250 watt power supply, any hope for video card??

[narhic_fd]

okay friend of mine has a dell desktop with a pentium 2.8(800fsb) now there is a new ghost recon game coming out and he wants be able to play it. NOw the problem is the computer is 3 years old and power supply in there is only a 250 watt. i called dell and they said that if you put a stronger power supply in there it will fry the PC, the mother board cant support it. IS there any hope for a 256 mb video card that will be a good card and work with only a 250 watt power supply?? the recomand specs to play this game is:

Computer: Pentium IV of 2Ghz or the equivalent (2.8Ghz recommended)
Memory: 512MB RAM (1024Mb recommended)
Operating System: Windows 2000/XP
DirectX: DirectX9.0c
Video Card: Shader 2.0 card with 128 MB of VRAM (256MB recommended)
Sound card: DirectX9 compatible sound card
Internet: Broadband / LAN connection

is there any desent video card out there that will work with a 250 watt power supply?? would like to get a 256 mb card, like the recommended specs. thanks guys.

 

[dvdpiddy]

no way for high end fuhgettaboutit(brooklyn saying )but for something like the 6200 or x1300 and under than yeah

 

[raven_87]

Well, its a little more complicated.

If that machine is 3 years old, not to mention a Dell. I can assume it
doesnt meet the requirements. 3 years would stick you around a brand new prescott. 3Ghz maybe. But RAM will probably kill you as I can almost say he has 256mb.

Then again, it would depend on how much he paid.

He needs this.

Sufficient RAM, GPU, CPU and HDD space.

Take the advice Dell gave you with a grain of salt.
Your going to need a MicroATX PSU at least 350 watts if you want
a card capable of that game. Yes a 6200 or X1300 could do it, but thats
like having my 80year old grandmother play pro football. She could run a play, but it would be quite ugly.

How much is your friend willing to dump in order to play this game?
Not to mention, you have to remember, many OEM's use exclusive case form factors....so a brand new PSU or GPU just might not fit.

 

[vishusmartishus]

eugh... 250 watts? yuck.
Actually my first impression was that Dell was lying to you b/c they dont want you to mod your pc... they just want u to buy another dell.

im likely wrong.

 

[narhic_fd]

the PC has 512 mb of ram in it already. i was wondering maybe a radeon 9800, regular not pro, 256 mb card would work in it. When i was looking up the specs of the card on newegg, i didnt mention about minumum power supply needed.

 

[dvdpiddy]

i think that it needs a 300w psu or higher i could be wrong tho i've seen a 9800 run on a 250w on p3 system

 

[FlyGuy]

I think Dell is making that sh!t up too. A PS isn't going to fry the dam mobo.

 

[dvdpiddy]

I think Dell is making that sh!t up too. A PS isn't going to fry the dam mobo.

except if the voltage fluctuations are too high

 

[FlyGuy]

except if the voltage fluctuations are too high

If the flunctuations are out of spec to begin with it's a crap power supply.

 

[pauldh]

What model Dell? Some can take a standard ATX power supply, other's can't. Read this link as this adapter may be your ticket to a new PSU. Dell may be telling the truth about frying the mobo in that (they value the customer so much) :roll: that their ATX plug's pinout is different than a standard ATX PSU. http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/dellconverter.html

By the way, if it's using integrated graphics now, (and not good ole Dell AGP gaming card like a FX5200 or 9200se), have you checked whether or not it even has an AGP slot?

 

[mdd1963]

Some of the lower-end Dells don't even have an AGP slot......

You could always have him yank the cpu, drives, and memory, and buy a new case, mb, and ps, but, it'd be easier to just sell the Dell as is, and jump to a modern PCIe mainboard....

(And an Athlon 64/3500+ on an NF4 variant will do nicely!)

 

[sleepdeprived82]

Remember dell rate psu's differently to other manufacturers, I had a 250w dell psu with and even older p4 2.66.
They under rate it, prob to stop modding so i would say its closer to a 350w in real terms.

The dell forums are full of answers to such questions, but my 250w ran a 9800xt happly and still is (brother has it).

 

[FlyGuy]

Some can take a standard ATX power supply, other's can't. Read this link as this adapter may be your ticket to a new PSU. Their ATX plug's pinout is different than a standard ATX PSU. http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/dellconverter.html

Ah-ha! I have an older P3 Dell with a burned out PSU that has the same connections. The damn PSU I need for a direct replacement (SFF) is still over $100 on E-bay. Schweet!

 

[narhic_fd]

yeah the computer has a agp slot. it has a 5200 in for video card. thier computer is a demission 4600i. here are the belarc specs:

Operating System System Model
Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 1 (build 2600) Dell Computer Corporation Dimension 4600i
System Service Tag: 4F13N51 (support for this PC)
Chassis Serial Number: 4F13N51
Enclosure Type: Mini-Tower
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
2.80 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
16 kilobyte primary memory cache
1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: Dell Computer Corp. 0F4491
Serial Number: ..CN7082147O02Q8.
Bus Clock: 800 megahertz
BIOS: Dell Computer Corporation A10 05/17/2004
Drives Memory Modules c,d
75.49 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
65.47 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

Philips DVD+RW DVD8601 [CD-ROM drive]
SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616E [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

Lexmark USB Mass Storage USB Device [Hard drive] -- drive 1
ST380011A [Hard drive] (80.00 GB) -- drive 0, s/n 5JVDQLGM, rev 8.16, SMART Status: Healthy 512 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'CHANNEL A DIMM 0' has 256 MB
Slot 'CHANNEL B DIMM 0' has 256 MB
Slot 'CHANNEL A DIMM 1' is Empty
Slot 'CHANNEL B DIMM 1' is Empty
Local Drive Volumes

c: (NTFS on drive 0) 75.49 GB 65.47 GB free

Network Drives
None detected
Users (mouse over user name for details) Printers
local user accounts last logon
Owner 2/14/2006 3:41:08 PM (admin)
local system accounts
Administrator never (admin)
Guest never
HelpAssistant never
SUPPORT_388945a0 never
SUPPORT_3f151ab9 never


Marks a disabled account; Marks a locked account Lexmark 4300 Series on USB001
Lexmark Print-2-Fax Printer on LexmarkFax
Microsoft Shared Fax Driver on SHRFAX:

Controllers Display
Standard floppy disk controller
Intel(R) 82801EB Ultra ATA Storage Controllers (2x)
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller] NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 [Display adapter]
DELL 1905FP [Monitor] (19.3"vis, s/n T61164AKACM1, October 2004)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D2
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D4
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24D7
Intel(R) 82801EB USB Universal Host Controller - 24DE
Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller Sound Blaster Live! 24-bit
Unimodem Half-Duplex Audio Device
Communications Other Devices
Intel(R) 537EP V9x DF PCI Modem

Intel(R) PRO/100 VE Network Connection
primary Auto IP Address: 206.255.68.57 / 23
Gateway: 206.255.68.1
Dhcp Server: 206.255.71.249
Physical Address: 00:11:11:3A:56:7D

Networking Dns Servers: 206.255.71.249
204.174.16.4
HID-compliant device
USB Human Interface Device
Lexmark 4300 Series
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
PS/2 Compatible Mouse
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Printing Support
USB Root Hub (5x)


If i can find a mobo that will fit his cpu, and memory. THen he could probally find a mobo, power supply, and maybe a ati x700 agp for under $200. $30 on mobo, $30 on power supply(at least 350 watts), and ati x700 $130.00 newegg.com