Dell 375w Psu

Wolverine_1999

Hi Guys,

I have a DELL with a 375W PSU, and am adding a 7800gtx which takes roughly 110w power at 100%. Now i also have an IDE controller which will take 2, maybe 3 hard drives. I've gone to this web page http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp, and entered my configuration, which at 100% takes about 381w. They obviously are adding extra wattage for safety reasons, but I was just wondering if the 375w is ok?

I've heard that the PSU is rated at 375W, but has a much higher peak power output?

daywalker

Problem with that is you might be ok with a decent brand of PSU, but dells usually ship with crappy OEM ones and generally they cant even rate the wattage that is stamped on the side of them:(

Wolverine_1999

Hmm, its the Dimension 9150. Any idea where I could get more info on the PSU used? The website just gives usual specs...

daywalker

Not that i know of. dell usually ship with their own dell power supplies because they rewire the motherboard power adaptors so that you are locked into buying spares from them. any attempt to use a different power supply usually results in sparks flying, i know i tried it once with another dell pc.

Wolverine_1999

I know that that was the case with the older DELLS, I think the 9150 does NOT use proprietary components though..

It also uses a BTX case.

Just saw this on a DELL forum

"We actually underrate our power supplies. Yours is fine for adding other devices."

How much they actually "underrate" the power supplies I wonder though...

WexCan

DC power supply:
Wattage 375 W
Heat dissipation 1280 BTU/hr
Voltage 90 to 135 V and 180 to 265 V at 50/60 Hz
Backup battery 3-V CR2032 lithium coin cell

That's all I can find on it.

Wolverine_1999

WexCan wrote:

That's all I can find on it.

Yeah I saw that too...I e-mailed tech sup, will post what they have to say...

WexCan

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

Yeah I saw that too...I e-mailed tech sup, will post what they have to say...

Good luck, I work here.

Wolverine_1999

heh ok,

Well is the 9150 proprietary?

CyberGhost

When I was looking for a PSU, I read on dell's forums, they underrate them by like 50-70 watts. Anyways, if you want to have more peice of mind........ here

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/

They do PSUs for Dells
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/dell/

Wolverine_1999

CyberGhost wrote:

When I was looking for a PSU, I read on dell's forums, they underrate them by like 50-70 watts. Anyways, if you want to have more peice of mind........ here

http://www.pcpowercooling.com/home/

They do PSUs for Dells
http://www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/dell/

Thats only for proprietory PSU's from DELL. My model 9150 isnt there in the list either. The 9150 uses the new BTX form factor.

Wolverine_1999

Found this on the DELL forum:

You do not need an adapter. A standard ATX 2.0 PSU (24 pin) will work. You may have a few wire length issues, but it is not difficult to do. I'm not convinced the OEM PSU will power a GTX if you have a lot of extras. I had a few random reboots with the old unit and have not had a problem with the upgraded PSU.

Dimension 9100
Pentium 820 D 2.8GHz
4GB DDR2-533
BFG 7800GT OC
Soundblaster X-Fi Extreme Music
160 GB SATA + 2X300GB SATA
DVD-RW + CD-RW
Dual Dell 2405FPW 24" LCDs
Antec TruePower 2.0 550 Watt PSU
Extra 120mm rear fan
9 in 1 Media Card reader
Microsoft Optical Desktop Elite Bluetooth
Dell 3100cn Color Laser Printer w/576MB

A standard ATX will fit with no extra adapters or modifications. The Antec that I put in is slightly smaller than the stock dell unit, so there is a half inch gap between the PSU and the grating below. It will not hook into the top of the case like the stock one, but the 4 screws hold it in very tight (plus it's a fairly tight fit due to the PSU release latch on the case itself which you will not be using when you put in the new PSU). A few of the cables are way too long, so there's excess leftovers from powering the CD and DVD drives up top. The SATA power cables could be longer you can't really use 2 of the plugs that are partway down the cable, but you're still left with 2 sata power plugs and you can use extensions to utilize the other two.

You need to be careful with cable routing if you have a fan that faces down since there might be some cables obstructing air flow. Not sure if a modular cable system would be better for this computer since some of those cables tend to be on the short side, but there are a few decent ones out there if you don't want to go with Antec. I did my upgrade after talking with someone who used the True Control version of the Antec. That and the True Power series work-I would assume the NeoPower and Smartpower work as well-not sure about other brands like Enermax and OCZ as they might be a different size.

