Is my old PSU compatible with my new motherboard?

Hey there,

I was wondering if anyone could point me in the right direction. I'm looking to put together a pretty low-key PC, just something basic for Microsoft Office and browsing the web. I still have a power supply and a hard drive left over from my old setup, so I’ll just need to grab a new motherboard, some RAM (maybe 4-6GB), and a processor (an AMD Ryzen 3). My current power supply is an EVGA 450W, and I'm just curious if that will work with these newer ATX motherboards like this one:

Thanks!

Well, that power supply should be just fine—it's more than enough for a setup that isn't particularly demanding. Regarding the hard drive, though, do you know if it’s SATA or the older PATA style? If it's the latter, you're looking at some pretty outdated tech, especially since modern motherboards only come with SATA connectors. Also, what kind of budget are we working with for a new build? You could probably put together a decent machine with integrated graphics, maybe 4GB of RAM and such, for around $300 or so... but seriously, definitely double-check that hard drive first.

Thanks for the reply! I've got a General Electric drive, 7200 RPM SATA. I was thinking about aiming for a price point around 1600-$667. I wasn't totally sure about the power supply situation, though, because the specs on this Dell motherboard say:
For a fully configured system, we recommend that you use a power supply unit (PSU) that complies with ATX 12V Specification 2.3 (or later version) and provides a minimum power of 350W.
but my PSU says: VX450W ATX12V v2.2 / v2.01.
If this setup works fine, I'll probably just grab another 4GB of Crucial DDR3 RAM and an AMD Ryzen 3 processor... since there's integrated graphics, I wouldn't bother with a dedicated card anyway. Also, do these ATX motherboards fit in standard mid-tower cases, or should I be looking for something else?

MSI B85M, LGA 1150, B85 chipset, DDR3/1600, PCIe, VGA/D-Sub/DVI-D/HDMI, SATA II/SATA 3, Gigabit LAN, USB 3.0, 8ch. audio, ATX = $183

AMD Ryzen 3 (3.40GHz, 512KB, 3MB, 54 W, 1150) Box, NVIDIA Integrated Graphics = $268 If you're really just planning to browse the web and use Microsoft Office, you could probably get away with an Intel Pentium which would save you $133 a bit of money—but if you've got your heart set on the Ryzen 3, then go for it, 😁

Crucial DDR3 1x4GB 1600 C9 = $104

Total comes to $543.. and the shop is Micro Center.. http://www.microcenter.com/

That motherboard is ATX, so it'll fit into a mid-tower case without any issues.. If the power supply ends up giving you trouble, you'll still have $133 the option to pick up a new one later. And hey, if you decide to go with the Pentium I mentioned earlier, you'd end up with an even $133 more budget-friendly build..

ASUS H87M motherboard (LGA1150, DDR3, USB 3.0, USB 2.0, SATA III, Audio Line-Out, Line-In, Microphone)
AMD Ryzen 3 processor
8GB Crucial DDR3 1333MHz memory (KVR1333D3N9/4G)

Total price: $554 Best Buy

With 8GB of RAM.

Thanks for all the suggestions, I'm going to start mixing and matching some parts now. Just one more quick question though, what does it mean when a processor comes with NVIDIA Integrated Graphics? Does that basically take the place of the integrated graphics on the motherboard, or the standard graphics card?

The NVIDIA Integrated Graphics is built right into the processor, which is honestly plenty if you're just doing everyday tasks. Now, if you're looking to upgrade because you want to dive into some actual gaming—you know, those more demanding titles—you'll need to pick up a dedicated graphics card and plug it straight into the PCIe slot on your motherboard. Just a heads-up though—if you go that route, there's a very good chance you'll need to grab a new power supply too, since your current one probably won't have enough juice to handle a separate card. You can always take a look at the setup suggested by crimsonstag84
to get an idea.

Larry Ortiz5 said:NVIDIA Integrated Graphics is built right into the processor and handles basic stuff just fine. If you're looking to actually game, you'll need to grab a dedicated graphics card and plug it into the PCIe slot on the motherboard. Honestly, if you go that route, you'll probably need a new power supply too, because what you have now won't cut it for a real card. Just check out crimsonstag84's
build for ideas.

Listen, kid, that EVGA 450W can handle an i5 and a 270x easily enough.🙂

Old school, but a beast.🙂

My mistake, sorry about that—I thought there was a vs version available, I totally misread it... 🙄

To be honest, it could probably handle an i5 and an R9 290 just fine. 😁

crimsonstag84 said:Honestly, an i5 paired with an R9 290 would handle it just fine.😁

We aren't cutting it that close.😁 ☕

Is that vx450 (the OEM Seasonic model) actually superior to these newer cx series units, or does it hold its own against that Corsair Schrotex? For instance, the previous cx series, like the cx400, was also built by Seasonic rather than being a budget knockoff.

Yeah, honestly—when there are so many names that are almost identical except for one single letter, I just misread it. I thought it was VS instead of VX, so I went ahead and renamed it right away based on that mistake...