Upgrading video card, need new power supply. please help

B

bluefire48

Geek Trainee
Hello Everyone,
I just bought an HP Pavilion p6310y desktop, specs:

AMD Athlon II X4 630
6 GB RAM
NVIDIA Intergated 9100 Graphics
Mother board: Pegatron Motherboard Name: M2N78-LAHP/Compaq: Violet6-GL8E
PSU 300 Watts

Anyway, I would like to upgrade the video card to an ATI 5570 or 5670, but I need to upgrade the PSU as well as ATI recommends a 400 watt minimum. Problems:
a) I know nothing about PSU's, can anyone recommend a budget unit that will not fry my system? Also, will it fit my case? how can I tell if it will fit before I buy?
b) Will sticking in a new PSU void my warrenty?
c) My main usage for my computer is college work and world of warcraft, will the video cards I mentioned be good enough?

Thanks very much!
 
I don't know if changing out the power supply would void your warranty, but I would consult your documentation before continuing.

From what I could tell on a Google search, it looks like a standard ATX power supply will work fine. Your motherboard is of the BTX variety from the looks of it, but unlike some formfactor changes, this does not require a specialized power supply. Probably your best bet for the money would be the Corsair CMPSU-400CX. It's inexpensive and has a nice 30A +12V rail, which should be plenty for this system. However, a few others to consider: Antec NEO ECO 400C, Thermaltake TR2-W0379RU 500W, or Enermax Tomahawk 405W. Basically, these are some decent units in the $40-50 range that aren't junk. I would lean toward Corsair first because of their awesome track record with their PSU line and the price, but really, any of these should do the job for your needs. If you don't care for these and want to look for something else, that's fine, but please avoid Aspire/Apevia, Ultra, Logisys, Raidmax and Rosewill. The last two sometimes to have some decent units, but unless you know for certain, it's better to just avoid them altogether.

I don't believe Warcraft to be the most graphically intensive game by today's standards, so those cards should be more than adequate.
 
If you have warrenty for every component then i guess shoud it won't be any problem... but if you have a warrenty over all system then you may loose it if you perform additional upgrades
 
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