psu booster

granda

hi looking to boost the power of a propiatory hp psu to run a graphics card and came accross this on the net and was wondering if it would do the trick or something similar
http://www.amazon.com/FSP-CrossFire-Upgrade-BOOSTER-X5/dp/B002IZE5RE
only thing is cant seem to find a supplier in ireland or accross the water, any help is greatly appreciated

Monotype

Someone was asking about these a while ago. You can't really get them here and they're very expensive to ship here. Is the existing PSU far from the ATX standard ones - i.e., are we talking about different connectors (I know Dell used to have connectors that looked the same but were wired differently), different cable lengths or a different size?

granda

ye there are different connectors, like a 4 pin cpu power connector and ,i think, sata connectors for the hard drive and cd drive that connect into the motherboard. do you know of any psu's that can work with this setup that wont break the bank
sorry for the questions i'm not really up on tech stuff and its for a gaming computer for my son

Monotype

Yeah, most CPUs can accommodate a 4-pin CPU connector. Modern CPUs and motherboard take 8-pins usually, but the connector can be split into 4+4.

Hard drives are standard - very unlikely that they'll be different. Older drives use 4-pin molex. Newer use SATA power connectors. Both are available in any regular PSU. I think your main concern could be the size. What is the exact model number of the machine?

Also, why do you require the extra power?

granda

he needs the extra power for a graphics card(i have a corsair 600cx to replace the hp one 320w) the desktop model is hp 8200 elite with an i5 processer 12gb ram and a 1tb hd,the only problem seems to be that the corsair psu has a 20+4 pin power connecter but the mother board has'nt (just the 4 pin cpu power connecter) is there maybe an adapter to can get to change this

Monotype

Hmm... looks like there's little you can do with upgrading the PSU there. It seems to be a completely proprietary setup, just as you said initially. I haven't seen one like that before and thought that sort of thing had been cut out of most PC businesses.

You could go a card that wouldn't need additional power. E.g., the 7750 can be powered by a motherboard... A standard motherboard, anyway.

If you already have the card and the PSU, your best option would probably be a new motherboard and case. It would be a bit of trouble as it would require a Windows install as well.

granda

thanks monotype was sorrta thinking that myself, would you have any suggestions for one that wont break the bank and still work with the processor,ram,hdd and cd drive.
many thanks

Monotype

What's the CPU exactly? You can find out by downloading CPUz.

From what I can make out, the hard drives are actually powered from the motherboard - correct? Is the connection to the hard drive itself one of these (SATA power cable):


and one of these (SATA cable):


You're only really worried about the ends connecting to the hard drive. If they're standard type, then there's no problem.

Check the DVD drive as well. The DVD drive could be a ribbon cable if it's older.

granda

ye those are the cables monotype and they are powered of the motherboard and the cpu is an intel i5 3.3ghz

Monotype

What's the exact model though - e.g., i5-760 or i5-2500 or something like that. This is important as it tells us the socket that it uses.

You can find out directly by downloading CPU-Z from www.cpuid.com

Edit: Actually, hitting Windows Key + Pause/Break should tell you as well.

granda

Monotype wrote: »

What's the exact model though - e.g., i5-760 or i5-2500 or something like that. This is important as it tells us the socket that it uses.

You can find out directly by downloading CPU-Z from www.cpuid.com

Edit: Actually, hitting Windows Key + Pause/Break should tell you as well.

i52500

Monotype

Okay, you're talking about socket 1155 then.
Basically any motherboard that has any of the following chipsets: H61, H67, P67, Z68, H77, B75, Z75 and Z77, and a few others as well, but they're the main ones. H61 are the cheapest and don't have some newer features. P67 can't use integrated graphics, but you won't be using that anyway. Since you don't intend to overclock, anyone should do.

