Quality of Dell PSU

B

b2386

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 8, 2004
Messages
187
Hi all,

I am wanting to convert an older PC into a capable gaming machine by making a handful of necessary upgrades. It is a Dell Inspiron 530 desktop w/ Q6600, 4GB RAM, and ATI 2400. The only thing I really need to upgrade is the video card (haven't decided on what kind yet), but this will also probably require a new PSU. The current PSU is a 380 watt unit, which will most likely be too small for any serious graphics firepower so I am currently looking at some other options. Any ATX should will be fine since that is what is in there currently.

I was looking for around 500 watts and was considering an Antec Earthwatts, but my friend recently offered me a 750 watt Dell PSU (http://www.newpowersupply.com/dell_...rev__a04_refurbished_bulk-pr-744-c-1-p-1.html) pulled from his Dell XPS 700 for $15. I really don't know much about it or what kind of quality/reliability to expect. People on here always stress the importance of having a good PSU so I would rather not cheap out here if it may cost me down the road. Any suggestions?
 
Dell uses very good quality PSUs. That one is probably made by either Delta or Hipro, both of whom are very good manufacturers.
 
Zero82z said:
Dell uses very good quality PSUs. That one is probably made by either Delta or Hipro, both of whom are very good manufacturers.
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You sure about that?

I've worked on hundreds of Dell machines, all KIA from either dead mobos or PUSs (Like 5% have dead memory, 3% other problems excluding HDD, 5% HDD problems).

I think you may be exaggerating here.
 
Alex. said:
You sure about that?

I've worked on hundreds of Dell machines, all KIA from either dead mobos or PUSs (Like 5% have dead memory, 3% other problems excluding HDD, 5% HDD problems).

I think you may be exaggerating here.
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I'm not exaggerating. Consider this. Many of the hardware failures in OEM machines are a result of poor cooling and insufficient maintenance, not the quality of the components themselves. Also, you worked on Dell machines that died, but the number of still functional computers in the wild is far greater than the number of dead Dell PSUs you've seen. None of what you've said necessarily implies that they use poor quality PSUs, and in fact, they do not.
 
Zero82z said:
I'm not exaggerating. Consider this. Many of the hardware failures in OEM machines are a result of poor cooling and insufficient maintenance, not the quality of the components themselves. Also, you worked on Dell machines that died, but the number of still functional computers in the wild is far greater than the number of dead Dell PSUs you've seen. None of what you've said necessarily implies that they use poor quality PSUs, and in fact, they do not.
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I've opened up the PSU's for shits and giggles (I'm self employed, so I don't get paid by the hour. Meaning I'm free to dick around as Much as I want. :) ), it's Orange plastic a nanometer thick, and capiciters that have bubbled over, and theres always a massive black crater in the middle.

It is reminiscent of a city laid waste by a nuclear blast, you can see the epicenter of the blast.

I figure it's like the big bang. The blast force increasley massively for a few nano seconds, then all heat and kinetic energy dissipates In the blink of an eye.)

For some reason, The bubbles are always perfectly intact. No idea why, I figure they should impload before they solidify.

Theres two main types of capaciter blowout. They either squeak out the side, or they blow the the middle with the force of an atom bomb. The middle blowouts are less common, and they often take the mobo with them.

I might take an old P4 machine that comes in and create an artificial blowout just to see what happens.
 
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And do you know what the quality of the components used in the PSU was or how it was designed? I'm guessing the answer to that is no.
 
Zero82z said:
And do you know what the quality of the components used in the PSU was or how it was designed? I'm guessing the answer to that is no.
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All I know is that it is cheaply made and uses orange plastic, thin plastic.

I've replaced hundreds of those suckers, they're all in the 200w-300w range and very unimpressive.

Some of the newer ones may be 400w-500w, but equally shitty.
 
Zero82z said:
Go right ahead. That won't change the fact that your assessment of its quality is incorrect.
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How about a picture of a capciter that looks like a reacter after Chernobyl?

Or a piece of plastic with capciters in it the width of my pinky nail?
 
Umm... to get back on point, we're not talking about the cheap 200-300 watt ones Dell uses on their lower end systems... we're talking about a 750 watt power supply from a high-end XPS system.
 
Tsumi said:
Umm... to get back on point, we're not talking about the cheap 200-300 watt ones Dell uses on their lower end systems... we're talking about a 750 watt power supply from a high-end XPS system.
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Basically just the 300w PSU with a new sticker.
 
Spooony said:
Just get a Seasonic OEM version psu problem solved
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While costing a lot more than $15.

Alex. said:
Basically just the 300w PSU with a new sticker.
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Are you kidding me? You sound like you have a vendetta against anything Dell. I know a friend who has an XPS system. Ran SLI 7900GT's for over 4 years without any problems whatsoever. And I'm pretty sure a Core2Quad and 2 7900GT's use a lot more than 300 watts.
 
