How much wattage is safe for power supply replacement? PC

[alldat57]

I am looking to replace my 350W power supply, but not sure if I can go with higher wattage or stay at 350.
I have a Cyberpower PC and here are my specs.

CPU: AMD FX-4300 quad core 3.8 GHz with 4.0GHz turbo boost. AMD 760G Chipset

Graphics Card: AMD Radeon R7 240 with 2GB DDR3 or GDDR5 dedicated memory

Outputs supported: 1x HDMI, 1x VGA, 1x DVI-D

Clock speed: Up to 780MHz

4K Resolution support: 4K60 SST or MST

API Support: DirectX® 12, Mantle, OpenGL® 4.3, OpenCL™

Motherboard:

Gigabyte GA-78LMT-S2PT

CPU: AM3+ Socket

Chipset: North Bridge: AMD 760G, South Bridge: AMD SB710

Form Factor: Micro ATX – 24.4cm x 20.6cm

Memory: 2 x 1.5V DIMM, max. 16GB DDR3, 1333+/1066/800MHz

Expansion Slots: 1 x PCIe x16, 1 x PCIe x1, 1 x PCI (All PCIe ports conform to PCI express 2.0 standard)

Output Support: VGA (from onboard graphics)

Audio: Realtek HD codec high definition audio. 2/4/5.1/7.1 channel

Gigabit LAN: Atheros GbE LAN chip (10/100/1000 Mbit)

SATA: 6 x SATA 3Gbit/s

IDE: 1 x IDE connector supporting ATA-133/100/66/33 and up to 2 IDE devices

USB: 4 x USB2.0 on back panel, 2 x USB2.0 on front side (can expand front panel USB outputs to 4 through the internal USB headers – this would give a total of 8 USB2.0 ports)

Internal I/O connectors:

1 x 24-pin ATX main power connector
1 x 4-pin ATX 12V power connector
6 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors
1 x IDE connector
1 x CPU fan header
1 x system fan header
1 x front panel header
1 x front panel audio header
2 x USB 2.0/1.1 headers
1 x Clear CMOS jumper

Back I/O ports:

1 x PS/2 keyboard port
1 x PS/2 mouse port
1 x serial port
1 x parallel port
1 x VGA (D-Sub) port
4 x USB2.0/1.1 ports
1 x RJ-45 port
1 x Line in
1 x Line out
1 x Microphone

Front I/O Ports:

2 x USB 2.0/1.1
1 x Headphone
1 x Microphone

Memory:

Internal memory: 1 x 8 GB DDR3L-SDRAM 1600MHz

Maximum internal memory: 16 GB

Total storage capacity: 1000 GB, Storage media: HDD, Hard drive interface: Serial ATA III. 7200rpm

Power Supply:

350W

Optical Drive:

LG 24X DVD±RW Dual-Layer Drive

Dimensions/Weight:

7.9 (W) x 17.5 (H) x 17 (D) inches

25.1 pounds

 

[theriver56]

You can upgrade to any psu! just make sure it has the right connectors. I recommend a EVGA 500B.

 

[clutchc]

Why do you want to replace the PSU if you don't want to upgrade anything else? If you stay with the R7-240, 350W is fine... as long as it is a real 350W and not some cheapie.

 

[alldat57]

Why do you want to replace the PSU if you don't want to upgrade anything else? If you stay with the R7-240, 350W is fine... as long as it is a real 350W and not some cheapie.

 

[alldat57]

Sorry, I should've mentioned that my rear fan is connected directly to my power supply, and whenever it gets dirty/dusty, the fan stops working....I'm not sure if it's a faulty fan, but i know it works fine after I clean out the power supply box.
(sorry, my technical knowledge of pc's is very limited lol)

 

[clutchc]

Sorry, I should've mentioned that my rear fan is connected directly to my power supply, and whenever it gets dirty/dusty, the fan stops working....I'm not sure if it's a faulty fan, but i know it works fine after I clean out the power supply box.
(sorry, my technical knowledge of pc's is very limited lol)

When you say "rear fan" are you referring to the fan in the PSU? Or a separate case fan? If it is the fan in the PSU, then yes... get a new PSU. This is a good PSU for top mounted PSU replacement. This is better if you have a bottom mount PSU and someday want to upgrade to a faster gfx card.

