I have a Dell Inspiron 530 PC, and got in on the recent newegg deal for an EVGA Geforce 8800GS.
The 8800GS box says it recommends a minimum of a 400W power supply, my Dell has a 300W.
However I've heard that Dell often "underestimates" their power supplies and they can handle more than what's listed. I also read some reviews of the 8800GS which seem to show that it barely uses more power than an 8600GT, which I used to have and ran just fine.
BTW here's what's drawing power from my 300W power supply currently: core 2 e6550 processor, one sata hard drive, one dvd drive, usb mouse and keyboard, usb wireless network adapter, usb tv tuner, usb gamepad. Obviously the last two can be unplugged if it makes a difference.
So... any chance the 8800GS will work without damaging anything here? Or is this just not a good idea at all?
Also, I'd like to know if running near the maximum of a power supply's ability stresses it and does harm to it somehow. I assume that if the 8800GS worked, this would be running close to the 300W max at times. Is that harmful?
Looks like I'm probably going to have to go back to the 8600GT, just hoping there might be a way to use the new card. Any help would be much appreciated.
The 8800GS box says it recommends a minimum of a 400W power supply, my Dell has a 300W.
However I've heard that Dell often "underestimates" their power supplies and they can handle more than what's listed. I also read some reviews of the 8800GS which seem to show that it barely uses more power than an 8600GT, which I used to have and ran just fine.
BTW here's what's drawing power from my 300W power supply currently: core 2 e6550 processor, one sata hard drive, one dvd drive, usb mouse and keyboard, usb wireless network adapter, usb tv tuner, usb gamepad. Obviously the last two can be unplugged if it makes a difference.
So... any chance the 8800GS will work without damaging anything here? Or is this just not a good idea at all?
Also, I'd like to know if running near the maximum of a power supply's ability stresses it and does harm to it somehow. I assume that if the 8800GS worked, this would be running close to the 300W max at times. Is that harmful?
Looks like I'm probably going to have to go back to the 8600GT, just hoping there might be a way to use the new card. Any help would be much appreciated.
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