Dell i7 Quad Core Studio XPS 435MT Thermaltake TR2 600w Power Supply

It seems I have been doing a lot of Upgrading on my Dell i7 Quad Core XPS with two(2) 7,200 Hard Drives.

First let me save you some money :).  

IF,   your  Dell computer does not boot up ... the Fans do not  turn (or just wiggle, like they might be struggling to turn on) ... the green ON button might blink green a little ... and your computer is  over 2 years old.   First thing you should "TRY" is  changing the Power Supply to a New one.

Over the years ,  I have had  over  5 Dell computers  ... and if  they have no problems in the first few months  ...  basically the only problem you are "Sure" to have is the Power Supply dying on you.  And if you are a Business user you can almost bet it will not boot  within 2 years.  (or should I say , right after the warrantee runs out lol).

6 months ago I had a hard time finding a replacement Power Supply for the Dell XPS 435MT ... besides the lame Dell one with only a 1 year warrantee.  Now, when I Google you can find all kinds of cheap ones.  * I was looking for  a  good one with a LONG Warrentee.

fyi: MY Dell i7:  Win7 PRO 64bit , 24gb tri-channel memory ... two  Fast 7,200 SATA Hard Drives  with 64mb cache Barracuda XT , just upgrading my Data drive to the 3TB  version (more on that in a future blog , after I have run it for a while in PS CS5/LR) ... and will swap out my OS (C:) drive to a 256gb SSD drive ... run four USB stuff plugged in , and have a eSATA/USB  3.5/Laptop  HD reader (so, at times I run 3 Hard Drives and a External NAS HD) (though I need to say, this DELL in Win7 64-bit does NOT have the eSATA external port working, it's basically Dead, with no solutions on the web , yet) ... BlueRay/DVD Burner , APC UPS linked via USB ... AND  I never turn my computer off. 

Have been buying a  lot at Best Buy  (because it's close to me, and cheap)  ... picked up the Thermaltake TR2 600W  for  $95  , which also has a 5 year warrantee.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Thermaltake+-+600W+TR2+ATX+Power+Supply/9827268.p?id=1218179699692&skuId=9827268&st=thermaltake 600w TR2&cp=1&lp=1

There is a lot of PLUGS  ... My personal preference would be a  "Modular" Plug design.  So the Case is cleaner and you ONLY use the number of Plugs you NEED.  In a small XPS case it helps with the Air Flow. (though, many times I will have the case open)

* What is important to know is (and I wish someone had told me) ...  That this  Thermaltake TR2 600W Power Supply works "Easily"  with the Dell 435MT.  Basically Plug and Play.

All I had to do is take out the OLD , put in the NEW  ... plug in  (wrap and find a place for all the extra plugs/wires)  ... Boot up and it works!   NO Compatibility issues.

I have been running this TR2 600W  Day and Night for the past 3 months.   I even shut down at least 3 different times to make sure it could boot up again.  Even in a small office it is quiet.  imho. Cool  (at 600w , what I am running is probably not a strain for this PS)

Love this Thermaltake Power Supply TR2 600w ... but like I said ... wish  Best Buy had "this one" in a Modular design. 

p.s.  ANYONE  that has got this Dell 435MT  with Win7  PRO 64-bit ...  that  has there eSATA "External" port  working ... please let me know HOW?
Maybe a  32bit (Vista driver) ?    and how would it perform.    and can it revive a dead eSATA external port.
*** 1/27/2012 UPDATE:     I finally got my eSATA "External" port working again ,  IN  Win7 PRO 64-bit.
So, now I know ... it's NOT  Win7 64-bit  or PRO that's the issue (as some have said on some forums).
How did i find out?   I bought a new 256gb  Crucial SSD drive (It is the single thing you can do to make LRv3.6 and PS CS5 run faster , noticably so ... particularly LRv3.6 ... more on that on a future blog, and a future SSD disk cache, which will kill the need for RAID on your data drive, and will be faster)  ....   
Well  I decided to Clean install my OS on the C: SSD , BUT  to start with my Original  DELL  VISTA Home 64-bit  install disks (which has all the original DELL drivers).    I made sure I had the dead eSATA  external port hooked up to my "turned ON"  eSATA  Reader. 
Well,  as soon as the VISTA install was finished.  I noticed the  eSATA external Reader/drive was reading my drive in it!!!
Then, through out the installs ,  Win7  Home 64-bit , then Win7 PRO 64-bit  ... on each step the eSATA external port continued to work!
imho,  it's interesting that if you did not run the eSATA external port  before Win7 64-bit ... Win7 will NOT  see it and will not install the Driver for it.  Strange.
So, NOW  I have a really FAST  eSATA external port for my   eSATA  reader that I can plug in any eSATA "BARE"  internal Hard Drive (2.5" or 3.5")  and use it for back up, or to transfer files over that I need from my "Users" directory, some I needed when doing a clean install.  
Particularly  LR files  (there is so much work there that I did not want to redo, like Saved Import settings, Default import by Camera/ISO settings, Pre-sets etc)

Hope this helps someone,

Ross Hamamura
The Tourist of Light
www.RDHphoto.net