PCIe with no power?

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Fresco

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Dec 26, 2006
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Hi guys.

My girlfriend has just bought a new pc from Dell. We did not get a graphics card as i have a spare one that could be used. We checked with Dell that the sysem came wit a spare PCIe slot and everything seemed ok until i tried to install it.

No 6pin power supply for the PCIe card!

In fact the only spare connectors coming from the power supply are the two daisy chained SATA power cables from the hard disk and the dvd drive.

Does any one have any bright ideas?

Do we need to get a new power supply or does anyone know of any cards that dont need a separate power supply?

What about PCI graphics cards, does anyone still make them?

We dont need anything fast, just something that will run World of Warcraft better than the built in graphics (which barely runs at all).

Thanks in advance.

Fresco
 
MrCommunistGen

MrCommunistGen

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Jun 7, 2005
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You're probably going to have to find a less capable graphics card that doesn't require a 6 pin power plug. At work I use a Dell E521 and it sounds similar to your situation. Additionally, the power supply is only 305W (no typo its not a 350W) so it probably couldn't properly power a hefty GPU anyway.

Best of Luck!
-mcg
 
mactronix

mactronix

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Sep 17, 2006
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Have checked the specs and as has just been said the psu is 305,the card you have says it requires 350 min there is always a bit of room as they like to be a bit cautious.
Normally in this situation i would be recomencing you get a 7600gt but as you say you play WOW and i have heard a lot of people have issues with that game/card combination.
So instead i am going to suggest you look into getting a HD2600xt the draw on them is suposed to be low ie no power lead it runs at a similar fps level to the 7600gt in fact i haveent seen any banchies since the new drivers which were said to have inproved them.
You will be able to find some info about them on this site here http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/HD-2600-AND-GEFORCE-8600,review-2362.html
 
MrCommunistGen

MrCommunistGen

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On a card like a 2600pro I'm not sure if you'll get much benefit from having 512MB. The card probably can't push enough pixels to warrant all that memory. In fact sometimes card manufacturers put slower RAM on the models which have extra memory which would make the card slower for games not requiring loads of memory.

-mcg
 
rwayne

rwayne

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Feb 1, 2007
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You really should not have bought from Dell. Build your own next time. Unless you get an XPS verison they are going to stick you with the cheapest low output power supply they can. They build their computers to run as is. They are not for moding. By using cheaper parts the rest is profit for them.

They stuck my Dell Dimension with a weak 250 Watt PSU and a 64MB MX400 Nvidia card. I tried to upgrade to an ATI x1300 card and my computer would not boot up because the PSU was so weak.

So I called Dell Tech support and they wanted $120 for a 400 watt power supply which was a rip off. So I took my wife's old PSU and tried to put it in there. I could not. The holes drilled in the back of the case were almost the opposite of a standard PSU layout. They made their case so it would only fit their proprietary piece of $#$#@ power supplies so it would force you to buy from them at at least 3x times the cost of a stronger after market PSU.

I hear they have propietary ram and other components too. Again to force the consumer to buy from them for a high mark up.

As the other poster said your best option is a 7600GT or perhaps a 2600 Pro or XT.

The problem I had with my Dell is that I got a 9250 ATI card and it did work with my 250 watt power supply however it drew more power and which started robbing my USB ports of power which started making my USB devices including my wireless USB adaptor randomly fail.
Any time I would run the computer for more than 2 hours I had problems.

If it is not to late I would return the dell and build your own. You would get much better parts for less.
 
F

Fresco

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Dec 26, 2006
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Thanks for the feeback, but its my girlfriends computer and she wanted the Dell because it was the same as she uses at work!

We have had it too long to return it so need to make the most of it.

I know hat you are saying though. I have built the last 6 pc's I have owned, you get much greater flexibility.

I think I will go with the 256mb hd2600. According tothe VGA charts its faster than my old 6800gt so will be more than adeqaute for what she wants.

Thanks all.
 
mactronix

mactronix

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Sep 17, 2006
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I wouldnt bother with 512. 256 will be more than adequate as has already been stated there isnt the power to use it properly.
I see you are opting for the pro version rather than the xt but as you have said it will be adequate for what you want as long as you dont expect it to play oblivion or any other graphically intensive games you will be fine :)
Mactronix
Just to put your mind at rest about the power conecter read a little ways down this
http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=9231&page=2
 
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