Telling if PSU is proprietary?

[PzkfW]

I had my old 8500 to give to my friend. He had a Dell XPS 400. I've just looked through here and read that that computer is proprietary, so my friend is pretty much screwed.
The PSU didn't fit, and I didn't want to have to tape it or something. They were obviously not compatible.

But I looked at the colors of the cords. The cords represent different voltages, no? They matched up perfectly, yet another source I've read said that although they fit, the voltages were different.

The question here is: How do I figure out if a PSU is from Dell or not? If the cord color represents the voltages, then were they compatible? Or is it deeper than that?

I'm really glad now that I didn't put the PSU in and fry my friend's comp.

Also, does Dell do this anymore? I read they did this 5 years ago, but my friend's mother said she bought the computer only a couple years ago. I'm really sick of Dell making these unorthodox parts and causing all this unneeded confusion. It took like 15 minutes to figure out how to unlock the various hooks and straps that kept the psu cords down (I even had to remove the heatsink, because they forced it under there).

This was seriously like a 5 minute job. But the PSU lied about the power ("375" is obviously not enough, yet my "350" ran that card for 3+ years), and then we get into all this crap.
Why can't they just make them like everyone else? They won't be seeing any sales from me =/


Thanks for replies.

[Panama Red]

Not all Dells (or other prebuilders) use a proprietary psu. Most of the newer Dells I've seen use standard ATX psu's. If the 20 or 24 pin connectors have the same color wires in the same hole locations, you should be golden to use that psu as a replacement. Yes, the colors are used to indicated what voltage that wire carries.

[PzkfW]

Originally Posted by Panama Red If the 20 or 24 pin connectors have the same color wires in the same hole locations, you should be golden to use that psu as a replacement. Yes, the colors are used to indicated what voltage that wire carries.

Thanks. If my friend finds a way to mount it, we can then use that PSU. I know it works because it supported the vid card, 2 HDD, and 2 CD drives for like 3+ years.

He said he doesn't care if the PSU has a huge gap in it (atx in a btx, lol), so we'll see what can happen.

Thanks for the info again.

[glc]

BTX power supplies are not proprietary - they are standard ATX with a different size case.

[PzkfW]

Originally Posted by glc BTX power supplies are not proprietary - they are standard ATX with a different size case.

Yeah, but I know that Dell had some proprietary PSU's, and I wanted to know how to tell the difference. The screws still fit for the ATX, all that needs to be done is removing a piece of metal screwing up the mounting. lolollo

[EzyStvy]

I think this is the popular site to get Dell power supplies:
http://pcpowerzone.com/powersupplies.html

[minsonngo]

Originally Posted by PzkfW Yeah, but I know that Dell had some proprietary PSU's, and I wanted to know how to tell the difference. The screws still fit for the ATX, all that needs to be done is removing a piece of metal screwing up the mounting. lolollo

You can tell by comparing the wire colors on the 20 or 24 pin cables between the two power supplies.