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GeForce 9800 gt on 350W Power Supply

Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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I was in a similar situation around 5 years ago. I installed a mid/low-range video card to my cheapo Dell comp. No damage was done, but the computer would freeze or randomly reboot after around 10 minutes of playing a video game. After i upgraded the PSU, the problem went away.
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Power supply Expert
Graphics card Master

You can handle a 9800GT just fine but not possibly not that version. There are newer ones that lack the 6-pin power connector. The use less power and your PSU can easily handle one. That said an HD5670 would be a better choice for a similar price as it will give you similar performance and DX11 compatibility. On a Dell 350w you can also use the lower power cards that have the power connector like the HD4770 or HD5750. Both are a good amount better than the HD5670 or 9800GT.
Power supply Expert
Graphics card Master

That's the best low-power card you can buy, though an IceQ version might be a bit over-doing it. As jyjjy said, an HD5750 might work because it uses ~65Watts full load.
Power supply Expert
Graphics card Master

That's significantly more than you need to spend for that card. These are the best deals I'm seeing on newegg;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
The one you linked has a slightly better fan but on a card as low power/heat as the HD5670 it's really not worth the extra money imo. If you were going to spend that much might as well go for an HD5750 which is a much more powerful card;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/Radeon_HD_5670_I...
Power supply Expert
Graphics card Master

MRossmeier said:
would that one run on my PSU though? it says minimum 450W


It might but with your current cpu and board you are pushing that psu as it is so I would make sure it isn't running hot. It may post with out issue and maybe run 3D under full load but how long before something fails I don't know but some OEM psus can be loaded over the rating for extended periods of time before failing. First general rule when it comes to psu if its very heavy and has very heavy duty heatsinks inside then it is more than likely a quality unit. Delta psus are built rather well for when it comes to OEMs like HP and in your case Dell.

I am running a 9800GT low power version on a generic 300watt power supply. I have been running it about 6 or 8 months without any problem. You should have no problem with the low power version. I would stick with that instead of the 1GB regular version since the performance will be very minimally changed and you might have problems with the power supply.
Power supply Expert
Graphics card Master

MRossmeier said:
would that one run on my PSU though? it says minimum 450W

Yeah, I'm sure. There have been a number of people on here running HD5750s on even the 305w Dell PSU.
Manufacturers power suggestions are always inflated to account for the large numbers of cheap overrated power supplies out there. Yours is actually the opposite and is underrated.
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