Dell XPS Gen 4 PSU upgrade???

[bxmedic]

I ordered a 7800GTX 512mb from eVGA via their step-up program. After I ordered I read a few posts, on Dell's forum, about insufficient power for this card in the XPS 460w PSU.

I have not received my 7800GTX 512 yet; but just out of curiosity I called Dell spare parts to see how much the 650w PSU that comes with the XPS 600 would be. (it's $190 if anyone is interested) They said that I could not use the 650w in my Gen 4 because it would fry my motherboard???? 8O This does not make sense to me or the nice folks I called @ eVGA. I have added many higher wattage PSU's to Dell and other systems w/o any problems. Anyone have any thoughts on this???

 

[jokersgrin]

I ordered a 7800GTX 512mb from eVGA via their step-up program. After I ordered I read a few posts, on Dell's forum, about insufficient power for this card in the XPS 460w PSU.

I have not received my 7800GTX 512 yet; but just out of curiosity I called Dell spare parts to see how much the 650w PSU that comes with the XPS 600 would be. (it's $190 if anyone is interested) They said that I could not use the 650w in my Gen 4 because it would fry my motherboard???? 8O This does not make sense to me or the nice folks I called @ eVGA. I have added many higher wattage PSU's to Dell and other systems w/o any problems. Anyone have any thoughts on this???

Dell is feeding you a line of Sh!t !

Use the sticky on adding up your total watts needed to run your system with that card! Also one other note look at the spec's on that video card and find out what is the recoomended amps needed on the 12v rail ( PSU )to run that card, as this will help you figure out what PSU to get.

Check these out maybe it will help same you some cash

Note: Pc power and cooling is one of the top PSU makers if not the top!

www.pcpowercooling.com/products/power_supplies/dell/

If you need any more help I will try to do my best

good luck!

 

[Crashman]

First of all, 460W is pleanty for what you're planning. Second, even a 10,000 watt power supply won't hurt a computer as long as it's wired correctly.

 

[kerriritter]

i have upgraded a few precision 380 workstation psu's to antec truepower 550w. the response from dell regarding the 650watt dimension xps600 supply is a crock as previously stated.

 

[Crashman]

It's a mixture of what's old and new! Dell used the 20-pin ATX power connector prior to the ATX standard, as an AT power connector. When they added 3.3v support to ATX, Dell left their AT power standard in place and put 3.3v on a flat 6-pin connector. So that meant Dell had completely different wiring back then...than anyone else, but used the same connectors.

And they knew this. But when people tried to use an ATX power supply or ATX motherboard in their Dell system and blew parts, Dell would claim the "non Dell" part simply didn't meet Dell's high quality standards.

Later, when Intel intruduced the ATX12v plug, Dell switched to standard wire layouts for most of their power supplies, but a few models had a new, stranger layout that wouldn't fit anything else. So you'll always have the possibility that one model uses a standard one, another uses a strange one, and an older unit has a miswired one.

 

[bxmedic]

Yhea. I Examined both PSU's, and the only difference is the 460w uses a 4 pin P4 connector and the 650w uses an 8 pin P4 connector. It would require a small mod but definitely do-able. The only power difference besides xtra watts on hand is that the 650w has 24A on the +12v rails and the 450w has 16-18A. I don't think the extra 6A is enough to smoke the motherboard. As I understand it higher Amps is just like higher wattage when speaking of PSU's. It means that there are more amps on hand avail to use but not always pushing @ 24A.??.

 

[INeedCache]

Dell giving bogus answers, I'm shocked!

 

[Crashman]

Most boards have enough space near the 4-pin connector that an 8-pin connector will fit on one side. Otherwise, you can get a 8 to 4 pin adapter at Newegg. You're right about amps, amps times volts equals watts: A nightlight draws less than 1/10th amp, yet it plugs into the same wall socket as a Microwave, which draws over 10 amps. Same concept for power supplies.