Hey guys, just wanted your help with upgrading the psu on my dell inspiron 518. I was trying to get some help of dell.com chat but the tech guys said it wouldnt be possible to upgrade the reason beting that anything over 300W would fry my mother bourd.
but a lot of people on line have done it with no reported problems so what should i do. has anybody ugraded thier psu on a inspiron 518
thanks guys for your help


marine3000

hello marine3000,

The tech guy was half right, however its not the wattage that will kill you mb, its the way the power is sent to the board.

Dell uses proprietary hardware in their machines making it very tough to change a PSU, you need to get a PSU made for Dell power specs.

Here is a solid PSU that will work great with your machine and a new GPU :)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703016
The Dell E510 series is listed as a compatible part.

Depending on the other hardware in the machine, this PSU should be able to handle a 9000 series GPU with ease, probably even a 260.

kinda expensiv could you find anything cheaper?

or could anyone find me a graphics card that will play good games like cod4/5 and maybe crysis with a 300W PSU?

I'll look around for yah, but when it comes to PSU's I do not like to go cheap. To many headaches.

PC power cooling is (my opinion) the best PSU maker on the market. There power ratings are well understated, 500watts means a minimum of 500 watts, not a peak reading they got for less then a second (like most other PSU manufacturers).

PC power cooling still uses a single 12v rail giving the most stable and consistent power to your system.

take a look at this one for me

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817339020


tell me what you think

or could you suggjest the cheapest route to playing crysis on a inspiron 518
thank alot

or could anyone find me a graphics card that will play good games like cod4/5 and maybe crysis with a 300W PSU?

That power supply doesnt say it is for a dell.

That may not be a big deal, it may plug in and work without issue, but there is the possibility it could fry your mobo, as the dell tech had said.

Again, it may work great, it may work for a while or it may crap out on yah (it looks cheap). Thats the gamble you take when buying cheap power supplies.

I look at it this way, buy a PSU for 40 bucks, taking the risk of damaging your components, and the possibility of it crapping out on yah, or spend the little extra for piece of mind, longevity, and use it in future builds.

In the long run a quality PSU will save you time, headaches, and money.

That might be a good method to take, go with a good video card, just a lower series, maybe like a ATI3650, or something on those lines.

Try to find one that doesnt use the 6pin pci-e power and it should work fine on your setup.

You would be able to play games like crysis, not great, but it would play @ 1024x768 with low/mid settings.