See, a p4 needs an atx 2.03 but that only supports 2.2

Its a minefield, one even Im not 100% on.

See im really not sure what to recommend. "Specification Compliance: ATX12V 2.2" is what the specs for that psu say but if your ATX is a bit older im not sure that will work. Maybe if you tell me the rest of your specs i might be able to help. Ideally, I need another forum member to check.

May sound strange, but I actually dont know much about the whole ATX thing when it comes to mobos. Because I use the latest mobos and just get the latest power supplys and they just work. Its not a problem ive ever had to look at.

But I would say that its worth finding out exactly what your mobo is to avoid problems.

I use www.scan.co.uk . They have a few places, my nearest is bolton here in the UK, I assume you are in the UK cus you are using play.com . Anyway, scan are the cheapest I find, and you can either que up and get it on the day or mail order it.

Im not quite sure what you mean. Power is power. Unless they are talking about the design of your motherboard.

Most motherboards these days are called ATX motherboards.

620W Corsair HX Series Modular SLi PSU, ATX, EPS 12V, whisper quiet, 5 year warranty: Thats the power supply im using at the mo. Its probably overkill for what you want, but ill use it to demonstrate my point.

"Supports the latest ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 standards and is backwards compatible with ATX12V 2.01 systems. "

basically, maybe the only way to find out what your motherboard is, is to open it up and have a look. It will usually say somewhere if it is an ATX mobo.

ATX covers the voltage and the "shape" of a mobo. For example, if you got an ATX mobo, you will need an ATX case, so everything comes out where it should, and an ATX power supply, to give it power. There are other types of mobos, but Ive never used/built one because I just happen to have always used ATX since its the most widley accepted "type".

Dell are notorious for "locking" their bios, which means that replacing any component will jsut cause the system to go "wtf are you doin?". Which may be a problem for you.

Its hard to recommend really what to do. But if its an option and ur computer is quite old, maybe look at getting a new pc? And get a custom built one, or build one yourself. Dont get a brand name one. Because I built my latest PC for £750. To get a SIMILAR but slightly SLOWER pc from Dell XPS, it would cost me £999. If it is an option, support your local indipendant pc store.

If not, then you will have to upgrade your power if you want to put in a new card. And even then, I cant garuntee your bios has not been locked by Dell.

Thats your voltages.

Basically you can alter your voltages in bios/through a program, to either get more performance out of your hardware or to make them more stable.

For example, when overclocking my dual core processor, I had to up the voltages to my RAM so that it could keep up with my dual core.

Without knowing what voltages those numbers are for, ie memory, cpu etc, its hard to tell you if they are correct. But they are in red, which dosnt look good.

If your power supply was giving too much or too little voltage to a component then it would be causing crashes. Does it mainly happen in games?

Also, did it only start happening again once u installed that motherboard software/drivers? Because IF it did, then it might be because you are installing it and then its defaulting to the wrong settings and changing the bios. If its ok before that, then id say dont install that monitoring software.

will it work fine when i am not playing the gameskavishg786

If this was my graphics card, and the fan wasnt working, I wouldnt turn it on.

Depending on how well ventilated your case is, even when u are not using it for games you could be doing serious damage.

I would recommend getting a new fan and heatsink and fitting it yourself, or if you are not confident doing that, just get a new graphics card.

Your graphics card WILL die SOON if you are playing games without a fan.

300w powersupply WILL blow with the latest graphics cards. Even the budget ones.

I recently installed a 5200 into my grandmas computer after her other 1 gave up the goose, and it recommended 400w for "stability". Luckily she dosnt play games, but if you do, and a 5200 recommends that, then thats what you get.

These days, id recommend at least a 480w power supply for the non-cutting edge cards. And for the 8800s of this world, a 620. I know this because I recently built my new pc with an 8800 GT and it made my Tagan 520w power supply turn into sparks and fire before my very eyes. BUT because it was a Tagan, a well known brand, it had good surge protection and didnt break even 1 component. I then bought a 620w Corsair.

Dont buy a cheap power supply either! Corsair, Enermax or Tagan. Those are the best 3.

Unless you want your PC to turn into fire and PROBABLY take all the other components with it (dell probably wil use cheap power supplys to cut corners) you must a) get a more powerful power supply and b) get a well known brand.

Do not skimp on your power supply, a cheap one/unknown brand, if it blows it will USUALLY take something with it in the power surge, probably your mobo. And a cheap power supply is often 20% less peak power than advertised.

They are dead easy to install, all the power wires have different connections for the different parts that you need to plug into. Just read the manual first.

Hope that helps.

I did used to be a Hermit in the first place after Dreamcast failed. But this is the firstime ive upgraded since I built my last rig, a now very tired and very dusty 3ghz p4. 1 Gig 333 memory and XFX 6800 GT 256.

