Solved! HD 7850 compatible in a Dell XPS 8700/ 460watt PSU ?

[crockman]

A Family Member of mine has a Dell XPS 8700 with a 460 Watt PSU.
Presently this 8700 has a rather lack-luster GT-720 Video Card

I offered to them my RX 470 I no longer use, however the 470 is way too long, didn't even come close to fitting.
I then realized I still have my no longer used Powercolor HD 7850 and Sapphire Toxic 4850.

Can the XPS 8700 w/ 460 watt PSU run my HD 7850 ?
I'm pretty sure the 4850 would run fine in the XPS 8700, but the 4850 has only 512mb Memory, therefore I'd rather install the HD 7850 if possible.

The XPS is Mainly a daily web-surfer. The only thing taxing on it is an occasional movie & Windows 10 Minecraft.

Thanks in Advance

 

[crockman]

A few minutes ago I may have answered my own Question.
Found this Site: http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
Via this Thread: https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/power-supply-radeon-hd-7850.3057027/

Looks like the Dell 460 watt, on paper, can drive the 7850, However is the Dell PSU high enough quality to be truly 460 watts ? The Proper Amps in the Proper Places ?

Power Consumption, PC is Non-OC'd, in this XPS 8700 is an i5-3.2 Ghz, 12 GB DDR3 RAM, 1x1TB SSD & 1 DvD RW, so if the Dell PSU is good enough quality it should drive the 7850 ?

 

[VirtualLarry]

Yes, the Dell PSU can properly supply the rated wattage (subject to age-related degradation, and temperature de-rating during operation) IMHO.

Someone else on here that had, I think, also an Dell XPS 8700, and he claimed that the BIOS had a white-list for GPUs that would work in that mobo. There's really no harm in trying it out, I don't think, assuming that everything is plugged in correctly. But don't be surprised if it won't POST, or load Windows with the AMD card installed.

Hopefully, it should work, though.

Edit: That linked Tomshardware forum thread is woefully lacking in info. That may be the "rated" spec, needing a 450W-rated PSU, with one 6-pin connector. That DOES NOT mean that the 7850 card itself TAKES 450W. Hardly. By spec, at least, the 6-pin PCI-E connector can supply 75W @ +12V, and so can the PCI-E x16 slot. So that card, if it takes a single 6-pin PCI-E connector, can, AT MAX by spec, draw up to 150W (on the +12V line). Surely your CPU won't take more than 105W, RAM 10-15W, HDD 15W ea., chipset 10-30W, you should have enough headroom on that Dell 460W PSU. (See how many AMPS it can supply, if the label breaks it out, on the +12V. You'll want 11.5A for the video card, and like 9.8A or so for the CPU, so if it has around 23A or more on the +12V line, it will probably work.)

 

[crockman]

Thanks for the Reply VirtualLarry.



Looks like over 40A on the 12v's

The 7850 Installed without a hitch.
I installed Speccy after install, the 7850 Idling at a cool 29c

Very cramp case that XPS 8700, I would not want to install a Card any longer then that 7850.
For now it should fit the bill for Minecraft til the Video Card prices come back down to Earth.

Thanks again for the Reply VirtualLarry