Dell PC Powersupply nonstandard problems

"Sam Richards" wrote in message
...
I have almost bought a Dell PC a few times but always bought a custom
built machine using components I select.

The reason is that Dell PC's have a non standard powersupply (or at
least the wiring to the Mobo) . I am concerned that if it breaks I
cannot just go to the local store and pickup a new powersupply and be
back running in one hour.

How much of a problem is it really ? How do you fix it easily ?

And why do that do that ? It is costing them sales, it is for me
anyway.

Thanks
Sam


Power supplys now have standard ATX connections. Problem comes if you ever
want to change the mb, the PCI sound card, or the system fan, as those all
have some sort of proprietary connect (power switch to the mb).

If you plan to significantly upgrade or change a lot of things in those
areas, build or have one built.


Stew

In article ,
says...
I have almost bought a Dell PC a few times but always bought a custom
built machine using components I select.

The reason is that Dell PC's have a non standard powersupply (or at
least the wiring to the Mobo) . I am concerned that if it breaks I
cannot just go to the local store and pickup a new powersupply and be
back running in one hour.

How much of a problem is it really ? How do you fix it easily ?

And why do that do that ? It is costing them sales, it is for me
anyway.

Thanks
Sam

On my last Dell (I just had a new PC built for me), I replaced: the
whining IBM hard drive and the CDRW because, although it was a LiteOn,
it was a particular model not recognized by Norton Ghost, Stomp Backup
My PC and one other backup program which I no longer remember :-)

Then after some time, the power supply became very noisy and the one
they sent as a replacement was equally so. I purchased a replacement
power supply from PC Power and Cooling.

And then, after it was no longer in warranty, I had trouble with the
cpu/case fan which was very noisy. I purchased a new fan/shroud combo
from Dell and it arrived with the plastic which connected the fan to the
shroud already broken!

I sent it back and told them nevermind.

I rigged a good quiet fan and everytime I booted up from that point
forward, I got a fan failure notification and had to press f1 to
continue. But at least it worked and it was quiet.

That was my third, and hopefully last, Dell.

I did the math and realized that with all the extra parts I installed
and all the aggravation and time spent, I really could have purchased a
good machine built to spec without OEM soundcards, video cards and the
like. I have done so and at least for the past month I've owned it,
I've never looked back.

Louise

The current systems (unlike the Dimension 8100 and earlier ones) have
standard power supplies and connectors.
In exchange, other components are less standard (the heat sink on the
processor is proprietary, as is the front panel I/O shield, and on the 4xxx
and 8xxx models, the mounting points for the attachments to the case).




"Sam Richards" wrote in message
...
I have almost bought a Dell PC a few times but always bought a custom
built machine using components I select.

The reason is that Dell PC's have a non standard powersupply (or at
least the wiring to the Mobo) . I am concerned that if it breaks I
cannot just go to the local store and pickup a new powersupply and be
back running in one hour.

How much of a problem is it really ? How do you fix it easily ?

And why do that do that ? It is costing them sales, it is for me
anyway.

Thanks
Sam