WexCan

I'll give it a check tomorrow, see what I can get internally, don't really touch Dimensions.

Wolverine_1999

THanks a lot Wexcan

Wolverine_1999

any update on this Wexcan?

Thanks

CyberGhost

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

The 9150 uses the new BTX form factor.

ah, sorry didn't know that.

TempestSabre

I understand people are trying to be helpful, (and thats cool) but you should really NOT give advice or information if you don't have first hand experience of the problem. Lots of infomation about Dells you read in mags, forums is incorrect. So be careful.

My own Dell has a standard ATX supply, but the majority of the ones that don't, only take a minor bit of work to take a standard one. Some like the workstation chassis and SFF chassis do have a proprietary PSU.

If you do a seach on the Dell talk forums you'll probably find someone (like Wolverine_1999) already running the same configuration of gfx card and disks as you. They'll be able to tell you if you need a bigger PSU or not.

Personally I think problems with under powered PSU's are pretty rare. I've never experienced it in years of working in IT, or building gaming PC's. Usually the problem is a faulty or badly regulated PSU. Happens a lot with Cheap PCU's. That said a 7800 and a few disks is going to be a heavy load. But unless you are running in RAID you are not going to be 100% on the GFX and all disks concurrently.

Its easy to see anyway. If you are having problems start disconnecting drives. If the problem goes away then its a power problem. You could also swap 2 smaller drivers for one bigger one, or use and external case. If you running a lot of media, music, video etc. Then obviously you might need 4 disks. Question I'd have is how will you back it up?

WexCan

Wolverine_1999 wrote:

any update on this Wexcan?

Thanks

Couldn't get anything concrete, apart from the fact that they are underrated. To be honest, I'd say your config will work fine. Sorry I couldn't dig up much more - 9150 is pretty new and I'm not too au fait with the ol' Dimensions.

Wolverine_1999

Hi peeps,

This is what I got from a customer service rep:

"Hi,
I would like to upgrade my PSU, and am wondering if the DELL 9150 uses proprietary components or if it would be safe for me to upgrade using a new 24 pin btx PSU? Also, the power rating of the PSU I have is 375w, but my system may need a total of 381w. What is the maximum power the PSU can supply without damage or overheating?"

I understand from your message that you have a query on the power supply this system will support.

After reviewing your information, I would like to give a link which gives you the information on the Power supply.

http://tinyurl.com/9nqb4

"Hi,

I would like to upgrade my PSU, and am wondering if the DELL 9150 uses proprietary components or if it would be safe for me to upgrade using a new 24 pin btx PSU?"

This system works normally only with a power supply of 375 watts. So there is no other possibility of increasing the Power supply watts with a higher capacity.

"Is this relevant to all DELL systems, or just the 9150?"

This information is particular to DELL 9150 only and it differs to system to system.

"Is there any pci-e power connector on the PSU? Or will I have to use a PCI-E to MOLEX convertor?"

The Power supply that is used in Dimension 9150 is 375 watts and the same powersupply is used in Dimension 9100 system also.

Dimension 9100 and 9150 both will work with a maximum power supply watts of 375W.

He kind of went in circles there... But anyway, from what I can understand, it looks like I wouldn't have any problems putting in a quality PSU like the specs of the other guy already mentioned.

Thanks for your help anyway Wexcan.

Wolverine_1999

By the way, this is the list of components I will be using:

P4 3GHZ 630
2x512 MB DDRII 533MHZ
nVidia GeForce 7800GTX 256MB PCI-E
Audigy 2 ZS
1x160GB SATA HDD
2x250GB IDE HDD
1x160GB IDE HDD
1xDVD-ROM
1xDVD+/-RW
1xUSB2 External HDD
1xUSB ATI AIW Remote

Does the 375W PSU look so good now?

Here are the specs of the DELL

http://www.iol.ie/~wolvie/Documentation.htm

Wolverine_1999

Yo,

I just compared the pin outputs on the DELL 9150 PSU motherboard connector, with a normal 24 pin output:

http://pinouts.ru/data/btx_mbpower_pinout.shtml

They are exactly the same! I.E, ANY 24 pin output PSU can be used with the motherboard, provided there is no CPU connector beside the motherboard power connector (looks like an AT connection)