Upgrading a Vaio's PSU & GPU

August 2, 2005 7:20 AM

I'm looking to upgrade my desktop, but I'm having worries about the PSU.

I have a Sony Vaio RS322e , with a wirless card and an extra gig or ram.

I'm looking to upgrade the graphics card to a ATI Radeon X800. But I dont know if the PSU will be enough to power everything. The PSU doesnt have any clear indication of w apart from "Output 295w"

If it isnt, where can I get a 400w PSU that will fit the case? is the current one a standard size?

posted by lemonfridge to Computers & Internet (5 answers total)

If you only have one hard drive, you should be fine with that power supply.

If you're really concerned, a 350W ATX supply should be easy to find and fairly cheap (probably around $50).
posted by cmonkey at 9:01 AM on August 2, 2005

The X800 will definitely be a bigger power draw, but I wouldn't invest in another PSU unless, after you get the card, you find that your usage causes your power monitor (hopefully, you're running software that monitors your power consumption) to bleep at you. If it doesn't complain, you're not out any cash.

Of course, I have friends that buy bigger power supplies because, well, they're bigger.
posted by thanotopsis at 9:47 AM on August 2, 2005

I agree that you should wait on the PSU. If you notice that the machine runs fine when surfing, but reboots after a few minutes of gaming, then look into getting a bigger PSU (after you've made sure it's not a heat problem with the GPU).
posted by furtive at 9:50 AM on August 2, 2005

I'd almost guarantee that the power supply will not be able to handle the load, but it most likely won't do any damage if you put int he video card first, and see if the PSU is up to snuff. However, if you do need a new PSU, DO NOT SKIMP ON A CHEAP ONE! The cheap ones are generally horrible. Some good, reliable manufacturers of PSU's are Antec, Vantec, OCZ, Thermaltake, Zalman, Fortron, or PC Power & Cooling (Very Expensive). Personally, I'd recommend an Antec, Zalman, Thermaltake, or Fortron Power supply if you're on a tighter budget. They're all great PSU's, however.

Your power supply is most likely standard size. If you need pictures, check on Newegg to see if the new PSU appears to be the right shape and size.
posted by creeront at 12:20 PM on August 2, 2005

thanotopsis: By "power monitor," do you mean something like the AMD Power Monitor for Athlon 64s? Would it also measure total draw from the PSU? Because I don't see how it could if it's only polling the CPU.
posted by chrominance at 10:23 AM on August 3, 2005