I’m on top of the world right now.
I disconnected the power supply in my desktop and installed my new one!
My new power supply is the Corsair Professional HX850W 850W. Luckily I went with a big case when I put this system together last year so I had lots of room for maneuvering.
So first, I got Jeff to carry my computer out to the dining table so I had lots of room to work. (Confession: The case is too heavy for me to safely walk across the house.)
Then I labelled every internal power cable with masking tape as I unplugged them, just in case I had any problems later.
Corsair really does a nice job packing up their power supplies. This new one has some permanent connections, and then the rest are modular, which is soooo nice. The modular cords came in a nice velcro black bag, and the power supply box with attached cords were in a black velvet, Crown Royal type of bag. Really classy.
So I looked over the old power supply and cords and figured out what I would need from the modular cords, then I installed the power supply and ran the cords out the back hole. The new power supply came with new zip ties, so I very neatly ran all the cords and secured them with zip ties. Everything went smoothly.
I had to research one connection. My video card, a GeForce GTX 580, requires an 6+2 pin PCI-E connection, and a 6 pin PCI-E connection. Both of the PCI-E cables from the new hard drive are 6+2, so I didn’t need the extra +2. According to hardware websites I could find, it is safe to leave the +2 dangling. I carefully pulled it back and zip tied it against the cable so it wouldn’t move around or make any connection anywhere.
The first time I fired it up, there was an awful rubbing noise. Turns out I had one cable a little loose at the top and it was rubbing on the fan on the top/back, so I just had to move a bit and I’m back in action!
I’m so relieved to have my computer back up and running. I missed these beautiful monitors.