Testing a GPU on an underrated Power supply

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Oct 18, 2013
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I just purchased a Zotac GTX660 GPU to be used with my XPS 8300. I know my PSU is underrated when it comes to the 12v amperage. Min spec is 400W with 23A @ 12V and my current PSU 460W with 18A at 12V.

Buying a new PSU is not an issue however I have just been made aware of some possible unfixable conflicts between the Mobo and some Nvidia GPU's causing the GPU not to post. Before I go out and buy a new PSU I'd like to verify that the card will infact work with the mobo, so my question is do I risk doing ANY damage to the PSU, MOBO, GPU or any other components in the computer by trying out the GPU in the underrated PSU for a few minutes just to make sure that it is compatible?
 
Solution
rolli59
Because the gtx660 only uses max 130watts which equals less than 11 amps and the CPU power and PCIe power is split between the rails so not both the CPU and the GPU are pulling from the same rail.
Try the card then worry about specific Dell issues.
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rolli59

rolli59

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Oct 27, 2007
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Your PSU has more than one +12 volt rail and exceeds the requirement for the card. It is the combined amps over all +12 volt rails they mean not just a single rail.
It is more than sufficient to run your setup.
The conflicts you are talking about are unknown to me.
 
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k1114

k1114

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May 2, 2010
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The psu is triple rail 18+16+8 which is adequate power so you don't need to upgrade the psu. If it's not enough power it typically won't post. Searching, I'm finding people are putting 660ti or 6870, which are higher power cards on the same xps 8300 stock psu with no issues.
 
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S

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Oct 18, 2013
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THanks for the input.

Here is a link to a large discussion over the GTX680 and the 8300. There are some smaller discussions about the other 600 series cards centering around the same thing.

https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/516311/geforce-700-600-series/gtx-680-dell-xps-8300/1

Now when you say that my PSU has more than one rail, I understand what a rail is when it comes to electronics, but I was just going off the specs on the PSU itself. Now I'm not doubting you, but I am new to this stuff, so how are you determining that the multiple rails are sufficient?

The specs on the PSU show
+12VA ...18A
+12VB...16A
+12VC...8A

then a bunch of 3.3V, 5V and 1.2V specs.

Does this mean I have three rails? If the card only has one 6 pin connector does it still feed of multiple rails? or is it one PSU cable per rail? IE does the cable I use determine the rail it feeds from and thus limit safe current draw to the spec of the particular cable, or do they combine so I in fact can draw 42A safely off the PSU regardless of the number of peripherals drawing from it?
 
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rolli59

rolli59

Titan
Oct 27, 2007
47,790
283
130,890
Because the gtx660 only uses max 130watts which equals less than 11 amps and the CPU power and PCIe power is split between the rails so not both the CPU and the GPU are pulling from the same rail.
Try the card then worry about specific Dell issues.
 
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Solution
k1114

k1114

Titan
May 2, 2010
14,240
93
75,540
They should all combine. It's doubtful that any modern psu models still splits rails to cables.

The compatibility issue was a kepler issue and should be fixed on all current cards. Wasn't a dell issue as it happened on aftermarket mobos as well.
 
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S

Sporatic

Honorable
Oct 18, 2013
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10,510
So the card seems to work fine. Should I even bother upgrading the PSU? For the price of one it's not a big deal if there is a benefit (I don't plan on any more upgrades at this point) but if a bigger PSU can offer even the slightest bit of stability or safety to the current setup I'll happily do it.
 
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