they are pretty proprietary. dell builds systems with exacting specifications and special designs. i personally have not been able to find a PSU with the exact dimensions of the 375 watt that is in the PWS 380, i have been using antec PSU's for the 3 systems i needed to upgrade. there is an 3/8 inch of less gap between the supply and case metal in the back. for me this is fine, little extra cooling.
Thanks for the reply, my main concern was that Dell maybe wired their psu and motherboards a certain way so that a standard one couldn't be used. But if you have used an Antec successfully then probably any one that will 'physically' fit should work fine. Thats good, cause the 375 watt that comes with the 380 isnt adequate after you add the big video card, 4 hard drives, etc. I wonder if PC Power and Cooling sells one that would fit?? If not, I'll check into the Antec.
no they don't - i'd checked there first. yes, the stock psu is quite adequate but as you said with very high end graphic cards that we like to game with (when not working), you need more juice and especially so when you have added a few extra components, drives, ram, etc.
here is an interesting link you might enjoy for calculating power requirements. it is interesting to play what if's.
you will also need a couple of these. right angle sata drive connectors to run for a 4 pin molex cable. i have to say these were just impossible to find. most psu's come with straight connectors which stick up about an inch over the case and you can't get your cover back on. right, who'd have thunk?
some psu's do have 1 right angle connector, but just to be safe, i found these on ebay:
no they don't - i'd checked there first. yes, the stock psu is quite adequate but as you said with very high end graphic cards that we like to game with (when not working), you need more juice and especially so when you have added a few extra components, drives, ram, etc.
here is an interesting link you might enjoy for calculating power requirements. it is interesting to play what if's.
I was trying to install PCPitsop on my WS380 and could not make it work. As a part of the PCitstop TS procedure I ran a program called 'Repair-ActiveX.cmd' and the end of the procedure said to reboot. No more keyboard or mouse. I plugged in a USB kb and mouse and they did not work. Put the kb and mouse on PS/2 adapters and still NG (maybe the adapters were NG). Booted a DOS boot disk and noticed the 'Keyboard Failure' message during POST. It had to be hardware. Tried another wireless mouse and got the mouse back. It had to be software or virus. Virus checks no help. After banging my head against this thing for two days I gave up and was going to take it into Dell Thailand for service (I live in Bangkok). I could still use the computer for anything that didn't require a keyboard. I procrastinated a for a few days and found the USB kb/mouse suddenly worked. The problem had disappeared. I hate it when that happens.
In troubleshooting I came across this board and went from KB/Mouse problems to USB Problems and wound up in PSU problems. I had added 2 mem modules, a firewire card, another disk drive and a NVidia GeForce 9600 GT graphics card. I found that the graphics card was rated to have power consumption of anywhere from 95watts to up to 167 watts, depending on the manufacturer. When I plugged my WS380 configuration into the power calculator the site that 'kerriritter' thoughtfully provided I found that I had overloaded the computer with (maybe) 407 watts. This is probably the problem. This is probably also the problem that add-on USB hubs, even good ones, seldom work reliably on this machine. Something has to go, probably the second hard drive and the firewire.
I have worked in computer maintenance all of my life (mainframes and Novell/MS netwoks) and have found that power supply problems are always illogical, and what was happening here was not logical. I did not write down every step I took in troubleshooting this problem but it was a lot of them.
kerriritter
50 Posts
0
March 9th, 2006 16:00
Antec TruePower
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817103931
the antec smartpower models also work (modular cabling)
it is important to get a quality PSU period. these are all i can really afford but there are others i would have used.
BigSids
2 Posts
0
March 9th, 2006 21:00
Thanks for the reply, my main concern was that Dell maybe wired their psu and motherboards a certain way so that a standard one couldn't be used. But if you have used an Antec successfully then probably any one that will 'physically' fit should work fine. Thats good, cause the 375 watt that comes with the 380 isnt adequate after you add the big video card, 4 hard drives, etc. I wonder if PC Power and Cooling sells one that would fit?? If not, I'll check into the Antec.
Thanks for the help...
kerriritter
50 Posts
0
March 10th, 2006 00:00
here is an interesting link you might enjoy for calculating power requirements. it is interesting to play what if's.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp
kerriritter
50 Posts
0
March 10th, 2006 00:00
some psu's do have 1 right angle connector, but just to be safe, i found these on ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/2194-SATA-Serial-ATA-Power-90-Degree-Cable-6inch_W0QQitemZ6769687073QQcategoryZ74941QQtcZphotoQQcmdZViewItem
the store is called Monoprice Com and you might as well get a few now to save yourself the grief.
good luck, too
zen4dummies
1 Message
0
September 17th, 2009 08:00
I was trying to install PCPitsop on my WS380 and could not make it work. As a part of the PCitstop TS procedure I ran a program called 'Repair-ActiveX.cmd' and the end of the procedure said to reboot. No more keyboard or mouse. I plugged in a USB kb and mouse and they did not work. Put the kb and mouse on PS/2 adapters and still NG (maybe the adapters were NG). Booted a DOS boot disk and noticed the 'Keyboard Failure' message during POST. It had to be hardware. Tried another wireless mouse and got the mouse back. It had to be software or virus. Virus checks no help. After banging my head against this thing for two days I gave up and was going to take it into Dell Thailand for service (I live in Bangkok). I could still use the computer for anything that didn't require a keyboard. I procrastinated a for a few days and found the USB kb/mouse suddenly worked. The problem had disappeared. I hate it when that happens.
In troubleshooting I came across this board and went from KB/Mouse problems to USB Problems and wound up in PSU problems. I had added 2 mem modules, a firewire card, another disk drive and a NVidia GeForce 9600 GT graphics card. I found that the graphics card was rated to have power consumption of anywhere from 95watts to up to 167 watts, depending on the manufacturer. When I plugged my WS380 configuration into the power calculator the site that 'kerriritter' thoughtfully provided I found that I had overloaded the computer with (maybe) 407 watts. This is probably the problem. This is probably also the problem that add-on USB hubs, even good ones, seldom work reliably on this machine. Something has to go, probably the second hard drive and the firewire.
I have worked in computer maintenance all of my life (mainframes and Novell/MS netwoks) and have found that power supply problems are always illogical, and what was happening here was not logical. I did not write down every step I took in troubleshooting this problem but it was a lot of them.
Thanks Kerri.
zen