Help with upgrading my power supply?

I have an HP a6303w (completely stock, nothing changed on it so far...) desktop computer. This is it, for picture purposes: http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.d…



It's a basic desktop computer, and definitely not a slimline (though the picture appears that way at first, until you make it larger).



This is my motherboard: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/docum… An Asus IPIBL-LB.



The little %26quot;micro-ATX: 9.6 in X 9.6 in%26quot; for the motherboard description seems to basically be an issue where HP wanted to save money and put a little motherboard in what I have been told is a midATX case.



I am planning on upgrading my video card up to a PCI x16 512MB DDR2 (probably NVidia Geforce of some type). I have no other mods on my system other than adding an additional 1GB memory stick. No other mods are planned. I don't want to mess up my computer by getting too small of a power supply, but I don't know what the heck I am doing and which power supply to get. I want to make sure that it fits my components and, most importantly, actually fits inside of my computer case and isn't too wide/tall.



For this computer, what power supply would you recommend? How many watts does a 512MB card generally need to run in itself? I need something that isn't so cheap that it will burn out on me in a year. But I'm trying to not spend more than $100 (and hopefully less) on it. Yes, I know...I'm cheap and my budget doesn't allow for too much. lolHelp with upgrading my power supply?
Anything above 550W will be fine. Choose from the better brands, Chieftec, Thermaltake and even ASUS.Help with upgrading my power supply?
It would have been a lot better if you had told us what graphics card you were planning to buy. There are graphics cards that require about 75 watts of the Power Supply, and some that cost 150 watts of Power Supply, each having 512 MB of memory. You also have to take into account how much the graphics card uses when it is being used by a video game (it can increase wattage consumption significantly). I would recommend about a 600 watt Power Supply. That should cover anything you have in the PC and then some. Any less might be pushing it (depending on your CPU), and anymore seems unnecessary.Help with upgrading my power supply?
The Corsair TX is a bulletproof unit, built by Chanellwell on their PSH chasis. All Japanese capacitors, and will output 650 watts at case temperature without getting freaky hot. Good stuff. But, the cards you selected... yeow. The 7200gs is basically onboard-grade, and the 8400gs is probably like an eighth the speed of a 4670. Seriously, don't let Billy scare you. Just put a $35 9500GT into your case, using your existing power supply. The card won't draw more than 50 watts at full load, so it's not an issue.



http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.as…



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Okay... want to do this on the cheap? I know your stock 300 watt power supply sounds puny, but HP ships Q6600/9300GS systems with them... and expects them to last through a three year extended warranty. Really, even a Q6600/8800GT rig only draws about 200-250 watts peak, so you can get away with an HD4650/70 or 9500GT on the stock power supply and still have a margin of safety. Both cards hang with the latest titles, albeit on medium settings, and shouldn't cost more than $60. In fact, Newegg has a 9500GT for just $35 after mail in rebate, and that card only draws about 3.5 amps, so you have nothing to worry about it. The 4670 is the hungriest of the lot, but still only pulls about 5 amps.



Also, just so you know, the main determinant of video card quality isn't the VRAM quantity, and hasn't been since the late 90's, when cards often only had eight megabytes worth.Help with upgrading my power supply?
The motherboard has an open PCI Express x16 expansion slot. Since this slot is on the mother board, and open I would think that HP would have thought that the customer would want to add one so would have put a large enough PS for this. But we are talking about HP here, they usually try to cut cost and put only what the PC as built, needs.



So I would call the tech support if it is under warranty and ask them what kind of high end video card they would suggest with your system as is.

Also, most importantly, ask them if you do this will it void your warranty.



I personally thing it will be ok if your PS is 450 watt or bigger.Help with upgrading my power supply?
Which PSU to buy and how Much Power Do I Need?

(Link to more guidance after this explanation)



Obviously, we do not expect everyone to have all the terms of art down pat when it comes to power supplies. How much power is necessary for the “average” PC system, if there is such a thing nowadays?



Take a look at what you’ve had in the past. If you bought a standard power supply from one of the top computer manufacturers, chances are you purchased a 250- to 300W power supply of average quality.



Now that is more than enough for your run-of-the-mill system consisting of a hard drive, an optical drive and a fair-to-middling graphics card.



However, if you are going to add more peripherals you need to seriously consider upgrading your power supply.



For your reference, following are details that illustrates approximately how much wattage you will need to run various common components in a PC system ( the components are on the left and the wattage required on the right):



The Motherboard: 15-30

Low-end CPU: 20-50

Midrange to high-end CPU: 40-100

RAM: about 7 per 128MB

PCI add-in card: 5

Low to midrange graphics board: 20-60

High-End graphics board: 60-100

IDE hard drive: 10-30

Optical drives: 10-25



So let's calculate a system with a powerful motherboard, a (High-end) CPU, 4 Gigs of RAM, 3 PCI cards (including the 2 (high-end) graphic cards), 2 hard drives and 2 optical drives.



That would be 30+100+224(128MB X 8 X 4 = 4Gigs @ 7 per 128MB)

+15(3 X 5)+200(2 X 100)+60(2 X 30)+50(2 X 25) = 679



So do the math for yours (and get the best power/price combo)



Check here for still more information: http://static.tigerdirect.com/html/power…





Hope this helps guide you



QD 1956