Help with power supply type

MattyJ · 03-26-2006, 04:35 PM

hey guys

first off the specs on my comp are as follows: sony vaio model type pcv-rx660. P4 1.8ghz 80gb hd 512 ram with a geforce 6200 256 mb card. Now I purcahed this computer in 2002 and suprisingly it can still run everhting fine. however i was thinking about updating my video card and all the new cards require power supplies with 350 watts of power. my current supply has about 250 watts. I realize that all comps now run on an atx supply, however when i look at the back of my comp it does not look like an atx supply. I am thinking it's an AT supply. My question is how can i tell what power supply is in my computer and if i don't uprade a supply and put in a new video card that requires more power what type of damage could that do to my comp. Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

**UncleMacro** · 03-27-2006, 07:15 AM

That has to be an ATX power supply. That's way too new a computer to have an AT supply. If you look at where the big, fat power cable plugs into the motherboard you should see a large 20 pin connector which is ten rows of 2 pins. That's the ATX connector.

If you overload a power supply with a video card, the machine will crash or shut down. On rare occasions, crappy power supplies can go boom when overloaded but it's very uncommon in power supplies from big-name manufacturers. Overloaded power supplies normally cause instability or shutdowns.

If the machine has a good 250 watt supply with a decent 12 volt rail, then it may well handle a video card which claims that it needs 350 watts. Video card makers tend to be very conservative when it comes to power supply requirements. A good 250 watt supply with a strong 12 volt rail can usually handle recent mid-range video cards. But an older supply may have a weak 12 volt rail. You should check how many amps it provides. It should be written on a label on the power supply. It's always best to play it safe when it comes to power supplies, but big manufacturers like sony, HP, and Dell tend to use pretty decent power supplies. Their wattage ratings tend to be pretty dependable.

The one thing I'd worry about is whether you'll gain much from upgrading your video card. A 1.8Ghz P4 is a very slow CPU these days and it will usually be your bottleneck rather than your video card.

03-26-2006, 04:35 PM	#1 (permalink)
MattyJ Registered User Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 2 OS: XP	Help with power supply type hey guys first off the specs on my comp are as follows: sony vaio model type pcv-rx660. P4 1.8ghz 80gb hd 512 ram with a geforce 6200 256 mb card. Now I purcahed this computer in 2002 and suprisingly it can still run everhting fine. however i was thinking about updating my video card and all the new cards require power supplies with 350 watts of power. my current supply has about 250 watts. I realize that all comps now run on an atx supply, however when i look at the back of my comp it does not look like an atx supply. I am thinking it's an AT supply. My question is how can i tell what power supply is in my computer and if i don't uprade a supply and put in a new video card that requires more power what type of damage could that do to my comp. Thanks for any help you guys can give me.

03-27-2006, 07:15 AM	#2 (permalink)
UncleMacro TSF Enthusiast Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: San Diego Posts: 2,133 OS: Vista SP1 My System	That has to be an ATX power supply. That's way too new a computer to have an AT supply. If you look at where the big, fat power cable plugs into the motherboard you should see a large 20 pin connector which is ten rows of 2 pins. That's the ATX connector. If you overload a power supply with a video card, the machine will crash or shut down. On rare occasions, crappy power supplies can go boom when overloaded but it's very uncommon in power supplies from big-name manufacturers. Overloaded power supplies normally cause instability or shutdowns. If the machine has a good 250 watt supply with a decent 12 volt rail, then it may well handle a video card which claims that it needs 350 watts. Video card makers tend to be very conservative when it comes to power supply requirements. A good 250 watt supply with a strong 12 volt rail can usually handle recent mid-range video cards. But an older supply may have a weak 12 volt rail. You should check how many amps it provides. It should be written on a label on the power supply. It's always best to play it safe when it comes to power supplies, but big manufacturers like sony, HP, and Dell tend to use pretty decent power supplies. Their wattage ratings tend to be pretty dependable. The one thing I'd worry about is whether you'll gain much from upgrading your video card. A 1.8Ghz P4 is a very slow CPU these days and it will usually be your bottleneck rather than your video card.