Dell Dimension 8400 + 7800GTX

[Kalbi]

Will the 7800GTX work on my dimension 8400 which has a 350W psu?

 

[imported_Kensai]

Betcha it won't.

 

[hans030390]

it might. If i'm correct it uses less power than a 6800gt or ultra does...what is the rest of your system like? I also heard that dell underates their PSUs

 

[df96817]

Originally posted by: hans030390

I also heard that dell underates their PSUs

That's true. Dell rates their power supplies according to average wattage, so peak would be somewhere in the 400 range. 7800 GTX should be fine as long as you don't have too much other stuff running with it eg. hard drives.

 

[Kalbi]

Originally posted by: hans030390
it might. If i'm correct it uses less power than a 6800gt or ultra does...what is the rest of your system like? I also heard that dell underates their PSUs

everything else i have is stock. i've also heard the underrating of the psu.

 

[happy medium]

If it can run a 6800 ultra extreme it will run a 7800 gtx. See below


Dimension 8400 350w power supply, XPS Gen 3 460w power supply (PCIe video cards) =
GeForce FX 6800 Ultra Extreme Edition
GeForce 6800 Ultra
Radeon X800 XT Platinum Edition
GeForce 6800 GT
Radeon X800 XT
Radeon X800 Pro
GeForce 6800
Radeon X800 SE
Error while adding PCIe video card, "Alert! additional card cage fan needed for PCI Express card over 75 watts". You need to call Spare Parts (800-372-3355) and purchase this part number:
H3840 Auxilary Blower Fan for PCIe video cards

 

[klah]

Originally posted by: Kalbi
Will the 7800GTX work on my dimension 8400 which has a 350W psu?

In Anand's testing a FX-55 and 7800GTX only used ~230W under full load.

I assume you have a Prescott which is going to be 30-60W higher but still well below 300W.

 

[Ronin]

You'll be fine with what you've got and a 7800. Worst case, the PSU isn't enough, and you get another one (which is highly unlikely).

 

[obeseotron]

Issues with an underpowered PSU do not take long to manifest themselves. I doubt that Dell eqipped a PCIe system with discrete graphics with a PSU that can't power a discrete graphics card. The 7800gtx is not anything out of the ordinary in terms of power consumption.

 

[raz3000]

I was hesitant to put an eVGA 6800GT into my 250W-PSU Dell Dimension 8300. Upon calling Dell's part's store, I was informed that my PSU is actually 305 Watts and that it can handle that card just fine. So now I have a P4 2.8C (Northwood), 1GB PC3200, DVD-ROM, 4X DVD+RW, 160GB HDD, SB Audigy 2, and 6800GT on the power supply and it works fine.

The Dell community forums are actually a great place for questions of this sort, as there are many people on those boards that have added stuff to their Dell PCs and are willing to share their experiences. Here's the link to the Dimension video forum:

http://forums.us.dell.com/supportforums/board?board.id=dim_video

 

[thegimp03]

Agreed. Your psu is fine. I use to lurk those forums but havent visited in awhile because I stopped using my D8100.

 

[Corporate Thug]

you should be ok.

i personally wouldnt risk it with a $500 card though

 

[freethrowtommy]

Question, what do you have in there now? If it is any 6800 series or X8xx anything... you will be fine... otherwise, go see if you can find a power consuption chart and compare the 7800GTX to what you have...

 

[johnnqq]

it uses 150-250 watts.

 

[obeseotron]

Originally posted by: johnnqq
it uses 150-250 watts.

No, they don't. Try reading a review. 110w is the max power consumption if I recall correctly, but it's certainly not as high as you say.

 

[Paktu]

I'm running 4 hard drives, a socket 754 A64 3200+, and a 6800 Ultra on a 380 watt PSU. However, the PSU is an Antec TruePower (probably higher quality than a generic Dell one) and any sort of OCing makes things very unstable. At stock speeds though, I haven't had a single problem.

 

[mchammer187]

i just got a 7800 GTX and the PSU appears to be the problem with my dimension 8400

i can not get it to load windows under any circumstances (safe mode, vga mode etc.)

everything works fine before that (ie post, bios options)

but as soon as windows starts loading it craps out on me

 

[df96817]

Originally posted by: mchammer187
i just got a 7800 GTX and the PSU appears to be the problem with my dimension 8400

i can not get it to load windows under any circumstances (safe mode, vga mode etc.)

everything works fine before that (ie post, bios options)

but as soon as windows starts loading it craps out on me

It should work as it draws less power than thr 6800 Ultra and X850XT according to AT reviews. How did you arrange the power connectors? Did you use the splitter or a direct line to the power card?

 

[mchammer187]

Originally posted by: df96817

Originally posted by: mchammer187
i just got a 7800 GTX and the PSU appears to be the problem with my dimension 8400

i can not get it to load windows under any circumstances (safe mode, vga mode etc.)

everything works fine before that (ie post, bios options)

but as soon as windows starts loading it craps out on me

It should work as it draws less power than thr 6800 Ultra and X850XT according to AT reviews. How did you arrange the power connectors? Did you use the splitter or a direct line to the power card?

i tried both and in both cases the same result