Power Supply Question

[lightshow]

I'm helping my friend put in a new power supply.

He has this computer: http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_VAIO_Di...-30904887.html

And recently he's added a video card, and is having power problems. He has a 300-350 watt power supply in it right now, but that isn't enough power.

Now, all the power suppliers I can buy locally at best buy, etc. look something like this

His motherboard has the big long plugin (the like 12-16 wire one that is all on one plastic stick that you put in the motherboard)

and he has a seperate one that plugs in right beside it. It is a 3 wire (white blue and black). All the powersuppliers I've seen do not include this wire. Does it have a special name, or does anyone know where I can order one online.

***His motherboard did not come w/ a manual so I don't know the maker of the motherboard, but the model number is "P35D-VL"

-----------------
|white blue black|
----------------- (It kind of looks like the power supply shape of the floppy drive)


Please help

*edit - I'm looking for one that is 450 or more watts

[gsky]

(It kind of looks like the power supply shape of the floppy drive)

its not square?

if it is any pentium 4 or athlon 64 ready atx will do such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817103937

don't know why you need such a big power supply though for such a modest system, unless he sticking a 6800gt in there

[clocker]

His motherboard has the big long plugin (the like 12-16 wire one that is all on one plastic stick that you put in the motherboard)

and he has a seperate one that plugs in right beside it. It is a 3 wire (white blue and black). All the powersuppliers I've seen do not include this wire. Does it have a special name, or does anyone know where I can order one online.

Your friend is simply enjoying the benefits of Sony ownership.
If Sony could design a proprietary floppy drive, they would.

That connector is most likely some sort of sensor for the PSU fan (possibly even it's power too).
You could unplug it and power on the PC and see what happens.If it is a PSU fan sensor the machine may not boot...it thinks there is a failure.
If everything is fine then you could replace the Sony PSU (assuming the mounting hole layout is standard) with the unit of your choice.

For your sake I hope you don't have to deal with Sony parts ordering...they are the most willfully wrongheaded company I've ever dealt with.

[lynx]

As clocker says, it is probably a fan speed sensor.

When buying a new PSU, remember that there are now 2 types of mobo connector, 20-pin and 24-pin. Make sure you get one with the right connector, or with an adapter.

[3RA1N1AC]

When buying a new PSU, remember that there are now 2 types of mobo connector, 20-pin and 24-pin. Make sure you get one with the right connector, or with an adapter.

i just recently bought a PSU 'cause my old PSU's fan had stopped spinning. the new PSU had a 24-pin connector and i was like "huh??? they changed the pin standard???" i was ready to return the thing for a refund, till i decided to have a look through the manual and discovered that the 4 new pins were detachable. this should be true of most 24-pin PSUs, to ensure backward compatibility with 20-pin motherboards. hence "24-pin" is also referred to pretty interchangeably as "20+4 pin." if you don't need the 4 new pins, then just detach that piece and leave it dangling.

[tesco]

The old HP computer we have had that 3-wired plug too, It must be a speed sensor but i haven't had it plugged in for a long time and nothing is any different.
Your friend could always just try unplugging it and runnig the computer to make sure it has no use

[lightshow]

He said he had already bought another PSU and when re-plugging everything in (except for the fan sensor), it would boot up until it reached the loading Windows XP screen, then it would freeze and it would never boot past there.

He actually does have a 6800 GT pluggin in there, good guess! It's eating up a lot of power, and his system will randomly crash when he's playing battlefield 1942 with all the resolution buffed up (so I guessed that it was eating too much power).

He also has a duel processor running, so that is taking up even more power.
That connector I was talking about looks exactly like the one that gsky linked to : That one on the left side. (http://images10.newegg.com/productim...103-937-07.JPG)

as long as it has as a white wire (I can't tell since it has a pure white background)

And you're probably right about the 24 pin connector, I think that is the right size. Just wondering, when did they start to implement 24 as the new standard?

**I'm going to tell him to go and buy the one that gsky reccomended. Thanks guys/girls.

-Drew