Can this computer run a GTX 760 Ti?

Sarge2008 · Jul 17, 2015

Good evening, after recently upgrading the graphics card in my rig, a friend of mine is interested in buying my old card. Before selling it to him, I want to make sure he can get the most out of it and won't be wasting 100 dollars.

The video card in question is a Nvidia GeForce GTX 760 Ti.
He has a Gateway DX4860-UB33P, which according to my google-fu only has a 300 watt power supply. On paper, I know this is really low but..

Here's where things get complicated:
The old computer that the card was in was an Alienware X51 R2, with a 330 watt PSU. This was the stock configuration from Dell, and the card ran perfectly even with what is considered a limited PSU.

So, if the card can run fine on a more powerful computer with a 330 watt, PSU, could it run on a lower spec'd desktop with a 300 watt power supply?

If not, what are some video cards that can run good off 300 watts?

Karadjgne · Jul 17, 2015

Dell is sneaky. That card is a 760ti, but it's Dell version. What Dell quite often dies is get factory rejects that don't meet full specs. The 760 is supposed to be a 256bit card, but I'm almost positive what you have is the 192bit version. By chipset and architecture it is a 760ti, but it is the weakest possible. It'll have things like disabled memory, disabled bandwidth, low amount of cache etc. Dell does this because they get the cards at a really good price, the factory would have to junk them otherwise, not meeting full performance specs as advertised. This works for everyone except the consumer, who is often unaware that what they think they are getting is not what they get.
If it'll run on the 330w psu, it'll probably run on the 300, but you'll have to remember a few things. Because it's Alienware, some parts are actually better. From what I remember, most of Alienware psus are OEM Seasonic or Delta. This puts them in really good shape, since those psus are pretty honest in their claims. Most other brand OEM like FSP, Channel Well etc make some real junk for low wattage psus. While it claims to be 300w, in reality, most of that wattage is coming from 3.3v and +5v rails, not the gpu important 12v rail. It's also likely that 300w in reality is only outputting a reliable 240ish watts. That's not enough, even for that Dell 760ti. There is no guarantees on anything. He may have a good psu, he may not. It may run fine, it might not.

Best bet. Give him the gpu. Let him test it out for a while, run his games etc. If all good, get your money. If it doesn't work, there's always eBay. Either way, you get no hard feelings.

Without knowing just how good the psu is, the best cards would be along the lines of a r7 260 or gt740. Even a gtx750ti needs a 300w psu, but being older Gateway, chances are he has a legacy bios, and most 750ti require a newer uefi bios. There are a few that have a 'hybrid' bios switch on the card, (msi twin frozr) which allows them to run on a legacy bios, but those cards are not close to $100.

Pretty much, any card that requires an additional pcie power connector will be too much for a 300w psu, so only a card that draws power from the slot itself will work.

Sarge2008 · Jul 18, 2015

Karadjgne :

Dell is sneaky. That card is a 760ti, but it's Dell version. What Dell quite often dies is get factory rejects that don't meet full specs. The 760 is supposed to be a 256bit card, but I'm almost positive what you have is the 192bit version. By chipset and architecture it is a 760ti, but it is the weakest possible. It'll have things like disabled memory, disabled bandwidth, low amount of cache etc. Dell does this because they get the cards at a really good price, the factory would have to junk them otherwise, not meeting full performance specs as advertised. This works for everyone except the consumer, who is often unaware that what they think they are getting is not what they get.
If it'll run on the 330w psu, it'll probably run on the 300, but you'll have to remember a few things. Because it's Alienware, some parts are actually better. From what I remember, most of Alienware psus are OEM Seasonic or Delta. This puts them in really good shape, since those psus are pretty honest in their claims. Most other brand OEM like FSP, Channel Well etc make some real junk for low wattage psus. While it claims to be 300w, in reality, most of that wattage is coming from 3.3v and +5v rails, not the gpu important 12v rail. It's also likely that 300w in reality is only outputting a reliable 240ish watts. That's not enough, even for that Dell 760ti. There is no guarantees on anything. He may have a good psu, he may not. It may run fine, it might not.

Best bet. Give him the gpu. Let him test it out for a while, run his games etc. If all good, get your money. If it doesn't work, there's always eBay. Either way, you get no hard feelings.

Without knowing just how good the psu is, the best cards would be along the lines of a r7 260 or gt740. Even a gtx750ti needs a 300w psu, but being older Gateway, chances are he has a legacy bios, and most 750ti require a newer uefi bios. There are a few that have a 'hybrid' bios switch on the card, (msi twin frozr) which allows them to run on a legacy bios, but those cards are not close to $100.

Pretty much, any card that requires an additional pcie power connector will be too much for a 300w psu, so only a card that draws power from the slot itself will work.

From my understanding, the 760 Ti is a card that was specially made for Dell/Alienware. You can't buy it on its own anywhere outside of ebay from others that have upgraded.
Would a 750/750 Ti work for him? According to a search on here those cards only draw power from the PCI-E port and don't require a direct connection to the PSU

Karadjgne · Jul 18, 2015

Yes and no. Considering the age of that Gateway, and the fact that it is a Gateway, it more than likely has a legacy bios. The problem with the Maxwell gpus is that they do not work well with legacy bios. They were designed to run on the newer Uefi bios.

There is hope though. There are some models of the 750ti that have a hybrid switch. Use of this will allow choice of legacy or Uefi bios. I believe the MSI twin frozr version has hybrid bios.

This is, of course, if the Gateway has a legacy bios. You'll know if you have to use the keyboard to move around in it. Uefi bios, kinda needs a mouse.

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Can this computer run a GTX 760 Ti?

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