OK, keeping the budget low...
H61 motherboards start at around €40. Let's see if we can find a half decent one.
This one has USB 3:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/70777/ASRock+H61M-DG3+USB3%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+mATX.article
but I like the look of this one better since it has a SATA 6Gbps port, which would be handy if you buy an SSD at some stage. Out of stock for a few days, but I can have another look around if you're in a hurry.
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/65914/MSI+B75MA-E33%2C+Intel+B75%2C+mATX%2C+DDR3.article

CPU, hard drives, DVD drive, your new PSU, graphics and RAM should be transferable over.
You'll need a motherboard, heatsink (unless you can pick one up handy) and a case. You might also need Windows, depending on the version you have. You can move retail copies that you buy in a shop, but you have to have a good reason for switching an OEM copy when you call Microsoft. Or if you're a student, you might be able to find a cheap copy.
Shopping at hardwareversand, I'd go with something like this:
Item|Price
MSI B75MA-E33, Intel B75, mATX, DDR3|€48.30
BitFenix Merc Beta|€33.00
Alpenföhn Sella - 92mm, AMD/Intel|€17.91
Shipping|€18.99
Total|€118.20

Let's see if we can do any better with amazon:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/P8B75-M-LX-Motherboard-PCI-Express-Socket/dp/B008P4ZS64/
£46.50
Merc Beta case
http://www.amazon.co.uk/BitFenix-Merc-Beta-Tower-Chassis/dp/B005JRICQ8/
£33
Heatsink
Coolermaster T2 looks good enough for £13. It's not the best, but most of the reviews say it's good enough so long as you're not overclocking. You can pick one of the other ones from the list like the TX3 or the 212 Evo if you want something quieter.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B009XGZZ52

That's probably a total of around £95 when you add the Irish VAT. Delivery is free so long as you pick amazon as the seller and get the free delivery option.
Comes to a little over €110.

granda

a great many thanks monotype ,thats a great help i,ll go with hardwareversand i think. reckon my son will be very happy now

Monotype

Just be aware that hardwareversand's main method of payment is bank transfer. This is normal for Germany and they're a reputable seller. You can pay with paypal too for orders below ~€600 but they charge an additional 3%.

Oh yeah, since that motherboard is a smaller mATX sized one, you could actually get a smaller case too if you want to save a bit of space:
http://www.hardwareversand.de/Mini/49193/FRACTAL+DESIGN+Gehäuse+Core+1000+black.article
Also, that motherboard has a USB 3 header, you can use cases that have USB 3 ports at the front if you wanted to.

One last thing - there's two slots for RAM on this board - check that you only have two sticks of RAM in your current motherboard. You can get one with four slots, but they cost a little more.

granda

again many thanks monotype the current motherboard has 3*4gb so i'll just leave one off and have it as a spare.
you have to love the nice people on boards

Monotype

Ha, thanks. Well I don't know if I'd tar everyone with the same brush, but I have to say that everyone involved with the B&U forum are definitely some of the friendliest around.

You will need to do a clean install of Windows, by the way. If it's W7, you can find links for install discs from the guide in my signature. Whether or not you can activate it and transfer it over depends on the license. Make sure you back up any things that you want to keep from your current install.

If you run into any issues with putting the parts together, just let any of us know and we'll see if we can offer any advice.

granda

hi monotype i'm able to get one of these motherboards through a friend,which one would be the best in your opinion or should I stick to your original suggestion
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/57463/ASUS+P8B75-M+LE%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+mATX%2C+DDR3.article

http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/71574/ASUS+P8B75-M+LX+PLUS%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+mATX%2C+DDR3.article
thanks again
or maybe its was this one
http://www.hardwareversand.de/DDR3/63759/ASUS+P8B75-M+LX%2C+Sockel+1155%2C+mATX%2C+DDR3.article

Monotype

It looks like that LE supports higher frequency RAM, although that makes very little difference on an Intel system as you won't be overclocking.

Next, the LE also has a HDMI port, but you won't be using that since you have a dedicated card.

Next, the the LE and the LX Plus support Lucid Virtu MVP. Essentially, this allows you to switch between dedicated and integrated graphics. The idea is that it can be helpful in encoding and could potentially save power. It doesn't really save power but it does help the encoding.

The LE has an additional long PCI-E slot and an extra PCI slot while the others have two shorter PCI-E x1 slots. It's only really graphics cards that use the long slots, but I suppose it's slightly more useful as you can still put in a short card.

There's a few extra Asus features in the LX Plus over the LX and the LE over that. E.g., the LX has ASUS EPU which is a power saving feature.

All in all, there's not that much between them. The LE is the best board, but I'd just get whatever one is cheapest.