I still think the AX1200 is better than the HCP1200, but to each his own :p

Having owned Corsair units though, I am partial to them... although I'm more so towards Seasonic.
 
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Enough with the off topic personal digs. One more and this whole thread goes in the circle file and infractions go out. Capisce?
 
i didnt do a personal dig... i said i would trust what zero had to say he knows what hes talking about and all he said is that dell uses hippro psu's who use good quallity parts, i have found this to be true. but ill trust your assesment
 
For $15 why not give it ago, but honestly out of the 200+ dells we have the number one failure is the psu in them usually bad caps. After that it is the disk drive. But for $15 you can't really go wrong if it is in working specs.
 
and how many of those you replaced, the owners had added new parts into the systems......

the problem with dell is they sell you a PSU based on what you order from them, so as soon as you toss in a 2nd harddrive, a new video card, more ram, your now more likely to hit the PSU limit and stress it, also i dont know how many people i have seen who cram their dell into a desk with a close cupboard or tight area and let it sit for years collecting dust.
 
MrGuvernment said:
and how many of those you replaced, the owners had added new parts into the systems......

the problem with dell is they sell you a PSU based on what you order from them, so as soon as you toss in a 2nd harddrive, a new video card, more ram, your now more likely to hit the PSU limit and stress it, also i dont know how many people i have seen who cram their dell into a desk with a close cupboard or tight area and let it sit for years collecting dust.
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this is a good point, even the best of psu's will die if they are treated wrong, to much dust, to much heat, putting to much of a load on them, all bad things
 
MrGuvernment said:
and how many of those you replaced, the owners had added new parts into the systems......

the problem with dell is they sell you a PSU based on what you order from them, so as soon as you toss in a 2nd harddrive, a new video card, more ram, your now more likely to hit the PSU limit and stress it, also i dont know how many people i have seen who cram their dell into a desk with a close cupboard or tight area and let it sit for years collecting dust.
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They probably figure that anyone with the know-how to add new drives, video cards, ram, etc etc probably knows how to build a PC already. Dell would stand to lose money by putting in a beefy 650W psu when they can get away with a 300W psu. Sure you can say their XPS line is targeted for enthusiasts but consider the number of XPS machines sold versus their corporate level machines. I mean those things are ubiquitous at any school or business.
 
my wife works for orange co schools as a tech support person and they use all dell computers..the failure rate on dell power supplies is high..they weigh nothing and seem to be a cheap units..these are not real old units either...she troubleshoots ones out of warranty and she replaces alot of them compared to motherboard failures...
its funny that when dell comes out they automatically replace p/supply and motherboard and cpu.
soon as they see what looks like p/supply the motherboard and cpu go ...nice way to trouble shoot ,just replace everything..if i did it like that my boss would show me the door...
dell is probubly the best pre-made but they still suck....general public has no clue what goes into a tower....glad i know, i build my own....
 
wesleys_dad said:
my wife works for orange co schools as a tech support person and they use all dell computers..the failure rate on dell power supplies is high..they weigh nothing and seem to be a cheap units..these are not real old units either...she troubleshoots ones out of warranty and she replaces alot of them compared to motherboard failures...
its funny that when dell comes out they automatically replace p/supply and motherboard and cpu.
soon as they see what looks like p/supply the motherboard and cpu go ...nice way to trouble shoot ,just replace everything..if i did it like that my boss would show me the door...
dell is probubly the best pre-made but they still suck....general public has no clue what goes into a tower....glad i know, i build my own....
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As I said before, we are not talking about a power supply from a typical Dell system, which is designed for cheapness, not quality. We're talking about a power supply from an XPS system, which is designed for quality.

Also, please learn to type proper english.
 
Its been a while since I've supported the xps 7 series, there were 3 primary 750 watt units that shipped in the xps.
DR552
NG153
MG309 precision 690 model, but interchangeable.

I'm not 100% on this but the majority of the psu's shipped were modified pc power & cooling s75qb, dell has never been real constant with their suppliers. Either way its going to be a pretty decent unit.
 
Seriously if your planning to spend 15usd on psu then you might gear yourself up for spending more in buying another psu. You can't expect 500usd hardware to run on a 15usd thing without problems
 
Spooony said:
Seriously if your planning to spend 15usd on psu then you might gear yourself up for spending more in buying another psu. You can't expect 500usd hardware to run on a 15usd thing without problems
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How much you spend on a PSU tells you close to nothing about what you're getting, except that you're either getting something for a lot of money or a little money. His friend is offering him his old power supply for $15 to help him out. We're just trying to determine if it's a good one, and by most INFORMED people's opinions, that power supply is a good one, and would be perfectly fine with his needs.
 
