DELL POWER SUPPLY & COMPATIBLE VIDEO CARD FOR DIMENSION E310

i went to bleeping computer.com and the gave me this link to PCI cards taht would work

Possible Cards

then the person said that these cards require 250W and the E310 has a 230 W power supply

was the person wrong?

contrvlr is absolutely correct.  No pci slot card will ever need a power supply upgrade.  You are some what clueless as to card manufactures so let us help a bit. 

Power Supply Most Often Asked Question......

In many cases, not all, recommendations by card manufacturers and some computer mag's, on how big a power supply should be, is normally based on:

#1. Maximum Possible Load of the systems components plus some added head room. Other words, over loading one's system to the hilt. This will confuse some first timers of this unrealistic high power supply requirements, and buying more than they need. Read in a mag that the power supply rating is almost like double than what is really seen in real-life applications

#2. Dell's power supply is normally underrated, to read the mean average only. Reason for this is that Dell wants to be on the conservative side for those that may over do things with their systems. The peak power is much higher, and a Dell system can handle many cards that the card manufactures suggest a higher required power supply for.

#3. Card manufactures list a higher wattage number than is really necessary for their cards, to be more liberal for those individuals that overload their systems with additional hard drives, optical drives, pci slots filled up. This is normally not for those that have a stock system.

A little bit of advise. The long term Dell forum members know more about what will work and what will not from long term experience.

How to disable your integrated video as posted by the Moderator

2200, 2300, 2350, 2400, 3000, 3100, E310, B110/1100

* Right click the My Computer icon
* Click Properties
* Click the Hardware tab and/or the Device Manager button
* Open the Display Adaptors. You should see the Intel video card
* Double click the listing for Intel whatever
* At the bottom under "Device Usage", click the down arrow and change this to "Do not use this device, disable"
* Click OK- Apply- OK
* Close all boxes when done
* Click Start- Turn Off Computer- Restart
* Press F2 at the blue Dell logo screen
* Down arrow to either:
Onboard Devices- Primary Video
Primary Video
Integrated Devices- Primary Video Controller
* Change yours to AUTO or PCI (whatever is listed)
* Press ESC several times to Exit and Save your changes
* As the system starts to restart, power the system off
* Open the case cover and add the PCI video card
* Connect the monitor to the added PCI video card
* Power on your computer
* Let the computer boot up and load the drivers off of the CD provided with the card

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EHS wrote:

Well, let me help a bit here, speaking from experience. 

Both contrvlr and SR45 are incorrect.

 

Even a basic NVIDIA GeForce 6200 card, in the PCI slot, will need an upgrade to the power supply in the E310.

 

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Are we really ?

 It's kind of funny how my 250 watt psu has no problem powering an ATI9700, a card that uses about 30% more power than your 6200, and actually requires external power in the form of a 4 pin floppy power connector.

 I believe SR45 ran a 7600GT on his 250 watt psu, another card that uses a third more power than your 6200.

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@SR45 wrote:

contrvlr is absolutely correct. No pci slot card will ever need a power supply upgrade. You are some what clueless as to card manufactures so let us help a bit.

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Well, let me help a bit here, speaking from experience.

Both contrvlr and SR45 are incorrect.

Even a basic NVIDIA GeForce 6200 card, in the PCI slot, will need an upgrade to the power supply in the E310.

I have one, and the card will not run with the standard supply. I suggest PC Power & Cooling -- they make a decent, higher wattage, replacement PS.

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@contrvlr wrote:

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@EHS wrote:

Well, let me help a bit here, speaking from experience. 

Both contrvlr and SR45 are incorrect.

 

Even a basic NVIDIA GeForce 6200 card, in the PCI slot, will need an upgrade to the power supply in the E310.

 

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Are we really ?

 It's kind of funny how my 250 watt psu has no problem powering an ATI9700, a card that uses about 30% more power than your 6200, and actually requires external power in the form of a 4 pin floppy power connector.

 I believe SR45 ran a 7600GT on his 250 watt psu, another card that uses a third more power than your 6200.

 

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Yes, in this instance you are (both) wrong. Have you ever actually tested a video card upgrade on an E310?

No? I have.

Until you do that, please don't be so definitive. The E310 will require a power supply upgrade.

So, BTW, does the Inspiron 530s. Here is a quote from another link in which your friend SR45 was giving the same incorrect advice -- I noticed that you did not respond to this post -- note that Dell Support also disagrees with both of you:

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@3czars wrote:

I have the 530s with the stock 250W psu. I have tried both the PNY 8400gs (rated at 300W) and the XFX 8400gs (rated at 350W I think) and I could not get either card to work. When I installed the card, the fan would start to turn and then power off within 2 secs (quick blue light then amber light). The computer would continue to try to power up until I removed the power. Dell support wasn't a lot of help, they just said that the cards required too much power and recommended the HD2400 pro cards on their site.

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Link

 The symptoms described by 3czars are exactly what haappens when you have an underpowered power supply trying to run a new video card.

So, "contrvlr", perhpas you need to do a bit more research (and testing), before being so definitive and absolute in your comments. It's just bad advice.

I will not be visitng this thread again, so no need to respond again.

Cheers!

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@EHS wrote:

 I will not be visitng this thread again, so no need to respond again.

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 I apologize, but by not responding people would read your post and get the wrong idea.

 

Any card you get for an E310 must have 3.3v PCI compatability aka PCI 2.3

 Link

 

 How could it be that these guys were able to upgrade thier E310 with a 6200

  Link

 Maybe they upgraded the power supply and didn't tell us.