On 12/24/2010 6:08 PM, Rich wrote:


"GTS-NJ" wrote in message
...
SNIP



Ben,
I have heard of this power supply/motherboard issue with eMachines. I
currently own 3 eMachines; a T3306 & 2 T5243's. The worst problem I
have had was the DVD burner self-destructed after a year on the T3306
which is almost 5 years old now. However, I have just purchased a
docking station for my daughter's Dell laptop & took over her T5243
(you don't want to know the age of the Dell XPS it is replacing). It
was dual-booting Vista & 7 but I downgraded to XP & 7. Now I am
concerned about the power supply. Is it a standard PSU? Would a
preemptive replacement with a new PSU prevent any issues?

Also, on an off-topic note, I contacted eMachine by e-mail to ask
what the fastest processor this motherboard would support
(MCP61PM-AM). They wanted pay-per-call tech support to call me the
answer. It currently has an AMD Athlon 4000+ (2.1Ghz). I have figured
out that this is a Brisbane core running it at 65W. I think the 5600+
is the fastest at 65W but there are 95W processors running up to
6000+. Would you know what the fastest processor would be that would
run natively on this board?

Any help appreciated.....Thanks.

Rich

I have also seen many eMachines with fried motherboards after power
supply failures. The Bestec 250W PSU is the one to especially watch
out for (label will show Bestec ATX-250-12E). If yours is that model
and you want to keep the machine for a few more years, a preemptive
replacement is well worth considering. I have done this for a few
customers. I'm leery or the Bestec brand because of this, but have
seen reports that the later modes (like the 350W) have proper overload
protection.,

See
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php...print&reid=154 for
some interesting info. Particularly near the end "5VSB will kill your
mainboard when (not if) the caps fail "

Thanks for that link....extremely interesting & informative.
Here are the PSU's in the eMachines':

T3306 - Bestec 300W
T5243 - Delta Electronics 300W

I am inclined to believe that the problem is with the
250W Bestec model. So now I am cautiously on the fence about leaving the
Bestec 300W in the T3306 & comfortable about leaving the 300w PSU's in the
T5243's since it is made by a different manufacturer Delta Electronics.
Would you agree?

Thanks,

Rich

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Delta has been around for a long time and they have made millions of
power supplies for PC, Sun, DEC, etc. No need to mess with a Delta PSU.

I am a bit leery about any Bestec. They have an extremely bad
reputation to live donw and jonnyguru has done them no favors. Nor
should he! They deserve analyses like his. Maybe Acer-eGateMachines
people read his analysis and showed the door to Bestec? ... Ben Myers