Tsumi said:
How much you spend on a PSU tells you close to nothing about what you're getting, except that you're either getting something for a lot of money or a little money. His friend is offering him his old power supply for $15 to help him out. We're just trying to determine if it's a good one, and by most INFORMED people's opinions, that power supply is a good one, and would be perfectly fine with his needs.
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More likely his friend was smart enough to realize what a piece of shit the PSU is and wanted to get 15$ for it as opposed to 0$ when It inevitably breaks.
 
Spooony said:
Seriously if your planning to spend 15usd on psu then you might gear yourself up for spending more in buying another psu. You can't expect 500usd hardware to run on a 15usd thing without problems
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His friend is charging him $15 for it. That's not the same thing as buying a $15 PSU at retail. A 750W XPS PSU is a very good unit.
 
the rig in my signature i'm running since 2003, have uploaded xp about 10 times in it, vista about 6 times and W7 twice, the only problem i had (which was the first year of me getting the computer back in 2004) i lost HD due to electricity problems at that time, dell changed it i put it on surge surpressor, it's been running solid since than, never upgraded anything and on my down time the hell with hexacore, that machine ran two WoW application on two different monitor (only one PC) with combine 45-55 FPS and never made a single sound (it was wisper quite) the PSU had the load on it as did the other components.

let me know if you upgread i would love to have that PSU (if you can spare) as i'm planning on upgreading the video card which will require higher PSU (it's 250watts atm)
 
Well, I guess I won't be getting the Dell PSU after all. Not because of fears of reliability or performance, but because it does not have a 4 pin CPU power connector (the XPS used a 24 pin AND a 20 pin connector for systemboard/CPU power apparently). I will have to find something else then, maybe in the For Sale section on here. Thanks for the input.
 
thats strange but not unheard of, sorry it didnt work out, good luck with the FS thread im sure you will find something
 
I haven't looked at any recent Dell PSUs, but I find it hard to believe they mostly use junk because years ago their PSUs resembled some of the best, except for the brands of capacitors (Ltec/Luminous Town, which fail in mobos but apparently aren't that bad in PSUs, and in the PSU below, Teapo, which has also been used by PC Power & Cooling). Here's a 250W from a Dell GX270 Optiplex, made by HiPro/Chicony. Please point out its deficiencies. I don't see any thin orange plastic in it, either:

5537732555_d5fe9f2d7f.jpg
 
larrymoencurly said:
I haven't looked at any recent Dell PSUs, but I find it hard to believe they mostly use junk because years ago their PSUs resembled some of the best, except for the brands of capacitors (Ltec/Luminous Town, which fail in mobos but apparently aren't that bad in PSUs, and in the PSU below, Teapo, which has also been used by PC Power & Cooling). Here's a 250W from a Dell GX270 Optiplex, made by HiPro/Chicony. Please point out its deficiencies. I don't see any thin orange plastic in it, either:
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That definitely looks more like the Dell PSU's I've seen. I've always found them to be higher quality than most of the big box OEMs. To each their own I guess.
 
guys my wife works in a school where the 620 series dell units are and your fingers will be sore from changing out these garbage units...im not saying the xps series units are not ok but generally the run of the mill dell desktop series have crap for power supplies...now this is in a school where dell comes out and advises what series to run for what the students need are..they know they will be 24/7 units and you would think they would put decent power supplies in but they dont..cheapest things available at the time...my wife has changed countless p/supply motherboard combos due to the power supply failing and in many cases taking out the board with it...the supplies smell like a campfire when you take them out...personally i would never buy a premade computer unless i specified what components i wanted installed....these are my experiences with dell products....my opinion isnt to great on dell's stuff..
dont get me wrong gateway,compac,hp are farther down the list from dell but imo if i was given a dell id sell it and use the money to build a much better system than what dell builds...
 
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Pretty much ALL the Dell power supplies besides the ones in higher end XPS and higher models (worstations, servers) are crap. I did onsite Dell repair for two years. The number of power supplies I replaced was only eclipsed by the number of GX/SX 260-280 motherboards I replaced. RAM came in 3rd.
 
wesleys_dad said:
guys my wife works in a school where the 620 series dell units are and your fingers will be sore from changing out these garbage units...im not saying the xps series units are not ok but generally the run of the mill dell desktop series have crap for power supplies...now this is in a school where dell comes out and advises what series to run for what the students need are..they know they will be 24/7 units and you would think they would put decent power supplies in but they dont..cheapest things available at the time...my wife has changed countless p/supply motherboard combos due to the power supply failing and in many cases taking out the board with it...the supplies smell like a campfire when you take them out...personally i would never buy a premade computer unless i specified what components i wanted installed....these are my experiences with dell products....my opinion isnt to great on dell's stuff..
dont get me wrong gateway,compac,hp are farther down the list from dell but imo if i was given a dell id sell it and use the money to build a much better system than what dell builds...
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Once again, you're just adding useless garbage information. You keep harping on regular low-grade power supplies, we're talking about a mid-high grade power supply, that would work for OP if it wasn't for the proprietary connections.

Plus, it hurts my eyes to read your comments...
 
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