DELL 8250 power supply, standard or not????

[jb77]

Guys
HELP. before I fry my rig... I just want to know if a standard PSU can be fitted in my Dell.

Situation for reference:
System:

Dell 8250
PIV 3 ghz
1 gb ram
video 9700 pro

I am replacing my 9700pro with a BFG 6800 GToc. As a result of that I need to upgrade my 250 W unit to a 350W. Want to put in a Antec Truepower 380. Reading a lot of articles about the incompatibility of the Dell PSU (see below)
http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/dellconverter.html

The question therefor is, has the Dell 8250 a standard PSU or not? I thought that it couldnt get more straightforward than that but I can not find a conclusive piece of info on the web.

Driving me mad... lol

 

[chuckshissle]

Have you try it at first to see if the 250 watt can cut it? Stock psu are slighty smaller than todays standard aftermarket psu. Othe saying is that the stock manufacturer doesn't care about the psu's standard dimension becuase its not a "mod" pc compare to an aftermarket ones. You should get some measuring with your current psu's dimension and compare to an aftermarket one. Newegg.com is pretty awesome because they include all details and the psu's dimension. But if your good at moding your pc then you should be able to drill new holes to attach any psu in your case.

 

[jb77]

thanks a lot. I'll try it out first before buying (might save some money!) What will happen if it is underpowered and will it not damage my system?

I am not a real diy guy let alone with the pc (can do some card and PSU swapping) so really looking for a fitting unit if it doesnt work

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Yep dell rate thier psu's lower than other manufacturers.
I had a 4550 once upon a time with a 250w supply, found out from the dell froums and dell themselves it was more like a 350w in open market terms.

I put a 9800pro in it and it was fine.

 

[chuckshissle]

Undervoltage symptoms would be:

1.Your computer will not turn on, but the mobo led will be glowing.

2.Your window might not boot.

3.Your pc might shutdown/restart when using the graphic card with high load. Like playing games.

4.You might get a message that your video card is having insufficient power.

5.Undervoltage has no significant effect on your system, except not running the way it should or not operating at all.

So if this happens then get an aftermarket psu with higher watts.

Consider buying a higher watt psu like 500-600 watt. Eventhough it is more than enough it still better because in the long run, sometime in the future if you upgrade to a higher performance pc or build a new one then you don't have to buy another psu.

But I guess it's not gonna hurt to spend around $30-$50 for a 350 watt psu.

 

[g-paw]

I've read that the older Dells, not sure about the newer ones, used a proprietary PSU, something about how they connected to the MOBO, and if you tried an off the shelf PSU, it would damage the MOBO. Before installling a new PSU I'd do some research on this.

 

[chuckshissle]

That's a pretty good advice. I have few moding experience with this kind of mobo and have no idea about that power connection thing.

Hey Jb, take G-paw's advice and see what can you find out about your mobo about replacing the psu.

 

[jb77]

lol thats what I said.. dont know if its different or not. Some posts say that some Dell PSU's are differnt and then another says that the 8200 should be compatible. I am looking for someone who knows by trial (and hopefully not error)

 

[g-paw]

Googled the following:

replace dell power supply dell 8250

came up with a number of sites that sell Dell power supplies. Could also call or e mail Dell about it. Personally, I'd stick with a Dell PSU if you don't get a good, defintive answer to be on the safe side.

 

[Racktracker]

I purchased an Enermax Noisetaker EG475AX-VE, for a build which never hapened.

So I decided to see if it would work in my dell 8250. I did some research and found conflicting information.

I took the stock psu out and used a voltage tester to make sure each wire in the plugs were the same as the enermax (they were). So after some minor case modification the enermax was at home in my 8250.

The first boot was kinda slow, windows opened and did the "new hardware configured" thing. I rebooted and things have been smooth ever since.

The only problem I had was that, due to the way the case opens, one of the power wires was to short to reach any of my drives, so I had to buy a Y power cable.

[edit]
Just to clarify.
The case modification consisted of cutting a couple of small holes in the back to accommodate the power switch and fan adjustment knob on the enermax.

 

[Jake_Barnes]

PC Power & Cooling claim to make Dell compatible PSU ... I'd call them 1st to get some feel for their units.