Changing PS's

[Sam_G]

ok, I have a micro ATX tower, its kinda old and I was wondering if its possible to change my power supply. The new mobo I am planning to install in my tower needs atleast a 300 watt power supply, and my current ps isn't up to snuff for the situation. Other question; our all power supply's roughly the same size? Like would a power supply in my brothers atx tower fit in my micro tower? any help would be greatly appreciated, thnx

 

[SavvyLady]

Sam... my advice is its in real bad need of updating ... you might be better off to buy a new PC.
Prices are so low now to what they was a couple years ago its becoming more economical to get a new one.

thats just a thought on my part

 

[deuce]

Sorry... you cannot use an ATX form factor ps with a microATX form factor mobo and case. For starters, microATX and ATX to my knowledge use different connections... ATX uses one long connector about 2" long... microATX I think has 2 one inch connectors. You need to either... (a) find a new microATX ps that has enough wattage (which could be hard to find... let alone one with enough Ws) or (b) get a new case and mobo (which could run about $100 to $300... depending on what you buy). MicroATX was developed a little while back to suit a market that wanted cheaper pcs. Although not out of date and still widely in use... micro ATX saves money by eliminating 3 or 4 PCI slots, the AGP and CNR slot (communication network riser--typically for audio or modem), and I think also sometimes a memory bank, thus making the mobo smaller and less expensive to manufacture. So in other words... you could look for a new microATX ps... or you could just get a new ATX ps, mobo, and case. It may be slightly more... but 2 PCI slots is hard to work with... you may need a few more. ATX will normally have 5 or 6 PCI, an AGP and CNR (which no one really uses a CNR to my knowledge) and 2 or more memory banks... allowing for 3 or 4 memory slots... usually accepting up to 512 Mb or 1 GB memory modules in each. If you don't have AGP already... I suggest you get a mobo with it. It has its own bus and frees up the PCI bandwidth by allocating its own... usually doubling the speed the graphics card can communicate with the rest of the system... and increasing the speed of the other PCI devices. It has a higher frequecy bus than PCI so an AGP grahics card would actually run a little faster than a PCI one with no other PCI device in the system.


BTW... welcome to the boards.

 

[Sam_G]

hey, thanx for the input guys (and gals).

Ya the mobo I have now does have an agp and 3 pci slots (plus 1 isa). But it is too bad that there are hardly any ps's out there with the wattage I need. I found a sweet *** mobo thats micro ATX form, but I guess its time to upgrade to an ATX.