power supply question. please help

[spin03]

i am looking to buy a new video card, and i have heard people hving problems with their power supply. i checked mine and suprisingly it was only 160 Watts? i have a gateway computer, and my specs are p4 2.26 ghz, 512 ram, and a nvidia geforce mx 440 128 mb. i called gateway and they said that if i upgrade my power supply, it will mess up my computer. anyone have an idea? thank you for your help

 

[The Terminator]

160 watts? wow. I dont know why it would mess up your computer, Dell prolyl rigged shit in there cause they are gay. I dont know why you couldnt upgrade, call them again and ask why and what it would mess up.

 

[spin03]

yea im not sure either, i guess i will call them later, by any chance does anyone know how many watts you would need for an NVIDIA geforce4 mx 440 128 mb

 

[oD1Nz]

For a MX440, I doubt you'd need anything special.

I'm sure that if you upgraded your power supply it wouldn't damage you computer (unless you were exceptionally unlucky and the PSU turned out to be a dud). The problem would be that Gateway might use a different formfactor (different sizes) of connectors, or a different size of PSU completely.

Try doing a little research with Google and your model number, I'm almost positive that somebody would have tried the same thing you're planning on doing.

 

[spin03]

i read somewhere that you needed at least 250 watts to run a pentium 4 processor. anyone know if that is true?

 

[oD1Nz]

i read somewhere that you needed at least 250 watts to run a pentium 4 processor. anyone know if that is true?

Depends on the amps on the 12V (mainly) and 5V rails. For a Peefoh processor, I'd recommend over 15A on the 12V line, and around 20 on the 5V, although the 5V isn't as important now-a-days. I'd imagine compaines like HP and Dell would scrape as close to the limit as cheaply possible.

 

[spin03]

Depends on the amps on the 12V (mainly) and 5V rails. For a Peefoh processor, I'd recommend over 15A on the 12V line, and around 20 on the 5V, although the 5V isn't as important now-a-days. I'd imagine compaines like HP and Dell would scrape as close to the limit as cheaply possible.

is there a way to find out that info? sorry i know nothing about computers

 

[bosox188]

Yeah i don't know where to find that out but seeing as it's running your computer fine right now, I guess it's ok. But you need to upgrade for a new video card. Get an Antec or Thermaltake, but first we gotta find out more about Gateway's formfactor. You can do this, you just might need to get a microatx power supply, they're smaller but not any worse.

 

[chriso20]

http://www.novatech.co.uk/novatech/specpage.html?NOV-PSU550

Here's a link to the power supply i have.

its 550w, twin-fans, so overheating isnt a prob. and because its 550w, its pretty much future proofed.

Hope that helps.

 

[SidewinderX]

hmm, well, ber careful. I think Dell/Gateway/HP/etc use custom motherboards with diffrent power attachments, so getting a normal PSU may be incompatible.

 

[The Mullinator]

I know Dell motherboards have a custom bios so I wouldn't be surprised if other parts of the motherboard like the power attachments are custom as well.

 

[spin03]

i found out that my power supply is custom made, so i doubt i can upgrade it. anyone know if it is possible to upgrade a custom built power supply