Upgrading vid card on Gen4??

Question

I just purchased a XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition upgrade for my ole' Gen4, but I didnt even look to check system requirements before I ordered it. Just checked it it says it needs a 475w PSU and my Gen 4 only has a 460w.

Do I need to upgrade my PSU? if so where can I order one?

Thanks in advance!!

System is specs are:

3.6ghz p4.

4gigs of ram

dual raptors on raid-0

Davet50 · Answer

Dell powersupplies are under rated if there are enought pci connectors than the supply will be more than enought

mattd75 · Answer

Are you talking about the pci-e slot that connects the card to the MB? I am removing the existing card and using the same slot for the new one. Will that work? Message Edited by mattd75 on 07-16-2008 08:29 PM

Davet50 · Answer

no the power connectors that will need to be connected to the card.

mattd75 · Answer

Sry to keep harping on this, but what do I do if there arent enough connectors?? can I install more? Where can I buy them?   Thanks for your help!

mattd75 · Answer

just bought this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153069 and it has 2 six pin connections, so i should be ok, right??

Davet50 · Answer

You need 2 six pin connectors for the card. one you more than likle have already. the card comes with a dual 4 pin to 6 pin adapter so if yu have two spare molex connectors then you are set. if not you will need a new powersupply

Heres a pix of the adapter its the one in the very front with the white connectors on one end

http://img.neoseeker.com/v_image.php?articleid=2095&image=21

Davet50 · Answer

Well you posted in your first post that the recommended was 475. I replied that the dells supplies are under rated and you 460 would be enough. However after further looking at you on line manual it does appear that you do not have enough available connectors to power the card. Now if you use the one in your system plus just one from that powersupply there would be enough. You can try powering it with just the 450 and see what happens.

korrson · Answer

@Davet50 wrote:

.... However after further looking at you on line manual it does appear that you do not have enough available connectors to power the card.......

He can try the one 6 pin connector that comes with the Gen series PS and then power a second 6 pin cable from a dual molex to 6 pin adapter.

But really with only a single core CPU P4 available to the Gen series, you will never get the kind of gaming improvements that the XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition can give on newer computers.

and mattd75 cancel that PS you bought, it will not work with the Dell XPS series.

EDIT Hmm my bad it may work, I was thinking it was a normal power supply that do not work.

This seems to be a suplementary power supply, so the XPS power supply can continue to power the Dell motherboard. Does it have its own separate power cord?

If it has more outputs that can handle the 6 pin connector video card connectord that may be a great idea.

Message Edited by korrson on 07-17-2008 06:09 PM

Davet50 · Answer

You should have one connector inside are you planning on only running the one connector? Not sure if this will have enough to power the card by itself.

mattd75 · Answer

450 watts isnt enough!??

korrson · Answer

High end Video cards use a 6 pin PCIe power connector that usually plugs into the back of the card.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ShowImage.aspx?CurImage=14-150-287-02.jpg&Image=14-150-287-02.jpg%2c14-150-287-03.jpg%2c14-150-287-04.jpg%2c14-150-287-05.jpg%2c14-150-287-06.jpg%2c14-150-287-07.jpg&S7ImageFlag=0&WaterMark=1&Item=N82E16814150287&Depa=0&Description=XFX+GeForce+9800+GTX(G92)+PVT98FYDF9+Video+Card

Or in the example of the XFX GeForce 9800 GTX the connectors they are on the side of the card.

Is there a connector currently plugged into the back of your current Video card? That is the cable you need. Just plug that into the new video card.

I have read that people have used Nvidia 8800 Cards with the stock XPS Gen series PS.

You are one of the first I have read to try a XFX 9800 GTX Black Edition, so let us all know if it works!

450 watts may be enough if you have a bare bones system, but if you have extra drives in a RAID or extra optical drives and other accessories pulling power then you just have to try and see if it will work.

You can NOT buy a normal power supply for the XPS Gen series, you must get a proprietary XPS Gen series PS. There is an upgrade to 650W that was sold at one time from Dell.

mattd75 · Answer

'and mattd75 cancel that PS you bought, it will not work with the Dell XPS series.'   Are you sure!? Why not? Thanks, im not to swift with this stuff...

Davet50 · Answer

Looking at the powersupply diagram HERE

I see the one six pin but it looks like the rest of the connectors would be taken up with harddrives and opticals.

Im just not sure that there would be two molex connectors available.

But as korrson points out there really is no benefit to be gained by adding this card into the system.

I have to disagree with you on weather the powersupply would work as it is a stand alone supply and used as a supplemental power source it would work

mattd75 · Answer

I dont really understand how my processor would be a bottleneck at this point. I didnt thing most of todays games were written to take advantage of the dual and quad core systems??

I just called dell and I can get a 650w upgrade from them for like $180. Will wait and see if the bay PS works first.

TurboShane · Answer

A P4 is a huge bottle neck. Most new games are written to take advantage of atleast a dual core. You are comparing apples and oranges if clock speed is what you are looking at. A core duo can do 4X the amount of work a P4 can do clock for clock if not more. Your best bet is either get a 8800 gt and plug that into your system, it only use one PCIE connector or build a new system to take advantage of that Video Card.

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Upgrading vid card on Gen4??

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