XPS 420, GT8800, 375W vs 425W PSU

i agree, contact dell, and it does state in the 420 faq,s page that the xps 420, 8800gt does indeed ship with the 425 psu... i would insist on an exchange , computer or psu....it was probably a mistake in your computer build

I did get the 425w with the 420 / 8800gt. I would contact xps support and explain the situation / your displeasure. It will probably be cheaper forr them to send a 425 and have a tech install it then messing around with a whole other system...

 

While you are fine with the 375, it does state elsewhere you get a 425....

Thanks for the replies!

 

I will contact customer service and ask that the PSU is upgraded to 425W. It seems there is enough evidence to support this request.

 

The supply that came with the system is the KH624 and has a 12V current rating of 18A.

 

According to the nVidia the GT8800 needs a minimum of 400W supply with 12V current rating of 26A. Hopefully Dell knows this and they just made a mistake when the system was build...

 

I will contact them tomorrow and update on this issue. Thanks again.

 

 

 

As the others have pointed out, if you did indeed get the 8800GT video card then you should contact Dell and let them know they mistakenly sent you a system with the smaller PS in it. They should send you the proper supply and a tech to install it.

 

As far as installing another HD, you'll have no problems.

 

My 420 only has the 375 supply and it only has a 8800GTS 640meg video card, but it also has..

4gig ram

QX6850 Quad Extreme

Sound Blaster X-Fi

150gig Raptor HD

750gig Seagate HD

1TB WD HD

Card Reader w/bluetooth

 

Runs just fine on the 375

I just received my system yesterday and have the same problem.  This is my second XPS 420 (the first had to be returned because they shipped it without "Digital Cable Support".)  Unfortunately, I wouldn't expect an easy fix ... it took me hours last time to explain to the tech people that my system was incapable of adding an ATI Digital Cable Card tuner.  The irony is that I "upgraded" my new system to include Digital Cable Support, 4 GB of RAM,  a Blu-Ray drive and an ATI Digital Cable Card tuner, only to get downgraded to a 375 watt power supply from the 425 on the previous system.  Aside from severely limiting the upgrade potential of what is marketed as a high-end system, NVIDIA's website makes it quite clear that the 8800GT card requires a minimum of 400 watts.  Although the power supply may be adequate most of the time, it is totally irresponsible for Dell to not meet the most basic minimum requirements when building their systems.  Please keep us posted on your experience.  I'll be calling tomorrow and hoping for the best.  Otherwise, it seems like a great system... I hate to return it.

PDSchweitzer - It may run fine for now, but you may want to insist on receiving the proper 425 Watt power supply.  In the future, you may want to upgrade to a larger moniter, play upcoming GPU intensive games, edit high def. home movies, or who knows what else.  All of these things will increase your power consumption.  The fact is that the 375 power supply is not the proper supply for the 8800GT card.  You don't want to find out that your power supply or other hardware is shot ... one week after your warranty expires.  Dell is usually pretty good about correcting their mistakes and this is an obvious one.  Nvidia's website couldn't be clearer.  The donut spare tire in your trunk will get you to the gas station fine after a flat, but you wouldn't want to use it in a snowstorm or leave it on you car for a couple of years. 

Open the side lid and look at the sticker on the side of the power supply.

 

Thanks I just did that - it's a 425.  I should've looked before I asked.  Thanks again...

I just spent 90+ minutes on Dell XPS tecnical chat with 2 different people (the first one disconnected me) and got no where.

 

There answer is, just send the unit back (with an RMA number) and order the configuration that you really wanted...

 

 

Well, I just spent about 30min on the phone with Dell. I spoke initially with technical support that after listening to my explanation and taking notes, said he could not solve my problem and then transferred me to customer service. The person from customer service initially said that Dell only ships one kind of power supply with the XPS 420 system. After I further explained that there are 2 types of supply, he put me on hold for a few minutes, and then agreed that there are 2 types of supply but that my system would work well with the 375W supply.

I told him that this is not acceptable and that I either need the system replaced or have a technician come to my place to replace the supply. He said he would discuss this with technical support and put me on hold again. Unfortunately, the call was lost and I did not get a resolution. I'll be calling again this afternoon...

 

I guess I might have to return the system as I don't think it is acceptable to keep the 375W PSU. I would also consider placing another order, but the problem is that there is no way to specify (at least when configuring the system online) a 425W supply. I'll post again when I have an update.

I called customer service again. After explaining again my situation the customer service person suggested that I return the power supply for an exchange. I told him I was not comfortable removing the PSU from the system and he then said I would have to return the entire system for an exchange and transfered me to a Sales Return specialist.

 

For fourth time I explained my situation, this time to the Sales Return Specialist and he proposed sending a Technician to my home to replace the power supply, which I think is acceptable. Finally someone from Dell was able to propose a solution! Nevertheless I was still placed on hold for about 45min before he could get an approval. He gave me a new case number and said a technician would contact me in 3-4 days to arrange for the PSU replacement. Hopefully this will solve the issue. I'll post again when I have an update. Thanks for all the replies!

Davidsan,

I arranged to have a technician to come and replace the PSU through the Sales Return department. The Customer Service representative also me to ship back the PSU for an exchange.

I do have the phone number for the Sales Return specialist department at home and I will post it when I leave work. I agree that it is very frustating and time consuming to deal with Dell support, but hopefully in the end they will do the right thing.

Thanks so much for sharing your experiences.  I spent some frustrating time on the phone with Dell today as well.  After getting passed back and forth between Customer Service and Technical Support, I found someone in customer support who seemed to understand the problem.  He is shipping me the 425 watt power supply (Part# 425w TP728 LiteOn.)   He wasn't able to arrange to get someone to install it (and I would prefer not to pull out the power supply on a brand new machine myself) but seemed to suggest I could arrange that through technical support.  Who did you guys speak to in order to arrange the instillation? Although it is very frustrating and time consuming, my experience with Dell so far is that they seem to eventually come around and do the right thing.  It just takes a lot of time on the phone to find a Technical Support Person and Customer Service Representative who actually understand how the technology works. 

 

As I said earlier on this forum, the computer otherwise seems great, so it would have been a huge waste of both my time and their money to ship this thing back.  Hopefully, I'll get the part and find someone at Dell to come out and install it.  Thanks again everyone and please keep us posted.