Upgrade Your Power Supply

If your power supply is under-powered you could experience:
- Your computer will just stop working [worse case]
- Flacky performance
- Random system freezes
- Random blue screens

ATX:
- Advanced Technology Extended
- Gets plugged into your computer's motherboard
- Introduced in 1995 by Intel.

- See episode 27, for information on how to tame those cables.

- New motherboards may be connect properly to older power supplys.

- Power supplys are normally placed at the top back of your typical computer case.

- Typically power supplys slide in from within the computer case.

- Be sure you ground yourself by touching the metal frame of the PC before starting work.

- For power supply's stick with a name brand such as Enermax or Antec.

- Determine how many watts your computer needs by visiting, Outervision's Calculator.

- For reviews on power supplys go to Toms Hardware.

- For older un-modifed computers 250 watts is good.

- For newer computers 350 watts is minimum.

- For Pentium 4's and AMD equivalent at least 400 watts.

- Everything inside your computer system including external USB and Firewire devices take power.

- Add about 75-100 watt buffer to the calculator's wattage rating.