Dimension 8400 9600 GT question

[odienman]

Hello

I have a Dimension (Dell) 8400 and as far as I understand it from the research I've done, my PSU is conservativly rated at 350W 12v - 28amp (Not certain, just what a number of people have said). A number of people have said it is safe to run a 8800 GT on this system. Now my question is, can this system run a 9600 GT? I can get one of these for 70 dollars less and it seems its only 10% slower. Plus I'm not going to be playing over 1240X1024 since, I want respectable performance in online gaming.

Also, is it safe to assume that the 9600 GT has more room to grow performance wise through new drivers, since its the newest of the cards?

thanks in advance,

Orion

 

[jaguarskx]

The 9600GT uses 60w or 5amps when not overclocked. That compared to 79w or 6.6amps that the 8800GT uses.

As for drivers, don't know. Nvidia's drivers are generally better than ATI's drivers from the start so I wouldn't expect more than minor improvements.

 

[odienman]

They both are from Nvidia, no? I'm just wondering why the manufactures of the 9600 GT put 12v-26,28amps and only 12v-22amps for the 8800 GT. Yet all power usage tests I've looked at for both cards, put the 9600 GT at a lower power consumption level.