PSU Differences ?

[Nix]

Brother dropped of PC for me to clean up and install DVD burner for him.

Set it all up to see what the current config was and the PSU blew - was very dusty in there.

Anyway the PSU In there look like this on the back

Whereas my one I replaced in my old Gateway looks similar to this on the back

What is the difference ?

Obviously the monitor on my bro's PC gets it's power from the output on the PSU, if I replace with my old PSU can I just plug a power cable directly into the monitor power cable ?

The other thing is that none of the screw holes on my PSU line up with the chassis holes so that's another reason not to use my old PSU.

Thirdly my old PSU is an Antec True Power 430 which cost me about $159 whereas the one that's blown in his machiine looks like a cheap $40 job.

Thoughts ???

[Nix]

Actually the way the second image is shown the screw holes might line up, but then the fan would be at the the top of the case, does this fan suck air in or blow it out.

The screw alignment is like thus on the chassis

0................0
...................
...................
0..................
..............0....

which you can see aligns with the first image (presumably fan is on the bottom) and the second image but then the fan would be at the top which I think would be wrong.

[SuperSparks]

The screw holes will line up one way or the other, they are part of the ATX standard. The fan normally sucks air from inside the case (though you may very rarely find a supply that does the opposite - the ATX standard allows for both). the passthrough socket is now a thing of the past, I haven't seen a PSU with one in a ling time. Just plug the monitor direct into the mains instead.

[prouton]

I may be mis-remembering this, but it seems to me that when AMD released the Athlon XP series they required that all "approved" PSU's have a fan near the processor that pulled air away from it (and presumably then out of the case). Some PSU's switched the location of the single fan to accommodate this, while others equipped the PSU with two fans.

As to which is better (pulling air through the PSU, or pushing it through), I couldn't say.

[Nix]

The screw holes will line up one way or the other, they are part of the ATX standard.

Hmm that's what the guy at the PC shop said.

He said if the case didn't have additonal holes to line up with the fan in the correct orientation then a new case was required and they had cases with PSUs built in for $49.

He said he was surprised by the way that the original psu was aligned as he said it would be the reverse to standard.

I'll look again tonight, maybe I just didn't notice some screw holes or a plate is being used and I can flip it 180 degrees or something.

[stevejr]

Ohh...so that's what that extra female psu connector is for. The old computer that my neighbor asked me to see what might be wrong with ( dead psu & dead board) had that kind of psu and I was wondering what that second power connector was used for. Now I know...thanks for the picture, Nix!!

[eddds40]

Are you sure that isn't a AT case? The old AT cases often had that extra power out for monitor. Some even had a conversion to ATX style on the mounts for power supply and a plate for mouse & keyboard