 

[Karadjgne]

Maximum wattage doesn't matter much, the pc will only draw a certain amount of power, so that's all the psu will actually supply. If your pc only needs 200w, you could throw in a 1200w monster psu, and it'll still only supply 200w. That's overkill, and way out of any good efficiency range, so a 400-500w unit for your pc is sufficient.

If the psu fan is dusty, that means it's getting dusty air from somewhere. If it's on the bottom of the case, I'd suggest either getting a decent dust filter or flipping it upside down and using the case air instead, which should already be filtered. If your case only has the 1 exhaust fan, that's 90% of the issue, you should have 2x intake fans behind a dust filter, which will keep everything cleaner.

 

[alldat57]

Sorry, I should've mentioned that my rear fan is connected directly to my power supply, and whenever it gets dirty/dusty, the fan stops working....I'm not sure if it's a faulty fan, but i know it works fine after I clean out the power supply box.
(sorry, my technical knowledge of pc's is very limited lol)

When you say "rear fan" are you referring to the fan in the PSU? Or a separate case fan? If it is the fan in the PSU, then yes... get a new PSU. This is a good PSU for top mounted PSU replacement. This is better if you have a bottom mount PSU and someday want to upgrade to a faster gfx card.

The rear case fan. It's powered directly from the psu, so when the power supply gets dirty and dusty inside...the fan stops working

 

[alldat57]

Maximum wattage doesn't matter much, the pc will only draw a certain amount of power, so that's all the psu will actually supply. If your pc only needs 200w, you could throw in a 1200w monster psu, and it'll still only supply 200w. That's overkill, and way out of any good efficiency range, so a 400-500w unit for your pc is sufficient.

If the psu fan is dusty, that means it's getting dusty air from somewhere. If it's on the bottom of the case, I'd suggest either getting a decent dust filter or flipping it upside down and using the case air instead, which should already be filtered. If your case only has the 1 exhaust fan, that's 90% of the issue, you should have 2x intake fans behind a dust filter, which will keep everything cleaner.

My pc just has the one rear case fan (and another fan in the psu)
Where is the dust filter installed? I don't know much about pc hardware yet

 

[Karadjgne]

Most cases have a removable front or front door, behind which should be a dust filter. That should be right in front of the front intake fan areas. Right now, without those fan(s) in front, you have nothing but exhaust. The downside of that is that the exhaust fans are creating a lower pressure inside the case. Nature abhors a vacuum, so the low pressure will draw in air from anywhere it can, cracks or vents or open areas, all of which are unfiltered. Your pc is acting like a vacuum cleaner, sucking in dust laden air, which is covering the fan blades until they don't work. The job of the front intakes is to supply any air needed to fill the exhaust low pressure, bit do so with clean air. If you can supply more clean air than than the exhaust can use then you'll rarely ever need to clean out the fans as you do now. Most ppl refer to this as a positive pressure system. It's really not, but it is an excellent way of not only keeping the pc cleaner for longer, but also keeps temperatures far lower on the cpu/gpu. Having 2x intakes with 2x exhausts can lower temps by as much as @20°C under loads.

 

[alldat57]

Ok, so I took my pc apart and checked it out.
The PSU fan is located on the BOTTOM of the power supply (seemed ok, but no dust filter)
I have one front case fan (with no dust filter), and one rear case fan (also with no dust filter)
And also the fan for processor...
I checked inside the power supply and it doesn't seem to be too dusty. Here's the thing...
I tapped lightly on the back vent for the rear case fan, and it started slowly spinning..then stopped again.
So I'm pretty sure it's a faulty fan. Can anyone recommend a good rear case fan, and also another front mounted case fan?

Btw, thank you so much everyone for your assistance

 

[Karadjgne]

There's quite a few good case fans, most do an adequate job, so the particulars aren't that important. Corsair SP, Phanteks, Noctua AF, be quiet silent wings 2/3, Fractal design gp2, etc.

I'd advise you also find a way to get the front fans filtered, there's magnetic filters, or diy filters etc you can purchase that don't cost much. This goes for the psu too, but a free solution there is flip the psu upside down and have the fan facing the inside, that way it draws case air (that's hopefully filtered by now).

Your fans are dieing and the pc suffering because it's dirty. Full of dust. Not going to be long before the cpu fan takes a dump, and that could be disastrous. And very expensive.