Power Supply

[Darth-Maul]

I have a 235W power supply, but that is not enough for the system that I have, but I also don't really want to spend $80 or $90 on a brand new 300W power supply. Is there any way to hook up a second power supply (like another 235W supply)? I have an IN-WIN A500 case.

[Anakhonda]

If you don't care about how pretty your computer looks, just add a second power supply to your system. If you can't fit it inside your case, just set it outside your case and run the connections into your case (drill a hole or two if need be).

[Rookie]

Excuse me for buttin in, what are the advantages of a larger power supply?
I have a few of them, some are used power supplies from server boxes...I never used them as I didnt know if my mobo's can hook up to them. Can someone shed some light on this?
Thanks, Rookie

[MrEd]

A larger power supply means "MORE TOYS".
They come in AT or ATX. I believe your supplies from the servers, are going to be AT if they are old, but if I'm wrong, I'm sure someone will point that out. The AT power suppies use 2 connectors to plug into the Mobo, ATX only has one. If you take your case off, and look at the connector that plugs directly to your mobo, and it is only one connector, then you have an ATX board. All you have to do, is look through all your power supplies you have laying around, and see if any have the same wiring harness for the Mobo.

Does that help you any, Rookie?
We all start somewhere. Hell, a year ago, I asked the same question you did, and this, basically, was how it was explained to me.

-MrEd
http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif

[KillerBug]

Get a $20 AT case, a real cheap one, put in a 386 motherboard with no periferals except video(it will boot and find no boot devices, but you will still be getting power from it). Put it next to your present case, and run wires through the sides. You might also consider going to a local store selling trashed 486 systems, get one of the $10 desktops, put it under your desk and screw it in so it hangs, and have wires running into your case. I did that, but the first system would not even start, so I ended up spending $20, in the end to buy a better PS anyway.

[AuraEdge]

Can i be the first to...

UHMMMMMM?!??

k
now that thats outta the way....
Most servers use 300w power supplys. Im curious about how much Power each thing I have takes up. Also theres this lil switch in the back of my PS that sez '110' or '230'
I have it on 110 right now..thats right, right?
K anyways, each thing in your case uses up someof your power (fans, Harddrives, CD drives, Processor, Coolers, Cards, the whole shabang). If your sucking out more power than the PS can dish out, you gotta overload. Thats bad. I bet itd be real hard to overload a 235w tho. Sine 300w power supplys were built for Servers (who have tons of Harddrives lined up in a row with cards galore), I doubt you need one. But heck..I wanna know how many watts im using right now and how many more doodads i can put in before I overload it. Wish ya could...

Oh yeah one more thing...My 50 dollar 300w PS comes in 'ATE format' and has connectors for both Baby AT (or just AT) and ATX. Hmm..maybe u can run 2 systems with this thing at once?
hehe...nah...too much trouble http://www.sysopt.com/forum/smile.gif. My 235w was getting brownouts so I hadda get a new one.


[This message has been edited by AuraEdge (edited 08-13-99).]

[This message has been edited by AuraEdge (edited 08-13-99).]