PSUs in Dell Dimensions

manveruppd · 8 Apr 2007 at 22:07

Can anyone tell me what kind of PSU you get in the Dell Dimension E520? I need wattage and form factor (is it standard ATX 2 or some proprietary standard?).

Dons, please delete if this violates the competitor rules.

Jay123 · 8 Apr 2007 at 22:40

Hi , Its normall atx and the 24pin atx connector , Everything else is standard

So ... Around 320 Watts would have been in there already , so 400watt power suplly will be fine .

Jay!

manveruppd · 8 Apr 2007 at 22:42

Cool, thanks, so no probs putting in a more powerful one if we ever need an upgrade I guess.

tom_e · 8 Apr 2007 at 22:43

Jay123 said:
Hi , Its normall atx and the 24pin atx connector , Everything else is standard

So ... Around 320 Watts would have been in there already , so 400watt power suplly will be fine .

Jay!

are you sure? I know a lot of the dell powersupplys look the same as a normal ATX psu and have the same connectors but sometimes different voltage wires are in different positions compaired to a normal ATX psu

manveruppd · 8 Apr 2007 at 22:55

I'm only interested in the specific model btw. If someone can confirm whether or not a standard ATX 2 can work in it I'm happy.

neocon · 9 Apr 2007 at 10:58

what ever you do, dont buy a Dell ok

manveruppd · 9 Apr 2007 at 13:17

It's not for me, don't worry. I specced a friend a system from OcUK with an E4300, DS3, GF7600, 1GB RAM and those nice widescreen 19" monitors they've got on This Week Only, and he went and found an equivalently-specced system from that hellspawn of a company that turned out slightly cheaper, and, as a clincher, had a 22" TFT thrown in as well! :eek:

I tried to dissaude him by pointing out that the system I specced will be overclockable to match the speed of a much pricier system, but he countered with the argument that this CPU is already much faster than he'll need, and by the time he'll want to upgrade the prices on the faster Core2s will have dropped. I then pointed out that the ones I saw used non-standard form factors so upgrading will be tricky, especially if he wants a new, more power-hungry graphics card. We're just trying to figure out whether he'll be able to upgrade his PSU if he needs to, or whether he should just listen to my good sense and get the rig I specced him

neocon · 9 Apr 2007 at 13:54

manveruppd said:
It's not for me, don't worry. I specced a friend a system from OcUK with an E4300, DS3, GF7600, 1GB RAM and those nice widescreen 19" monitors they've got on This Week Only, and he went and found an equivalently-specced system from that hellspawn of a company that turned out slightly cheaper, and, as a clincher, had a 22" TFT thrown in as well!

I tried to dissaude him by pointing out that the system I specced will be overclockable to match the speed of a much pricier system, but he countered with the argument that this CPU is already much faster than he'll need, and by the time he'll want to upgrade the prices on the faster Core2s will have dropped. I then pointed out that the ones I saw used non-standard form factors so upgrading will be tricky, especially if he wants a new, more power-hungry graphics card. We're just trying to figure out whether he'll be able to upgrade his PSU if he needs to, or whether he should just listen to my good sense and get the rig I specced him

i think he's made a mistake.
the quality of the components used in dell machines is pretty bad.

noisey fans
poorly designed cases - poor ventilation
motherboards are rubbish - 1 fan header, no temperature probes
PSU totally weak
the copy of MS Windows incl with a dell cant be transfered to a new machine.
no overclocking

AND THATS SUPPOSING EVERYTHING WORKS. JUST TELL YOUR FRIEND TO HAVE A LOOK AT DELLTALK SUPPORT FORUM. a lot OF PEOPLE WITH a lot OF GRIEF!!!!

oh well its not your money

PhillyDee · 9 Apr 2007 at 14:07

Most people only see the Price Tag. If its cheaper its obviously better . . . .

The saying ' You get what you pay for' is usually right imo.

manveruppd · 9 Apr 2007 at 15:36

Absolutely true, I'll probably advise him to keep the monitor and sell the rest in order to finance a custom-built rig like I specced him!

He probably won't listen though, so I really need to hear from someone who owns this particular model about whether the PSU is a standard ATX one, so that when he wants a new graphics card a year from now I'll be able to get him a new PSU with enough juice to power it.

kitfit1 · 9 Apr 2007 at 18:15

manveruppd said:
He probably won't listen though, so I really need to hear from someone who owns this particular model about whether the PSU is a standard ATX one, so that when he wants a new graphics card a year from now I'll be able to get him a new PSU with enough juice to power it.

I don't own a Dell, but i do know that PCP&Cooling make upgrade replacement psu's for Dell's. As they are specifically for Dell's, it would be a fair assumption that a normal psu probably dos'nt fit. As it happens the upgrade psu's are for people that want to run better gpu's.

Jay123 · 9 Apr 2007 at 18:57

blitz2163 said:
are you sure? I know a lot of the dell powersupplys look the same as a normal ATX psu and have the same connectors but sometimes different voltage wires are in different positions compaired to a normal ATX psu

Yes 100% sure, I repair these at work and sell them , theres no difference in connectors to a normal psu

Jay

Energize · 9 Apr 2007 at 19:38

manveruppd said:
Can anyone tell me what kind of PSU you get in the Dell Dimension E520? I need wattage and form factor (is it standard ATX 2 or some proprietary standard?).

Dons, please delete if this violates the competitor rules.

The form factor is proprietary afaik.

Caged · 10 Apr 2007 at 01:02

neocon said:
i think he's made a mistake.
the quality of the components used in dell machines is pretty bad.

noisey fans
Some of the quietest PCs I've ever used have been Dells
poorly designed cases - poor ventilation
They use BTX form factor, ventilation is not an issue
motherboards are rubbish - 1 fan header, no temperature probes
How is this a problem?
PSU totally weak
It powers the system perfectly well doesn't it?
the copy of MS Windows incl with a dell cant be transfered to a new machine.
Neither can any OEM copy
no overclocking

AND THATS SUPPOSING EVERYTHING WORKS. JUST TELL YOUR FRIEND TO HAVE A LOOK AT DELLTALK SUPPORT FORUM. a lot OF PEOPLE WITH a lot OF GRIEF!!!!

oh well its not your money

Which leaves you with a pretty decent quality machine which limits your overclocking. Boo hoo.

manveruppd · 10 Apr 2007 at 01:23

Yeah, discovered that Dell actually has some user forums where I saw lots of people shopping around for new PSUs, so, as others have mentioned, they are indeed upgradeable. I guess I can tell him there's no problem there, though I do feel a bit of a twinge in my gut at the thought of his new Core2 chip sitting there helplessly at stock....

Snapshot · 10 Apr 2007 at 06:48

Caged said:
Which leaves you with a pretty decent quality machine which limits your overclocking. Boo hoo.

Quite. And the same would be true whatever major brand you buy - you build your own if you want to overclock or modify. I've ordered and installed Dell PCs and servers for major clients over the last ten years with very few problems. I rolled out 20 Optiplex 320s and 10 Latitude 620s in January without a single fault anywhere. Still no problems and this is in a school environment. And the price we paid for the Optiplexes was so low I'm not saying what it was.

I agree Dell's Indian helpdesk is dreadful and this is something they need to address but, given the number of PCs they sell, the hardware faillure rate is good.

Simon N · 3 Oct 2007 at 21:51

Okay I have not tidied this up yet but just for those that say you can not upgrade dells...here is proof.
I simply plugged it all in to test if things would run okay and snapped an image for posterity. My lazyness has stopped me making things neater but that shall change when the whole lot goes into a new case.