HD 3850 in a Dimension 8400?

[Phynaz]

The X800 in the Dell 8400 is getting long in the tooth.

The 3850 sounds perfect, except for two things.

1. ATI says they require a 450w power supply. The Dell has a 350.
2. The 8400 doesn't have the PCIe power connector. Is there a drive power dongle or something to be used?

I'm driving a 19" LCD, so I only need 1280x1024 - which the x800 can no longer provide at decent frame rates.

Thanks!

 

[BladeVenom]

Anandtech's power consumption tests had their system using less than 200 watts at full load. You'd have to check to see how much of your power supplies wattage can be supplied at 12v to be sure.

If the card doesn't come with a PCI Express 4 to 6 pin power adapter, you can find them on ebay.

 

[hans007]

ATI says 450 watts because most people dont understand 12V rails.

the 8400 is a pretty old machine though ... older 450 watt power supplies with ATX 1.1 or 1.3 spec only have 16-18amps TOTAL on the 12v rails. the newer atx 2.0 power supplies (most new machines, this was actually the BTX spec) have a mandated at least 22amps on dual 12v rails (even 250 watt atx 2.0.1 / 2.0.3 have this).

that said, the dell 8400 isnt even a dual core, its probably a waste of money to buy this card as you will probably be CPU limited... at only 1280x1024 i think you'd be better off either upgrading your machine before buying the card, or just buying a 2600xt or something.

 

[taltamir]

yap... buy a new system or stick with what you have... replace a single component and you will simple get bottlenecked elsewhere and see little to no benefit.

And there is no way in hell your dell has a good enough power supply. for a variety of reasons, including the ones listed by people before me