I'm only semi- literate on these things, so ex nay on the terminology and assumed knowing eh?. I usually just wing it, but currently stressed and feeling clipped. My mobo is a M5A78L-M and it uses ATX stuff.
I have a GTX 950 graphics card, 16gigs of ram, and an old TB HDD of some sort with Win7. Cpu is AMD FX 8350
Threw it together some years ago, some el-cheapo 600W psu that lasted a long time and crapped out.
Replaced it with a 850W el cheapo psu that lasted all of a few days (power would shut down, thought it was cables loose or heat, ram not snug,graphics card,anything but a new psu), took it apart and back together and it's the psu.
I don't have another psu to test it with, it gets a green led light on power (while computer won't power on) but I know that new psu murdered my old chassis fan and I think it's possible it may have put a hurt to god forbid the mobo or something.
I do believe it may have hurt the 24 pin connector on the mobo,or possibly the secondary place the mobo requires, it was compatible but from day one it never fit right and seemed to require adjustment.
So I've returned the el cheapo mobo and I'm getting forced into shopping/upgrading
-I;ve replaced the stock gpu heatsink/fan with a new one that's a million times quieter (old one vibrated like crazy)
-Bought new chassis fans 3 pins and a molex adaptor to power them from psu
-Bought a new power switch because it was acting up back in the psu1 days
-Need to buy (and advice on doing)
New psu. I'm on a budget, but I'm going brand name this time,unsure if power will be ok
A solid state drive to increase performance and reduce heat. I'd like to get 250gb at least to run games and os on, and keep my old hdd for throwing junk in.
Now that's my situation, so question time.
1. What's my minimum power req/advice on brand of psu. Mobo manual (from what I can tell from my cellphone) says 300. Gtx950 on top + 8350, a hdd,a new sdd, usb mouse,keyboard,headphones, a usb wifi thingy thats crazy big, 360 controller. Few new, very effecient fans.
I ask because I see a EVGA 500W on Amazon for $48 it's rated 80+ and good warranty so if it can work I can live with price. I'd feel safer with 600-700W though. I'm not sure, I just want no more China junk from my psu. If I have to change/test one more psu this month I'm going to take a 12 gauge to the computer and try to power it with lead pellets and fury. There was a Corsair 750 but it was near $130, it said 100% Japanese so that was a selling point . I don't know the fineries of this, so...
2. I took the front panel off to nix the old power switch, I'm having the fans blow everything one way,it can stay off for all I care. In doing that (after psu #2 the fast failure) I messed with some switches on the bottom I forgot what were,and I can't really read that fine print right now. There was a usb connector (that was dead anyway), led lights,hdd lights, and power switch/reset. When I do put that back when I get the new psu, all I really need to connect is the 2 wires for the power switch right? I've no clue what the reset does, and I don't care about leds
3. I should know this but I don't. I have 4 sata slots for hdd's with a wire that connects it, and then the psu powers the hdd with a little cable. How does it work for SSD's? Same way (psus have multiple of those little toothed cables) Same way, do I need to buy adapters/cables if so names of them please
4.Again concerning SSD...how can I clone over everything (or selectively,so I can exclude some large folders that just have data/files not related to games or the os) currently on my hdd (as is, with windows settings,files/all) to the SSD? I don't have a windows 7 disc. Is that possible? I'd then like to format the hdd and just use it as data, but I don't want to begin from square one.
Thanks
*Important forgot to ask. On my mobo, there is the 24 pin female end that's raised up with plastic. Directly above it, is 24 males without plastic (so it's just raised pins) Is that a second possible connection for the big strip of the psu? In the event my 24 females got hurt , is there some sort of adapter to get power from that connection and what might it be called?
Edited by koplio123, 14 February 2018 - 12:21 AM.