I dont prefer ALL games on Live on the 360, only Gears and CoD 4. I still play CSS (on my old pc and then the day i got my new 1 aswel) World in conflict, and any other games Ive got that aint on 360. Its just Live is dead easy to just kick back on. Go into private chat and have a 2 way on Halo 3, or kick back on Gears Co Op etc.

On the subject of multiplayers, I got 2142 pre owned from work for free, but obv the CD key dosnt work, but I was told that you can get a new CD key if you agree to kill your old one or something, anybody care to shed any light on that? Or was it just rubbish.

The reason I got a 360 is because at the time I couldnt be a) bothered with PC gaming and its constant upgrades and b) couldnt really afford it when I looked at the bank letters.

Now though, PC gaming is awesome again. Im a few years behind, Im currently playing F.E.A.R. aswel as World in Conflict and Stalker (and omg, massive dissapointment, but it has its moments).

Im gonna get a 360 pad wireless adapter tomorrow. Because Oblivion, as awesome as it is on PC, the whole interface feels like it should be on a control. Especially the inventory system, its just clumsy with a mouse and keyboard.

Alright, that aint entirly true, but keep reading.

Recently I bought this gaming rig:

Core 2 Duo Dual Core 2.66 Ghz CPU (Which I overclocked to 3.2Ghz for Crysis, more on that later)

2 Gig 800Mhz Memory

Gainward 8800 GT 512Mb

Obv theres more parts, but those are the important ones. It cose me roughly £750. Double that price for you Americans cus £1 = $2 atm cus your dolla is taking a nose dive.

Anyway, Ive been a Lem since launch, got it on day 1 here in the UK. And I stuck with it through 2 breakdowns, Im now on my third.

But oh God, PC Gaming is awesome. Now with this rig, I can run everything BUT Crysis in full, which, when I overclock it, I can run it with everything on very high except post processing which I run on high and it be constantly playable, except for the snow, but any PC rig gamer will tell you that all but the most expensive custom built overclocked rigs struggle once it gets snowy.

Anyway, I didnt realise how much better graphics were on the PC these days. Take CoD4 for example, I thought it looked pretty good on my 360, but on my PC, wow, its like the explosions take my cornea off.

And Gears, I always looked at Gears and thought "damn, this game looks awesome". Then you put it on on PC, with everything running on full and 4x AA and its like :O, it dosnt look a bit better, it looks SO much better.

Not just that, Ive fallen in love with RTS' all over again because of World in Conflict, yeah, its coming to 360, but if you want the real world in conflict with all graphics turned up and the best controls for RTS games, PC is the place to be.

This dosnt mean Im getting rid of my 360 though. I still think that multiplayer games are better on Live on the 360, because everybody has a controller and therefore everybody is on a level playing field. Where as on a PC, some people have better hardware, others have a better, more responsive mouse. Others have custom configs which turn stuff off etc.

I think Im going to find a happy middle ground between the two. But for graphics, the PC is just head and shoulders above the 360 and PS3.

If Mass Effect and Halo 3 and the PGRs were on PC, Id have no reason to really own a 360, but as it stands, they are, and they are fantastic games. And to miss out on them for graphics snobbery would hurt my gaming.

What Im trying to say is, I still love my 360, and its served me well for what, 3 years now? But if its graphics you're after, and you have the cash, the PC is still the platform for cutting edge games and all other multiplayer games except "twitch" games like shooters and racers.

The titls is misleading, but it was to grab you're attention. Moral of the story is, sticking to 1 platform is stupid, you are missing out on so many good games.

Edit: Both 360 and PC are both played on a 26 inch Samsung HDTV.

Just completed the game literally half an hour ago on the 360. Start to finnish, no problems at all.

When I say completed, I mean done the main story and got the credits and whats after (wait until after the credits). But I havnt got all the flags or killed all the templars etc.

I still cant believe this is up for debate.

The whole issue can be summed up with the line "you get what you pay for".

Xbox Live: You pay and get a fully integrated service with every single title on the 360, even singleplayer games have access, ingame, to the xblm store. I.e. Godfather (even though you shouldnt have to pay...thats another thread right there)

PSN: You dont pay. Not every1 has a mic, it has a sloppy marketplace, cant send messages in some games, invites dont go across games etc. Infact think of all the brilliant things XBox Live does, PSN probably dosnt, or dosnt do them as well.

"BUT IT PLAYZ ONLEINE! TIS ALL I NEEDZ!" - No, my PC can play online and its not all I need. Because not everybody has a mic, I cant invite my friends into games that they aint playing, there is no centralised marketplace etc etc.

Xbox live is conveniance personified. It does everything you want it to, well.