Simviation Forums

Ok I have been away from FS for too long and it's time for a comeback. The problem is I had just purchased a nVidia 6600 from a friend and within a week fried my power supply. I have a Dell Dimension 4600 and I have been thinking about getting an Antech Smartpower 2.0 PS. Has anyone else delt with these or had any issues? I was leaning towards the 450W and hoping it would be enough for my 2.8GHz P4 and 1G of memory. Any advice? Thanks.

Go with PC Power & Cooling and get a more powerful PSU. I think you should go with 600w or more so you leave some room for an upgrade later on. As NickN used to say, "you get what you pay for" with PSU's.

Go with PC Power & Cooling and get a more powerful PSU. I think you should go with 600w or more so you leave some room for an upgrade later on. As NickN used to say, "you get what you pay for" with PSU's.

Isn't it, "You get what you pay for with PCP&C."

anyway, maybe PCP&C might be a little high for you, but if you have the money, then by all means go for it.  With my build, I got the money, but I can't get their PSUs down in Thailand.

Striker, you're right, that's what he used to say

Striker, you're right, that's what he used to say

Where ever he is now  :'(

Striker, you're right, that's what he used to say

Where ever he is now  :'(

We shouldn't worry to much about Nick's departure from SimV.  Besides, we have many not-as-good-as-Nick gurus around here, and combined, we can achieve anything, help anyone, and otherwise serve as a pretty good replacement for 'da man'.

Here's to Nick.  May his expertise come out in us all.

Amen  8-)

Go with PC Power & Cooling and get a more powerful PSU. I think you should go with 600w or more so you leave some room for an upgrade later on. As NickN used to say, "you get what you pay for" with PSU's.

This may sound stupid but since I have a Dell should I go for the recomended PS from them. The one they recomend is a 450W... http://www.pcpower.com/products/viewpro ... show=S41D2
or should I just go ahead and get a better one?

Let me put is this way, when I asked about my upgrade to a 8800 gts video card I was recommended here to get a 600w PSU, to be honest go for the 600+w psu. Later on you are going to need the extra juice for fans, hard drives and other stuff.  

I dont know much about all the different cards and boards but I can guess at a 6600 with that old tower. I would bet it would be fine with the PC Power and cooling unit for dell computers. 450 would probably work from them because you will get 450 watts instead of those cheap made units that claim 450 and you really get 350

If you are going to upgrade to a better card later I would say the 600 watt unit from them would be better but it also depends on what will fit in the tower too. Some of those dells I understand have a special size box so what ever you get I would measure the one in the tower and make sure the replacement will fit.

Some of those dells I understand have a special size box so what ever you get I would measure the one in the tower and make sure the replacement will fit.

Thats what I was worried about because thats the third time I have read something about the 4600 having a specific power supply. I guess we'll see if there is anymore advice because I don't plan on upgrading cards until I can get a whole new machine with a Dual Core and 8800. But for the time being I want to fly!!!

Some of those dells I understand have a special size box so what ever you get I would measure the one in the tower and make sure the replacement will fit.

Thats what I was worried about because thats the third time I have read something about the 4600 having a specific power supply. I guess we'll see if there is anymore advice because I don't plan on upgrading cards until I can get a whole new machine with a Dual Core and 8800. But for the time being I want to fly!!!

I looked at the 2.

The one posted for the Dell 4600 is:5.9" X 3.4" X 5.5" (W X H X D)

The 610 is: 5.9" X 3.4" X 7.1

First off thank you miltestpilot! Ok I looked just to make sure and there is plenty of room between the back of the PS and the back of my CD drive. I am thinking the Silencer 470 looks good but if you look at the Dell list the Silencer is not on the 4600, it calls for the Silencer Dell-2? I am confused on this issue. It looks as if they have the same connectors and such but different power outputs. I also noticed the Dell-2 is +12V @ 23A and the 470 is +12V @ 26A and they also have an amp difference in current ratings. Maybe I am looking into this too deep I just don't want to end up with a power supply I can't use. Thanks for all the help!

First off thank you miltestpilot! Ok I looked just to make sure and there is plenty of room between the back of the PS and the back of my CD drive. I am thinking the Silencer 470 looks good but if you look at the Dell list the Silencer is not on the 4600, it calls for the Silencer Dell-2? I am confused on this issue. It looks as if they have the same connectors and such but different power outputs. I also noticed the Dell-2 is +12V @ 23A and the 470 is +12V @ 26A and they also have an amp difference in current ratings. Maybe I am looking into this too deep I just don't want to end up with a power supply I can't use. Thanks for all the help!

What you are reading is what makes one PSU better than the other. You can have 100A on the 12v. 3.3v and 5v and its not going to hurt the system, just give it more power to work with and what ever it does not use the PSU just runs cooler and more efficient.

I said in my post to not use the one PC Power posted for your tower because you need something a bit stronger for the video card you intend to run and leave enough left over to run quiet and cool. The Dell Silencer 470 is the one you want and it will even leave a bit of room for things like a memory upgrade too. If you think you may keep that tower and upgrade the video card again later, like to a 7800 or a 7950 you should get the 610 PSU which will run everything you have and those faster cards too.

The plugs, the box size and the mounts are the same for the Dell-1, Dell-2 and the top end Dell replacement which is the Silencer 470.

There is no such thing as too much, only too little.

Ahhh ok I got it now. I think the 610W is going to be on it's way. Thanks so much!