[sere83]

Hi Guys

I Have an old Dell Dimension 5150 PC like this...

http://asia.cnet.com...am-39096665.htm

Except It has an Intel Pentium 4 CPU @ 3Ghz
3GB Ram &
Windows Ultimate 64 Bit

I have a Gigabyte Nvidia Gforce GT430 1GB Graphics card that I want to put in it (so I can play HD video and help take the load of my cpu when I do graphics work) but I believe I need a new PSU to accommodate. I was thinking of getting this OCZ psu...

http://www.cclonline...Supply/PSU0243/

Will it do? Any other better options? Also when I update do I need to update direct X?

Any help appreciated...

Cheers

[MikeCorruption]

Hey sere83

It is very hard for anyone to tell you a definite YES or a NO if the PSU you selected will work without any problems in your computer system, overall a 550W PSU is fine for any standard computer system so it will most likely work without any problems BUT as i do not know what else you have connected to your computer system i cannot guarantee it will run efficiently, due to the fact i am unaware of how many drives you have connected to your motherboard, such as Disk Drives, Hard Drives, external drives, you get the general idea.

If you could list the following for me then i could check if the PSU is sufficient for your needs:

CPU Make/Model
RAM Make/Model
Any Disk Drives (Blu-ray, DVD +/-R etc)
Any Hard Drives (Internal/External)
Expansion Cards (Graphics card, USB Card, basically any card in your expansion PCI slots etc)
Internal Devices (Such as fans, lights etc)

I look forward to your reply and in helping you out

[sere83]

Hi MikeCorruption

Many thanks for taking time to answer. So here's the info...

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT technology (3.00GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2MB cache)
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 RAM
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst cache
Intel 945G Express Graphics
16x max. DVD +/- RW DVD Writer with dual layer write capability
Internal 9-in-1 Flash Card Reader

Here is the full more detailed specsheet from the dell website...

http://support.dell....n/sm/specs1.htm

I also have a Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive which is often plugged in..

http://www.amazon.co...e/dp/B001GO9ERE

I also use A TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter

I researched the Gigabyte Nvidia Gforce GT430 1GB Graphics card prior to buying and I think it is compatible. Incidentally, is there a visual guide anywhere to upgrading a psu and graphics card? Never done it before....

I also have an issue with a crackling noise/hum coming through the headphone jack when headphones are connected, and the case sometimes makes a vibrating sound which stops when i hit the side or poke the cd drive which incidentally does not work. Any help on those too would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

[MikeCorruption]

Wattage Of Components

Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 630 with HT technology (3.00GHz, 800MHz fsb, 2MB cache) = 84 watts
3GB Dual Channel DDR2 RAM = 20 watts (roughly as i do not know the make of your RAM, but RAM is pretty low power consumption)
250GB (7200rpm) Serial ATA Hard Drive with 8MB DataBurst cache = 10 watts (again roughly)
Intel 945G Express Graphics = 22 watts
16x max. DVD +/- RW DVD Writer with dual layer write capability = 22 watts (roughly)
Internal 9-in-1 Flash Card Reader = Barely anything so dont really need to count this

Western Digital Elements 1TB USB 2.0 External Hard Drive = 13.5 watts
TP-Link 300Mbps Wireless N USB Adapter = 8 watts

Overall total = 179.5 watts your system requires to operate

Now if you were to add your "Gigabyte Nvidia Gforce GT430 1GB Graphics card" then that has a wattage requirement of 49 watts, which would bring your total up to 228.5 watts, so your choice of a 550 watts PSU is perfect, your system will function fine and if you want to add any extra hardware such as Hard Drives or whatever you can do so knowing your PSU will be able to efficiently power all your devices

Note: As it is 1:30 am i will get back to you on the other two questions tomorrow afternoon