Looking for a PSU for an HP Pavilion a6109n Desktop

I’m looking to upgrade an old computer of mine to accommodate Fallout 3, CSS, TF2, and UT3. I decided to pick up a cheap-as-hell Nvidia 8500 GT to replace the Pavilion’s craptastic onboard 6150 SE. I should probably SLI some 8800s to save money in the long run, but I’m not trying to run Crysis with x16AA at 1900x1200; I just want to get my other games running at 30+ FPS on Medium settings. Besides, in the future I could always overclock my 8500 or add a second one and connect it with an SLI bridge.

Unfortunately, my PSU is only 250W and the required PSU for the 8500 is 300W. Anyone know of any decent 350W+ PSUs that would fit in my case? Or should I leave my 250W PSU in and hope for the best?

If you really want to be that cheap whit the most important computer component for any computer game i would at least recommend the ASUS 8500GT whit 256Mb and custom cooling (Available there at the same site)

It have a better cooling solution than the PNY card you listed. Don’t bother buying a 512Mb 8500GT becuse you won’t be able to run games at such high resolutions to make it a difference between 512Mb and 256Mb anyway.
If i can have my word then i would pay an extra 15$ to buy a 8600GT and don’t bother trying to upgrade that computer anymore. If you’re going to use it for an another year then it’s better to buy a new computer at that time.

As for a PSU…that’s a difficult call.
Mainly becuse most quality 300+ PSU costs almost as much as that 8500GT and you definitly don’t want to push a noname brand near its maximum rated limits.

So if you wanna go whit a more safe choice then i would choose the “Thermaltake W0070RUC-430W” for 39.99…if you can use the 10$ rebate than it’ll just cost you 30$ wich is a very nice price for a well known and good PSU brand. (Also available at the same site)

Or if you wanna go somewhat risky and cheap…buy a cheap 450+ rated supply from some unknown PSU brand. Then just pray that the maximum rated limit of it outweights its poor build.

(BTW: HP doesn’t list that mainboard inside that computer whit more than one PCI-E 16x slot so you’ll have to abandon any SLI combination.)

  • Tywald

(BTW 2: Is it allowed to link to products on shopping sites not related to dreams here at the Lucid Lounge?)

Thanks, I’ll definitely look into that Thermaltake PSU. Not sure what I’ll do about the cable management, though. My case is relatively small.

I looked at some 8500 benchmarks and saw that it still got an average of 40.5 FPS on Quake 4 High Quality at 1280x1024. My monitor is only 1440x900 anyway, so I figured that it would be sufficient for my purposes. You’ve definitely got me to consider an 8600GT now, though.

I strongly suggest that you should buy an 8600GT, mainly becuse it’s a better “Gaming” card than the 8500GT that wasn’t really designed for that purpose. For a few extra bucks you’ll get a card that’s more than twice as fast depending on the game and settings. Heck…you can play “Crysis” in that resolution using medium settings and achive somewhat usable performance while the 8500GT probably will only reach the same performance at the lowest settings and at lower screen resolutions.

  • Tywald

Thanks a lot, Tywald.

I followed your advice and bought an Antec 430W PSU, and my XFX 8600GT XXX Zalman Edition is supposed to be delivered sometime next week. Got it for cheaper than the 8500 I would have ordered instead. :lol:

12 FPS at 640x480 no more!