out £70 on a new one.

BigDannyO · 8 Nov 2006 at 16:28

Dunno if it helps but I replaced the PSU in my horrible Dell Dimension 4700 with an Enermax Liberty 400w without a hitch. Did quite a lot of research beforehand tho, cos I had also heard that it wouldn't work.

AFAIK, there's 3 different types of MOBO connectors for Dell PSU's. One of them will work with the new ATX standard, the other two are dell proprietary connectors.

There is a website that sells upgrade PSU's for Dell machines that won't take standard one's, but i don't know if i'm allowed to mention it! Just google ""Dell Dimension 5150" PSU", and you'll get a whole bunch of hits.