trying to upgrade my psu, i have a dell 4600 250wpsu. i would like to upgrade my psu to a 450w, but i dont really know how to buy one. my current psu vents out the rear of the pc and the plug is obviously in the rear as well. i dont know where the air is being vented, i suppose its inside the pc, then vented out right below from the pc's fan. so in buying a new psu, do i just look for one that only has one intake fan from the rear???? should i buy one that has multiple fans even though i dont know how its being vented (still assuming its from the pc fan below the psu) and do i absouletly have to buy one with a fan from the rear???? thank you

Make sure you buy a good power supply unit to avoid fluctuating current flow and system crashes. You will need this adapter to make it fir to the Dell PSU connectors http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/...=dellconverter , but any good ATX power supply will fit.

As an alternative, you could install one from PC Power & Cooling which has the extra, special connector built in. Click here to see a list of applications.

yes mailpup ive also seen that sight before, im on kind of a tight budget. the one that is compatible w/ my pc is $120. im looking for the under $50 range!!!!

Got your PM, as for placement you don't really have a choice for fan palcement on the PSU, the more fans the better but you can add a few extra fans put one in the front pushing air accross the cpu and one or two in the rear pulling the heat out. Those hard drive case fans work well, the ones that fit in an empty drive slot in the front of the computer. Or a much better cooling option would be to get a liquid cooling setup for your computer. They are pricey but silent.

the newer demension series use hipro ATX power supplies and should not need any adapter or anything else like that. don't buy an adapter unless you know you need it.

-lostinmypc, have you looked inside your case to see what connections the PSU/mobo have, and also what brand the factory PSU is?

-fastco, you don't water cool a dell... haha