Replacing PPU

Edit: PSU*

Is replacing a PPU difficult or is it something I can do on my own? I ask because I'm getting a new graphics card (Radeon X1950 Pro) soon that requires at least a 450W PPU, but I've got a 400W one.
I took a look in my case and it seems rather complicated. There are hundreds of wires all bunched together, going to different places. Is it a matter of remembering what goes where?

Another thing: Under the specifications for the graphics card, it says I need a PCI Express compliant PPU and a direct feed to the PPU. Is this wire included with the PPU or the graphics card?

Here's the PPU I'm thinking of getting: http://www.compusmart.com/Product/Default.aspx?SupplierPartNo=227605
It's 600W for the same price of 500W for some reason.

very simple to change, i've had to change many.

Do you mean PSU?

Depends on the case, but most are very easy, and you probably wont use all those wires/connectors. If you look closely, you will find theres only about 6-12 'bunches' of wires going to their connector, just think of each bunch as 1 cable.

If its a tower/midi unit then its especially easy.

Unplug all connectors from drives, motherboard and anything else that is going to psu.

If you have to touch the main board (if conns are stiff etc), its best to touch a grounded metal object (the case will do if you have earthed sockets) to get rid of residual stat, and try not to touch any silver or chips if you can help it.

Once you have grounded unplug the psu.
Then while holding it in place as you dont want it to fall :O, unscrew the mounting screws (usually on the back on a tower case) , then it should just pop out. Sometimes you may need to remove the drive bays too.

As for remembering where each goes you usually find they only go back in one place and one way round (although you have to be careful with power conn on very old MBs)
If youre that worried simply put a number on each connector with a permanant pen (NOT A PENCIL OR METALIC MARKER!) then match them to the new ones outside the box.
If you have to unplug & move the drives, make sure the red stripe goes to pin 1 (although most are keyed so they only fit one way)

Most manufacturers have websites for this showing step by steps. (follow mine at own risk :)

Ah alright, thanks! And yes I meant PSU. Don't think I even want a Physics Processing Unit :)

It depends. My graphics card came with a Molex->PCI-E adapter. My PSU also came with two PCI-E power cables.

Here is the one I got. It's awesome.

Anyway, there are only 4 types of connectors to really worry about. The 20 or 24 pin ATX power connector, the 4 pin "Pentium 4" connector, the 4 pin Molex connector, and the six pin PCI-E connector. You are unlikely to get them mixed up.

Trying to stay away from components that require so much power seems to be the better solution to me. -> Less noise, better air, less energy costs.

Hippie. :o> By the way more power <> less noise. My current desktop, my most powerful yet by far, is also the most quiet.

*<(:O)

Yep i should have written: less noise mostly comes in for free if you choose components which don't focus on primary heating up their surrounding.

Man, what an ordeal. I finally finished installing the one I said I'd buy. It looks like a rats nest in there now. There was one rougue wire connected to a fan in the front of my tower. I had no choice but to cut the wire and pull out the fan. Was this fan absolutely positively necessary for keeping my PC from exploding?

Didnt it hava a connector??!

If not.. thats weird :/

As for overheating, it depends really on how well cooled the components are. As long as you have a
-processor fan,
-PSU fan
-GPU fan/big sink
-an exhaust fan (usually the psu fan doubles for this)

you *should* be ok.

However, saying that, If the case came with a fan, it may be there for a reason and you should try ringing the manufacturer.

Did it explode yet?

If not, then probably not. ;-)

Seriously: it kind of depends on your PC -- what kind of CPU, video card, how many harddrives, whether or not there are any ventilation holes in the case, etc.

I have a 400MHz, 2GHz and 2800+ machine that all ran just fine at acceptable temperatures without any case fan... but I wouldn't want to try it in a system with a 3GHz Pentium4, killer video card and 4 Maxtor harddrives....

No, my PC hasn't exploded yet. :)
My specs are:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual 4200+
ATI Radeon X300/X550 (soon to be Radeon X1950 Pro)
3GB DDR 400 RAM
SoundBlaster X-Fi Soundcard
and now a XFinity 600W PSU.
EDIT: And one 250GB Samsung HDD.

I don't think there was much point in the fan I took off. It literally blew air into the front panel of my case and trapped dust in there. The new PSU has two fans, my CPU has a fan, and there's a big fan on the back of the case. Also my tower is in a relatively cool environment.

EDIT2: It was actually a good thing I took the front panel off my case, because I discovered 3 USB ports, that were hidden behind it. :)

Keep in mind that those are all exhaust fans -- the fan at the front would draw extra air into the front of the case, helping airflow.

without the front intake fan, it is harder for air to get cool air sucked into your system, which means that there is less warm air leaving your machine raising the overall temperature a little... But in most cases, it will still be cool enough.

However, if you do see your system start getting unstable (spontaneous crashes, weird graphic corruptions on the screen, memory errors) that the most likely cause if overheating which can be addressed by adding a new front fan back in.

Ugh. I'm dumb. I thought the fan was 'hardwired' to my old PSU but it was actually connected to a detatchable connector. Not to worry, no problem is too difficult for po!
I stripped the insulation from the wires on the fan and on the connector, twisted/clumped the wires together, wrapped both wires seperately in electric tape, then both together in electric tape, screwed the fan back on, connected it to my new PSU, and bob's your uncle. It works perfectly. I hope my wiring is safe enough.

Also while I had my front cover off, I discovered that my case had a piece of hard black tape covering the two USB and one firewire ports that I had found earlier. I wonder why the shop decided to cover them up? Maybe they don't work.
EDIT: Yea, they don't work. Bummer.

Nice one.
A pc aint 'AAARDcore!' until its got some tape, glue or chewing gum in it :P

Mines practically held together with the stuff LOL, (just gotta to be careful around any hot bits :/