Newbie question on power supplies.

paulsmith109 · 9 May 2008 at 15:19

Hope someone can help me:
I have a cheap and cheerful PC purchased on ebay running a C2D 6400 CPU,
2Gb of RAM, a 250GB SATA hard drive, a DVD drive and a Radeon X1650 Pro AGP graphics card. The mobo is pretty pants (PC Chips P23G AGP) but my main concern is the 450W power supply (don`t know the make) which is audibly very noisy and also, I suspect, leaking a lot of electrical interference as I have noticed a significant drop in my broadband connection`s downstream noise margin figures.
So - I `d like to upgrade this power supply but I `m not a PC expert. Apparantly my mobo is a `micro atx or matx` build. Most power supplies I see advertised state that they are `atx form`. Would these be compatible or do I have to have a matx compatible power supply instead. What would you recommend for about £60 and are they easy to fit or should I ask my local PC dealer (small local business - not PC World!!) to fit it for me. Thanks for any help.
Apparantly, having just read the manual, the mobo is micro atx sized but has atx power connectors. It states: "This motherboard is a Micro ATX size motherboard and has power connectors for an ATX power supply". Hope this helps!

Blackhawk47 · 9 May 2008 at 15:31

atx form just means the size. i have a matx board in a full atx case. runs fine on any normal atx psu. has 24pin mobo connection and 4 pin cpu connection.

Space Monkey · 9 May 2008 at 15:34

Is your case a matx? if it is it may need a matx psu? Otherwise if its a normal size case then as Blackhawk said you can use any atx psu.

I built a pc for my mum last year with a matx mobo in a normal atx case & with an atx psu

amkan13 · 9 May 2008 at 15:37

yes an atx psu will work on a matx mobo

switching the PSU is easy, dont take it to pc world so they can rob you.
disconnect all power cables in the case. unscrew psu from case. replace with new psu and reconnect all the power cables back.

id go for the Enermax Pro 82+ 425W EPR425AWT ATX2.3 Silent PSU or the Antec EarthWatts 500W PSU (which is a seasonic oem if i remember correctly) or the Corsair VX 450W ATX PSU

how bigs the case btw? some small form factor cases need a specialised matx psu

milkinc13 · 9 May 2008 at 15:48

amkan13- PC world won't have a clue what your on about

Guardsmon · 9 May 2008 at 15:59

Replacing the power supply yourself isn't that hard. Just note everywhere that you unplug on a peice of paper and then tick them off as you put the new one back in.
You can't really plug any of the sockets in the wrong place, just read both manuals if you get at all worried.
Pretty much any of the power supplies on OCuk would be good enough for you. I would look for 400 Watt+ the Corsair 450Watt is very good, but it depends on how much you want to spend.

[KH]Shadow · 9 May 2008 at 16:29

we can't specify a PSU without knowing what case its going in? depending on whether you need a MATX PSU or a standard ATX.

if its ATX theres an Antec TruePower Trio 550W PSU on the OCUK website for £59.99, i've always rated Antec very highly in terms of cases and PSU's. so would be a solid buy.

or if its a Micro ATX then without looking into it further i can only see the Enermax EG285-SX-VB(G) 285W Micro ATX Power Supply for £24.99 on the OCUK website, Enermax also have a very good name in supplying decent PSU's (such as the Enermax Galaxy 1000w

)

and as for fitting, they are usually very simple, just a few screws and just note where all the power cables went to if you've never done it before. or even take a picture.

paulsmith109 · 9 May 2008 at 20:50

D.M said:
Is your case a matx? if it is it may need a matx psu? Otherwise if its a normal size case then as Blackhawk said you can use any atx psu.

I built a pc for my mum last year with a matx mobo in a normal atx case & with an atx psu

Thanks for replying. I think my case is a `normal` size. It`s a silver X-Blade case - the one you commonly see on ebay if you want to buy an assembled desktop PC.