Power Problems with 7800GT?

[imported_demonjd22]

Hi guys, I recently got in one of those Dell 9100 deals (thank you hot deals forum!) I then purchased a xfx oc 7800gt and on the card itself it said minimum 400 watt psu required, and the dell 9100 tower is only 375 watt. I purchased a new 450 watt coolermaster psu but didnt realize the dell case was btx form factor. Im wondering if you can suggest a good utility to truly test fps, so i can do a before and after copmparison of each psu, and see if theres an fps increase between them due to more juice. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fern]

Try THIS free proggie.

Fern

 

[ahurtt]

I don't think you should notice a difference in FPS between the two PSU's. If the psu works, then it works. If it doesn't, then it doesn't. You may find that with a weaker PSU it provides enough juice to power the card while the system is idle or under light load. But then if you start playing more graphically heavy / intensive games, it might not provide enough juice any more. Most of the nVidia cards will automatically clock themselves down in cases like this, or in instances of overheating, to prevent damage. So in this instance, yes, you will see reduced FPS because the video card will automatically clock down its core due to not having enough juice to run at full speed. The system should pop up an alert window letting you know if this has happened. If you can play all the games and do all the stuff you regularly do without this happening, then your PSU is providing enough power. If you see this happen even once, then your PSU isn't powerful enough.