Want to upgrade my 305w psu to 450w on my dimension e520

I have a dell dimension e520 using a four layer uBTX Compatable sytem board with nvidia 7600le and 3gb ram. want to change to an nvidia 8600gt, however says minimum power supply must be 350w. any suggestions on suitable PSU'S i could use without frying MB

Also, if you have the standard desktop case (as opposed to the slim case) you can get any ATX compatable PSU; if it's slim, you're stuck with the factory unit. I'd suggest the Antec Earthwatts 380 or 430, so long as the pin-out is the same.

You don't need a psu upgrade for an 8600 GT, if you still want to you could use almost any standard ATX unit, just don't try and stuff a 1000 watt monster in the box.

8800 GTS in a Dell Precision 390 with 375w PSU.

I don't remember the exact watts drawn by the 8800 GTS, but it was about 5w more than the biggest power drawing Quattro that Dell offered as a standard upgrade for the Precision 390 and about 8w less than the dual Quattros offered in the Precision 390. I figured Dell would not risk $1000 worth of Quattros for 3-5 years (business class warranties) if the PSU was undersized. There are guys all over the Dell forums that had done the same, so the safety in numbers reinforced my thought process.

That was 1 year ago. Still going strong with Q6600 plus 4 HDs.

Bottom line, Dell seriously underrates their PSU's using sustained power rather than peak power like the PSU manufacturers. BTW, HP is just like Dell. The HP workstations have the same "crappy" 375w PSU with identical Quattro card selection.

Is the Dell 305W power supply enough for the 9800GT card in a Dell E510 with an intel Pentium D 940 and two hard drives?