PSU Dimensions

[PTNLemay]

My last attempt at plugging in a graphics card into my small desktop failed miserably. I got the impression that maybe the PSU couldn't handle it, so I've been toying around with the notion of upgrading it to something stronger. The current one is a 220 W. It's in a very small case though, and thus it's made into an unusual form-factor. It's 100 mm wide, 200 mm long, and only 50 mm tall, I had to measure it all by hand because there was no indication of the measurement on or in the computer (almost like they don't want you to change it's innards... sneaky Acer). I've tried several variations of "100 x 200 x 50" in google and newegg, but they just don't understand what it is I'm searching for. Is there some big database of PSUs out there somewhere? Where you can call up all units of a given shape or size.

 

[popatim]

Convert those to inches and compare to this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256063

 

[JackNaylorPE]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

ATX power supplies generally have the dimensions of 6 × 3.5 × 5.5 (inches) and in metric 150 mm × 86 mm × 140 mm and share a common mounting layout of four screws arranged on the back side of the unit.

USe the right side of the wiki page to check out other form factors.


http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/ATX12V_PSDG_2_2_public_br2.pdf

 

[vigilante212]

What type of GPU are you installing? As for the Power supply check out these I just typed in small form factor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006656&isNodeId=1&Description=small+form+factor+power+supply&x=25&y=18

 

[PTNLemay]

Convert those to inches and compare to this
Blasted]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817256063

Blasted imperial units... *shudder*

But thanks for posting that one, I was worried that none of the PSUs on newegg had dimensions... now I know they do.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATX

USe the right side of the wiki page to check out other form factors.

http://www.formfactors.org/developer/specs/ATX12V_PSDG_2_2_public_br2.pdf

Hmmm... It appears I have a DTX, and it doesn't mention much on what the standard PSU layout is for him. But as per Popa's request I recalculated my dimensions using ye olde inches, 3.94 x 7.78 x 1.97

What type of GPU are you installing? As for the Power supply check out these I just typed in small form factor

I]http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&N=100006656&isNodeId=1&Description=small+form+factor+power+supply&x=25&y=18

I ordered this card. http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161322 And not only did it not work (the screen went black after I booted up with it), when I pulled the card out, the screen STAYED black. I had to pull a CMOS reset just to be able to get my computer to turn on again. Freaked me the hell out, and I've been too scared to try anything with that card again. But I figure... maybe 220 watts isn't enough? Maybe getting something beefier will help? Honestly I doubt it, because I read somewhere that these types of crads only use like... 16 watts, or something...

Really I have no idea.

 

[davcon]

Radeon HD 5450 (single GPU)

The card requires you to have a 300 Watt power supply unit at minimum if you use it in a mainstream system. That power supply needs to have (in total accumulated) at least 30 Amps available on the +12 volts rails.
Your problem is most likely the 220W psu is under 30 Amps on the +12 volt rail.

 

[popatim]

Huh? A 5450 is 20W's under load; ~7w idle. Theres no way it needs 30 Amps (x12=360W) of power. It doesnt even have an external power connector. You must have looked up the wrong card or maybe you meant 3amps...

As for a 220w supply runing that card, it should. I have a 5670 (the next step up) running in my grandsons pc with only a 230w supply in it. Your supply must be pretty crappy or you have something else going on. Perhaps a setting in the bios to initialize the pcie card first instead of the onboard? Check your owners manual for how to install a video card, there might be a clue in there.

Can you test this card in someone else's PC?

 

[davcon]

Huh? A 5450 is 20W's under load; ~7w idle. Theres no way it needs 30 Amps (x12=360W) of power. It doesnt even have an external power connector. You must have looked up the wrong card or maybe you meant 3amps...

As for a 220w supply runing that card, it should. I have a 5670 (the next step up) running in my grandsons pc with only a 230w supply in it. Your supply must be pretty crappy or you have something else going on. Perhaps a setting in the bios to initialize the pcie card first instead of the onboard? Check your owners manual for how to install a video card, there might be a clue in there.

Can you test this card in someone else's PC?

Your right ! it's a low power card no arguement there.
My post doesn't say it needs 30Amps for the card it says " That power supply needs to have (in total accumulated) at least 30 Amps available on the +12 volts rails"
Something his psu is obviously not capable of.
This info is quoted from http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-5450-review/6.

 

[delluser1]

This info is quoted from http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-5450-review/6.

I'd like to know what 300 watt psu is capable of providing 30 amps on the 12v ?

 

[davcon]

Lol! jeez delluser1 you make too much sense.
Realistically you guys are right there's no reason why this card shouldn't work power wise.
OP have you disabled onboard video?
If not your're causing a conflict.
Plus i wouldn't use the driver CD from the box.
Use AMD site for drivers and install as Admin.

 

[PTNLemay]

I'm working on changing the drivers now... I only recently realized that my computer has a built-in Nvidia GPU and the card I ordered is an ATI Radeon... so it's entirely possible the computer is having some kind of critical driver confusion. It's just... not as easy as I thought it would be.

I'll start another thread related to the drivers and GPU issue. Thanks for all the help with this, though I realize I didn't really find any 8" x 4" x 2" PSUs... if someone could offer some links to more powerful ones in that form factor, for a DTX mobo, I would really appreciate it. I have been looking on newegg and futureshop, but no luck yet.

 

[PTNLemay]

Huh... the microATX ones were too big. They all seem to be 2.5 inches tall, if I get one that's higher than 2 inches it will bump into the mobo. So I looked at mini-ITX, and interestingly they do sell some in the 300 W power-range.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817338063

But this one seems... too small. I'm not sure, but at 3.2 inches wide (compared to 4 inches on mine) and 1.7 inches tall (compared to 2 inches), there would have to be a lot of gaps... but maybe this would be a good thing for increased airflow? I'll just have to clean the inside of dust more often. Or somehow craft filters myself...

 

[ko888]

What is the PCI Express Revision is the motherboard supporting? You never specified the Acer model number of the system so I couldn't look it up.

The HIS H545H1G Radeon HD 5450 is a PCI Express 2.1 card.

If the motherboard chipset only supports PCI Express Revision 1.0a or 1.1 you could run into compatibility problems if HIS deviated at all from the PCI Express 2.1 specification.