Question about upgrading my power supply...

[sox73b3]

I have a Dell Dimension 8300

P4 3.0 Ghz

I would like to upgrade to a 400-500 watt power supply so I can upgrade my Graphics Card.

How can I confirm that my motherboard will be able to handle a larger Power Supply? It is 305 watts right now.

Thank You

 

[mad-dog]

That's right, what VGA card have you chosen.....NVIDIA or ATI, GTS, GTX, Ultra......320 or 640MB......

 

[aevm]

Is that a single-core CPU? If it is, get an x1950xt or x1950pro. Anything more powerful would not do much for you because the CPU would hold it back.

 

[joefriday]

The Dimension 8300 uses a socket 478, 800fsb capable mobo, with 4 ram slots, supporting PC3200 DDR ram, dual channel mode, and an 8x AGP slot.

Sir, you can use any aftermarket PSU that you deem worthy. The only problem being that you will have to cut a hole in the case to allow for installation of PSUs that have a power switch. Alternatively, you could simply search for a PSU that lacks the power switch to avoid this problem.

Good luck and have fun.

Joe

 

[kpo6969]

I have a Dell Dimension 8300

P4 3.0 Ghz

I would like to upgrade to a 400-500 watt power supply so I can upgrade my Graphics Card.

How can I confirm that my motherboard will be able to handle a larger Power Supply? It is 305 watts right now.

Thank You

Your stock 305w psu has 22amps if that helps you.

 

[aevm]

If I remember right an 8800 GTS 320 MB needs 26 amps, and an x1950xt needs 30 amps. They're both PCI-E, which means a new motherboard is needed. That means a new CPU (AM2 or socket 775) is needed too.
These cards need a dual-core CPU to work best anyway. Recent mobos need DDR2 RAM, so that would need to be replaced too. I think we're looking at a CPU/PSU/MB/RAM/Video card upgrade here, not just PSU
That is, you can't really make meaningful upgrades to that PC, you just need a new one.

Edit: there is an x1950xt AGP, that's as far as AGP goes AFAIK. However, it won't work so well with that CPU. Sorry