Want to get a new Power supply

Scorpion.sting

SatelliteGuys Pro
Original poster
Apr 8, 2006
356
8
Logansport, IN
Hi

Can anyone tell me what power supplies would work with a Gateway GT5428? IIt currently has a 300 watt supply and I would like to upgrade to a 500 watt supply.

I hear that since its a Gateway, I may not be able to just buy a regular ATX power supply.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
 
Contact PC Power & Cooling (or Antec) and they will set you up with a high quality power supply meant for your exact PC. Keep in mind, high quality is not given away cheap.

Of course, there is always the possibility that your sole source for this PC might be Gateway. I'd make a couple of phone calls or emails.
 
I'm thinking he wants to stick a 8800GTX card in there, right? ;)
 
yeah, unless he is doing a major upgrade (like putting in a high end graphics card or 2+ hard drives) he doesn't need a bigger power supply.
 
you realize to run SLI both cards have to be identical correct? (same firmware and everything)

I'm pretty sure Scorpion.sting is just doing it for folding so the cards don't have to match at all.

However, the SLI requirements are not as strict as you believe. Only the GPU has to match, the vendor, bios, clocking, and even memory can be different.

SLI Zone FAQ said:
Q: What cards can I use together in SLI? What are the requirements?
A: Right now, users are limited to using two (or more, if applicable) cards that are from the same series (7600, 7950, 8800, etc.) and are the same model (GS, GT, GTX, and so on.) However, the manufacturer, VGA BIOS, and clock speeds may all differ. When using two differently-clocked cards together, it's recommended that the slower card be installed in the primary PCI-E slot. This will automatically gear down the other card's clock speeds to match those of the master card, which will keep them in sync. Depending on the driver support the faster card may be installed as the master, which will raise the clock speeds of the other card, but this may not always be the case. Installing the faster card as the primary GPU can still sync the cards to the lower speeds or the overclock may not be forced on the other card and render the setup incompatible in that configuration.

Q: My cards are the same, but have different video memory sizes. Can I use them in SLI?
A: First and foremost, this is an unofficial workaround. To use SLI with cards that have mixed VRAM sizes, install the video driver as per usual. Then download and install the Coolbits registry string, then modify its value through the registry editor (Run > "regedit") and change it to 18. Once Coolbits has been changed, search the registry for "MB_SkipFBSizeCompare." This is the crucial part of the process, because if that string hasn't been created, the workaround wasn't successful. This may be due to a recent behavior current drivers are exhibiting that prevent that string from being made, so if the string doesn't show up, simply uninstall the video driver and roll back to an older version. For simplicity's sake, it's best that users use two identical cards for SLI.
 
I'm pretty sure Scorpion.sting is just doing it for folding so the cards don't have to match at all.

However, the SLI requirements are not as strict as you believe. Only the GPU has to match, the vendor, bios, clocking, and even memory can be different.

You got it right George. Its solely for folding ( my addition) lol. :D
 
Scorpion.sting and navychop, you got me convinced. I decided to put a little life into my Athlon box by getting a new Antec P/S and a Sapphire Radeon 3850 for the AGPx8 slot.
 
Scorpion.sting and navychop, you got me convinced. I decided to put a little life into my Athlon box by getting a new Antec P/S and a Sapphire Radeon 3850 for the AGPx8 slot.

Please check the folding forums to see if that actually works. ATI does not officially support the 3850 on the AGP bus so the CAL driver may not even work on an AGP 3850. The F@H FAQ also says "AGP hardware is supported, but overall performance will be lower than PCIe boards because of a slower CPU to GPU connection."

Also note that ATI folding performance is is very CPU dependent and currently significantly lower than NVIDIA.

I'd recommend getting a cheap PCI Express CPU/mobo combo and sticking an 8800GS in it if you want to maximize price/performance.
 
Thanx for the suggestion 8bitbytes. I have to ask though, how do you know it will fit my Gateway GT5428? Also, I want to be sure the psu I get is a quality 500 watt supply so I dont mine spending about $110 for it.

Thanks in advance for your help. :up
Went onto the Gateway website, looked up your model, looked at the three OEM PSUs used in that model and compared. Also, your mobo needs a 24 pin connector, the 4 pin cpu connector, and the 6 pin pci-e connectors for the video cards. These are all present on the Seasonic.

The Seasonic is an excellent psu and is an 80 plus model to boot.
 
Went onto the Gateway website, looked up your model, looked at the three OEM PSUs used in that model and compared. Also, your mobo needs a 24 pin connector, the 4 pin cpu connector, and the 6 pin pci-e connectors for the video cards. These are all present on the Seasonic.

The Seasonic is an excellent psu and is an 80 plus model to boot.

Cool. You da man 8bitbytes. Thank you very much for your assistance. :)
 

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