atx psu upgrade

[mainiacod]

Is excessive fan noise a sign of problems? The air coming out of the fan is cool. I had another computer crash with a bad psu and don't want it to happen again. The present psu is a ATX-250-12E p4 in my cheapo but still alive emachines. I received a very good recommendation for Newegg and their guarantees. I am concerned about the compatibility of the psus on their site and couldn't track down the voltage output data for the units listed. One is from Sparkle which I saw reccomended in another post. Thanks for any info.

 

[RichPLS]

If air is cool, you might be in good shape with PSU....
But Sparkle is a FPS product and good power...

 

[mpjesse]

Excessive fan noise is usually a prelude to failure. I would try cleaning it out- might be a lot dust or something in there jamming it. Every CPU fan or PSU fan that made lots of noise (noise it didn't make in the past mind you) always failed on me.

As far as incompatibility w/ voltages go- that's unlikely. Look at the motherboard power connector and see if it's 20 pin or 24 pin. All you need to do is ensure the new PSU has the right connectors. Even OEM's don't go unique with motherboard power connectors (anymore they don't) Back in the 486, pentium, p2 days they did. They're all the same, AT, ATX, BTX, 20 pin, 24pin, etc. In other words, no unique voltages to the mobo.

HOWEVER, there is a possibility that the PSU itself won't fit in the case. I've seen lots of unqiue PSU designs in OEM computers. So make sure the PSU is going to fit. IE, take measurements on current PSU and compare them to the specifications on the new PSU's product website. Almost everyone will list dimensions somewhere.

-mpjesse

 

[Rugger]

I have an old Soyo K7V Dragon Plus and the NB is starting to go out. Intermittent excessive vibrations - primarily on boot. A few good taps on the case will get it to stop. :twisted: Is there a good passive option? I don't have a ton of space because the NB is close to the CPU and I have an SI-97 mounted on that biatch...

 

[Crashman]

Your fan probably has a bad bearing. I'd take the power supply apart and replace the fan. In fact, I've done that around 100-150 times before, since I actually do power supply repairs for a retailer.

 

[shata]

Ya you can also open the power supply, clean it, then take the sticker off the one side of the fan and put some GOOD oil on the bearing or Bushing, no wd40 shit make sure its somewhat decent and that will extend its life a little more.