Need advice for buying power supply

[birrbert]

Dear Forum!

I have a friend who owns an Acer Aspire T180 desktop PC and I'd like to help him make a little upgrade on it. The part I'm most concerned about is the power supply, since the poor PC has a 250 Watt one as default.

Computer specifications:
- CPU: AMD Sempron 3400+ (1800 Mhz)
- RAM: 2x1 GB DDR2-667 dual channel
- HDD: 250 GB

The PC has a free PCI-Express port and I'm planning to buy a Radeon HD5670, a card that doesn't consume too much current and would suit my friends needs.

So I would like to ask your advice in buying a new, stronger power supply. Unfortunately budget is tight so I need recommendation in the 30-45 USD price range.

Thank you!

[Amd_Man]

You'll have to spend alittle more than that to get a quality power supply. The minimum recommended by Amd/Ati fro that card is 400w so at least 520-550w is required to maintain good power to the system.

Newegg.com - SeaSonic S12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V V2.3 / EPS 12V V2.91 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

[Tyree]

You will not find a good quality PSU with sufficient power for that price. Using a low quality underpowered PSU will only lead to problems and probably damage.

Newegg.com - XFX Core Edition PRO550W (P1-550S-XXB9) 550W ATX12V 2.2 & ESP12V 2.91 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply

[birrbert]

Thank you guys!

I'm from Romania and I could only find the SeaSonic power supply and it's almost 30 bucks more expensive than on newegg. Drat! So I'll talk to my friend and try to convince him about the benefits of a quality product.

By the way, he lives in a part of town where electricity is not great. He had problems with his computer before so I advised him to buy an Unbreakable Power Supply. He hasn't had any problems after he bought that, but I think he will have if he buys the graphics card and not upgrade his PC's power supply.

[Tyree]

Originally Posted by birrbert

By the way, he lives in a part of town where electricity is not great.

All the more reason to have a good quality PSU.