Dell power supply swap

[macgybl]

It seems my Dell Dimension 8200 series 250 watt power supply has a proprietary motherboard connection. I found this article on the net regarding changing the supply. I also found this convertor part that I can get. Does anyone know anything about this and has anyone had any luck with it. Attached is the article and the part.

http://www.roberthancock.com/dell/other.htm

http://www.centrix-intl.com/list.asp?CategoryID=60

The dell part is DellCV on the centrix website. Thanks for any help!

[Telexen]

Interesting....doesn't look too complicated though...that converter looks like it'll do the job without a problem

[Omardeth]

looks pretty simple . it should work i would think if thats what you are asking . i don't see why it wouldn't work the thing is the connector cost 10$ plus shipping and the a power supply will cost about 20$ plus shipping and thats for a cheapo . thats if a standard power supply will fit in your dell case . when you add up all those costs is it still cheaper to do it ? can't you just get a power supply from dell or do they want ungodly amount of money ? how old is the system ? is it still under warranty ? if it isn't and the power supply cost more than doing it yourself i say go for it .

[macgybl]

after doing some more research, it seems any ATX power supply will work with my Dell. I'm thinking of getting a 400 watt model just to be safe. Yes, the computer is still under warranty. It's roughly a year or so old. Thanks for the help!

[osprey4]

If it's under warranty, why not just have Dell send you one? Sure, you could buy an ATX PS but if you had any further problems, Dell might ask you to put a Dell PS in there before they diagnose the problem.

[Omardeth]

ya ya what osprey4 said ....

[macgybl]

well... the reason why I want to upgrade, is because the Dell PS is only 250 watts. I already have 3 HD's running plus I plan on adding a fourth. I'm suprised this thing still works with as it is.

[osprey4]

You're aware that the Dell PS rating is done differently than what other manufacturers show?

Do a search in Dell|Talk and you'll see comments like...

It has been stated by several forum users that Dell under rates the power supply, and they are in actuality a 300w or 350w power supply.

Rob Hancock also has some information about this on his site (http://www.roberthancock.com/dell/other.htm). The exception to this rule he describes as follows:

All this goes to show that for the majority of people, you really shouldn't need to upgrade your power supply. However, if your system is heavily upgraded with combinations of the following: multiple hard drives (especially 7200 RPM models), power hungry video cards (like the Voodoo5 and original GeForce - not so much the GeForce 2, much less the GeForce 2 MX), extra drives like a CD-RW or Zip drive, lots of RAM, many connected USB devices without their own power supply, or many additional expansion cards in general, it may be wise to upgrade the power supply.