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Nazo
2[H]4U
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2002
- Messages
- 3,672
So my sister left her PC on during a storm and when she tried to turn it on it wouldn't do it. When I checked it out this morning I confirmed beyond a doubt my suspicion that the PSU would be the first thing to go (and our fingers are crossed that maybe it will be the only.) When I pulled the system out I noticed immediately the smell of some burned component coming from the PSU (confirmed further when I pulled it out and could definitely tell the smell was coming only from it.) Unfortunately, my previous PSU that was going out when I replaced it apparently finished the process of dying while it was sitting around not being used, so the only PSU I could even try to test the system with was an El-Cheapo brand 250 watt PSU (only one I could find with the extra 12V plug her motherboard requires.) This obviously won't work on her Barton system with a 9600XT or something in that range (I forget) -- I'm guessing we are looking at a minimum of some 300 watts in a decent quality PSU, 350 in a lower quality one. However, if a new PSU must be bought, I think it makes the most sense to do more than just meet the bare minimum and get something a little stronger that will last for her when she next upgrades (which probably won't be much longer I'm betting as she is obviously more than a bit behind now.) I'm thinking more like a good quality 450 watt or so PSU would be ideal. This way she will be able to use some of my older hardware which I know for certain will run on it. Also, I want it to not be a cheap low quality one since she will likely have it for as long as she had that old one (a good long while now) so I want it to hold up.
Can anyone think of any good reliable ones for under $50 or so? I'm trying to convince her to spend a bit more and get a good quality one from Newegg rather than getting a friend at a computer store to give her one of those cheap quality but overpriced PSUs that most brick and mortar type stores tend to do to recoup the costs inherent in such a business model.
Can anyone think of any good reliable ones for under $50 or so? I'm trying to convince her to spend a bit more and get a good quality one from Newegg rather than getting a friend at a computer store to give her one of those cheap quality but overpriced PSUs that most brick and mortar type stores tend to do to recoup the costs inherent in such a business model.
