Prometheus_SD7

This kind of relates to multiple components, but since I am looking for a new motherboard (maybe), I decided to post this here, I hope this is the right place.

I've had my nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra for almost two years now (got around new years), I had to upgrade my power supply for it (250w to 550w, spent about $50). It was working fine for a while, but about late Spring Time, my computer started to act funny. It shut down, claiming it was a thermal event, so I just bought some fans, put them in, and hoped it would be fine. It kept happening.

I asked my uncle about it (he's some computer fixer guy or something) and he said my power supply was probably delievering the wrong voltage to something. I switched my powersupply back to the old one and it stopped, and it was fine.

Later in the year, I had two hard drive failures. Both of the hard drive were in long before I even got my new video card. Could that have been caused by the power supply? My brother told me that he read online that faulty power supplies can seriously damage computer components, and warned me against powersupplies $50 and under because they are probably made from cheap stuff.

I have a Dell Dimension 8300 I believe, so I contacted Dell with this problem and they claimed that the motherboard could not handle power supplies over 300 some watts, my brother claims that Dell is full of you know what, and there are no power limits on motherboards.

So my real question is, can certain motherboards only handle a certain amount of power? Is my power supply just faulty? Did my hard drives crash because of it? Will I ever get the full power out of my video card with my current setup? Also, with my current connectors I can only find 80-120 GB hard drives for my computer, and I would like at least 160 (big games these days), I pretty much have to upgrade my motherboard to get more than 120 GB right?

One last question (if this one remains unanswer I will just reask in the powersupply section). How does power supply work? If the most power consuming part in your computer calls for a 550w power supply, is that all you need? Or does it stack up? Say you have one of those fancy new physics cards that calls for 300w, would you need 850 watts for both? or just 550w?

I'm not sure what else to mention. Sorry for the long read, I think I put everything in there.

Thank you very much, it would mean the world to me if I could just fix this computer. Sorry if my questions are too broad of range for any one section on this forum.

Thanks again.

floydfan

the 550w psu you bought was faulty, never buy psus for 50 bucks. the hard drives were probably killed by it as well. as for psu requirements, you add up all the parts in the computer to get the requirements. a physics card doesnt eat 300w, they suggest you have at least a 300w psu for the system you put it in, not many systems should have a 300w psu though, rather at least 450w.
edit: why on earth do i have that avatar and tag? lol

PanamaGal

Your grief was likely caused by a very cheap and bad power supply. Your hard drives may very well have failed due to that power supply; but there is really no way to know. Your motherboard will handle a larger drive than 120gb. Get a 320gb if you like. You just need to make sure you get the right interface, PATA or SATA. You also need a quality power supply. I'd go for a nice 450-500W. Some brands to look at are Seasonic (my favorite), Silverstone, Antec, Fortron (a good value), and Zalman. Please, please, please, do not go cheap with a power supply. This is likely the single biggest mistake many people make when building or upgrading. There is an excellent power supply sticky you should read at the beginning of this section. Last, if you have a question, ask here, not Dell, as one can believe very little of what they say.

Prometheus_SD7

My video card recommends 550w, and somewhere down the line I'd like a PhysX card or something, so that would add 100-300w or so? Plus my processor, drives, etc. So in the end that would be 1000-1100 watts wouldn't it? I don't another 500-600 dollars to spend on this thing... :'( Currently I can probably get by with 700-900 watts I think, that's still a lot of money.

dai

put your specs in here
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp
based on a quality supply and add 30% to the end result
http://www.techsupportforum.com/showthread.php?t=107466

linderman

your brother seems to have the best advice for you! I have never heard of such a fairy tale as a motherboard being limited to a 300 watt PSU >>>> thats laughable!


any PSU under $100.00 is not going to meet your needs for long

I saw a 700 watt OCZ or Silverstone ??????? at tigerdirect that was $94.00 after rebate that is a smoking deal



BTW: too much PSU will never hurt you! they only put out what the system needs. The problem come when the system needs more than the PSU can put out, then you start the frying process.

linderman

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&sku=O261-2005

TheMatt

WOW, that is a smashing deal, I would jump on that ASAP.