What type of PC case do I have?

Bf109

Hi all,

I am planning on getting a new power supply for my PC due to unpredictable behaviour by said PC.

Looking around, I can see may different types of power supply. My case is a generic, bog-standard PC case. What type of power supply should I buy?

DatabaseError

hard to give a specific answer without more info, but a general rule would be for any relatively modern pc, ATX PSU 500w or so, the more you spend, the better it will be.
Plan B (or really A) take out the present psu, take it to a pc shop and say "one of these please"

5bellies_2

Bf109 wrote: »

Hi all,

I am planning on getting a new power supply for my PC due to unpredictable behaviour by said PC.

Looking around, I can see may different types of power supply. My case is a generic, bog-standard PC case. What type of power supply should I buy?

If you have Mouse and Keyboard sockets that are the same size then generally you have an ATX PSU. If you have a larger circular Keyboard connector than the mouse connector, or the mouse connector is a D shape, you probably have AT type.

Size (wattage) of PSU needed can largely be determined by the processor. Anything Intel under 2.6Ghz will be more than happy with 300w, same for AMD up to 1.4Ghz. AMD up to 3200XP needs 500w to be happy, the Intels to 3.2Ghz want 400w.

In terms of wattage more is better - the PC will use what it needs.

DatabaseError

5bellies has a good point!
Some PSUs are compatable with both AT and ATX motherboards, might be worth getting one of them if unsure, ATX has 24 pins, AT just 20, but some PSUs have a 20+4 connector

5bellies_2

tonyhague wrote: »

5bellies has a good point!
Some PSUs are compatable with both AT and ATX motherboards, might be worth getting one of them if unsure, ATX has 24 pins, AT just 20, but some PSUs have a 20+4 connector

Not quite right.

AT has a single in-line set of pins. ATX (version 1) is 20 pin, in two rows of 10, ATX version 2 is 24pin (2x12). You'd be hard pressed to find an ATX PSU thesedays that isn't version 1 and version 2 compatible and - just to be sure - get a 24pin one if given the choice as the end four pins are discardable.

AHAR

Your computer would have to be really old to be using an AT power supply.
Unless you have quite a high-end system a 350W ATX power supply, which seems to be about the smallest you can get these days, would be fine.

There's a good article here which investigates how much power computers actually use.
According to the power meter I bought recently my PC rarely uses more than 100 Watts.

Could you give more information on the problems you're having? Maybe we could help to pin-down the cause. It would be a shame if you bought a new PSU only to find it doesn't fix things...
Dodgy capacitors on the motherboard can lead to random flakiness. They're usually easy to spot as their tops tend to be bulging rather than flat and may have brown stuff oozing out of them.

SJames_3

Unless your PC looks unusually small (ie. MicroATX) then it's pretty certain to be ATX. Do you know your specs?

Mobeer

Have you looked on your existing power supply? Many have labels on them describing their size (AT,ATX, mATX etc) and wattage (375W, 420W, etc)

Ice_2

Have a look at your case, note where the screws are, looking at the front of the case you would normally unscrew the 2 screws at the back of the left hand side and then slide the side of the case off, then looking at the side of the opened case look at the top left hand corner that box in the corner is your power supply unit PSU for short, here it will tell you want it is, if you are not confide at doing this yourself, then take it into a shop could cost up to £25 for someone to tell you, if you feel confide to take alook, then please do this first take hold of your cold tape and rub for hands around it or a radiator will do, as you have to earth yourself before opening a case just so you don't pass on any static to the case, which can fuse things inside, although quite rare, and also make sure you unplug the case from the mains before unscrewing anything,

Bf109

Thanks for the help guys.

I had a thread about my sick PC a while back - basically if I turn it off, it takes hours to try and get to the POST stage of a re-boot. Possible culprits are the cd drive, which is malfunctioning anyway, or the power supply. Due the non-start-upiness of the PC, I am reluctant to ever power down, which makes looking inside the case unwise, hence the question about how I could tell what kind of case it was

I will first buy and swap the cd drive, if that doesnt solve the boot-up problem then swap out the PSU.

Wow- just struck down by a moment of clarity! I have two old PCs sitting in the cupboard! If needs be I'll canabalise the PSU from on of those ..... if its possible....

I'm reluctant to take the thing in to PC world (other small computer shop closed down a month ago) because the fees they charge in comparison to the cost of just buying a new PC just dont seem to make sense.

Sure I'll be back, asking how to do it.

Cheers.

DatabaseError

cd drive shouldn't really stop it booting up, just unplugging the power from it would clarify.
take the side off with the pc switched on and read the psu label?!