PSU upgrade for GPU

Question

Hello

I have been reading some of you message postings about Dell stock power supplies and what they can run. I have just recently purchased a Dell 9150 or XPS 400 which comes with a 375 W rated power supply.

I am interested in upgrading my 7600 GT video card, to upwards of a 7900 GTX or 8800 GTX, and for both cards my current power supply rating is not sufficent. Although Dell does claim that I can run the 7900 GTX even though I tested it and cannot run the card to it's full potential. I also called a tech to see if I could buy a more powerful PSU from dell, like 700 W in the XPS and they told me to check if my motherboard could handle it, yet there is no information on this.

I was hoping that you could tell me what wattage and supply my 9150 can handle and if my stock PSU could handle either of those card....

P4 3.2 Ghz Dual
- 4 GB RAM @ 667
- WD 160 GB HD
-7600 GT GPU
- SB Audigy 2
- Dual Drives DVD
- stock 375 W Dell PSU

Thanks, please help!

SR45 · Answer

Some members today are running the 8800 GTS version card, not the 8800GTX card on their systems that have the same 375 watt power supply as you have.  GTX version, you would probably need a power supply upgrade, but not the 7900 GTX nor 8800 GTS card.  When you said it is not running at its full potential, what does this mean  ?   Dell also has sold and installed the better 7950 GX2 1 GB  card on the 400 and 410 systems that have the same 375 watt power supply.   By the way, your 4 gb are not running at its full potential either, since Window XP 32 bit does not address that much and its just going to waste.....

ktme9300 · Answer

The 8800 GTS card would be your best bet at this point. Go look through the XPS forums to see what others have successfully used. Space would be my concern. I'm using a 7950 GT in my XPS 400 with the stock power supply. The problem I face in upgrading to a better video card is CPU bottlenecking. I know I can run the 8800 GTS, but my CPU will not make the most out of the 8800 GTX. This spring I'd hope that more DX10 video card options will be available. Your 7600 GT is still a great video card. I had one before upgrading to the 7950 GT. To be quite honest, it wasn't all that noticeable of a difference for the money I spent. I'd wait on upgrading. I'd also wait to install Vista. If you play games, not much works with Vista right now and there's no benefit to Vista until software is developed for it.

screamingealge · Answer

I know about the RAM issue, I have just very recently made the switch to 4 gb, and have ordered Windows Vista, which to my knowledge can support up to 16 gb.   As to the card,   I have installed and tested a 7900 GTX and had run a 3D  mark 06 test on it, and it would freeze up everytime, I was told that this was due to an insufficient power supply.  At +12V the supply is only rated up to 18A.   For the 7900 GTX and especially the 8800 GTS the Amperes are not great enough, shouldn't they be in the ball park of 26A - 32 A rating.   It is great news to hear that a system has run cards such as the 8800 GTS because I would like to avoid upgrading the power supply, if possible.  The cost and improper fit in my case would be very inconvienent.    If you could give me some advice on the stuff above, thanks a lot SR45 your postings have been helping.

SR45 · Answer

If you just installed that 7900 GT card and used the supplied driver, you may want to download a more current driver and try the benchmark again.  When you do the benchmarks, turn off your anti virus software during the test.

contrvlr · Answer

There are two +12 volt rails on the 375 watt psu both rated at 18 amps, with a combined output of 30 amps. And some people are running an 8800 GTX using it:   http://www.dellcommunity.com/supportforums/board/message?board.id=dim_other&message.id=298797   This is not to say that I would recommend it, but that the 375w psu is very capable.I am using the 8800 GTS in my machine with the same psu, and have oc'ed it  above GTX clocks for running 3dmark.

ktme9300 · Answer

contrvlr you also are using a Core Duo which is far better than our Pentium D's. I read a 8800 GTX article on Tom's Hardware. They discussed the CPU performance needs to really push the 8800's to better benchmarks. I'll probably buy a better video card when I upgrade to a Core Duo or better down the road. There's no doubt that the 8800's would be an improvement, I just want a CPU that will make the set up much better.

contrvlr · Answer

I read that article. I upgraded to C2D when I realized how much the P4 530 was holding back the 7900 GTO that I previously had. Yes the video was an improvement over the 6800nu that I had, but I knew it could better.If I had had a PD chip, I might have waited longer to upgrade my machine. 3dmark scores with the P4 and 7900 GTO were in the 4500 range and went up to 6300 with the C2D. The cpu score more than doubled ( from 890 to 1830 with a 2.13 chip) and the graphics scores took a nice jump as well. And finding deals in the Outlet was what lead me to what I have now. You know the deal ktme.

ktme9300 · Answer

That's quite an improvement in score with the C2D. It's getting harder for me to hold off, but later this year I'll upgrade. I'm just waiting for Vista game releases. I've been tempted to buy an XPS410.   This week I'm buy an E521 from the Outlet to use as a media center in the living room. It'd cost me close to $800.00 for what I can get at the Outlet for close to $300.00. However if I can find the right deal on an XPS 410, I'm getting one.

contrvlr · Answer

I have seen a few deals in the past week, a couple that made me think I should have waited a little longer, but I'm happy with what I've got. I'm waiting for Crysis to be released and then I'll decide if I want to upgrade to Vista.   Gotta go , work on a Saturday, uhg.

ktme9300 · Answer

I am at work... night shift! I'll be off at 7AM thankfully.

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PSU upgrade for GPU

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