Power Source/Video Card Question

[Writers Coin]

So I?m building a PC at Dell (with a 25% off coupon) and the build I?ve got right now (Studio Desktop) has a 350W power source.

Now, my question is about the graphic card that I?m going to put in the system. The plan was to build it with no card and then go and buy a GeForce 9800GT for around $100 instead of paying the $150 or so Dell charges.
But will it work on a 350W system? You ca
n go ahead and build the system with this exact card and I even talked to a dell rep who said ?yeah it will work.?

But is this bad form getting this card with this low of a power source? I?m going to use it mostly for everyday stuff but I also want to play games like Fallout 3 and such every so often.

Will this fly or should I get another card? Upgrading to a build with a higher power source is going to be too much money for me.

Thanks!

 

[jkresh]

9800gt is relatively low power, it should be ok. What else is in the system?

 

[Writers Coin]

The reason I ask is because this card (http://www.newegg.com/Product/...?Item=N82E16814130440) has a system requirement of 400W. A few others do too so I got scared off from buying the system without the card and then buying the card separately and installing it myself to save some money.

So I'm trying to make sure I'll be able to.

It has:
Intel Quad 8200 (2.33GHz)
4GB DDR2 RAM
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
20 inch S2009WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor

What do you think?

 

[Slugbait]

Note that Dell likes to install power supplies that are specific to the system components.

For example, at work about a year ago I got a Dell Precision that had a Q6600, 4 gigs of RAM, big drive, etc. It was my shiny new dev box. I think it had a 350W, not sure. Unfortunately, it came with an AMD 2600XT...ATi (and later, AMD) has never supported Windows Server with their consumer cards, only the FireGL has drivers for SRV. So dual-monitor capability was not an option: generic Windows drivers can't do dual. So I selected the 9800GT (nVidia does support SRV).

And thus began the saga. Because the 2600XT does not require external power, there was no video power connector from the PSU. In fact, the box had just two unused power cables: one was routed to the drive cage (in case you want to add a second hard drive), and the other was routed to the 5.25 bays (in case you wanted to add a second optical drive). I would need to use the power adapter included with the 9800GT.

First problem: both available power cables were SATA. The power adapter that came with the card was molex...two of them. Solution: I had to get two SATA-to-molex converters. I was stuck with the 2600XT for another three weeks waiting for them to arrive.

Second problem: the cable for the 5.25 bay was just long enough to reach its intended destination, so it was far too short to reach the power adapter. Solution: I railed the hard drive and stuck it in the 5.25 bay to use the short cable. The two cables for hard drives were disconnected from the drive cage, and they were BARELY long enough to reach the power adapter...one had to be tugged, twisted and routed just so, in order to avoid getting chewed up by the fan on the video card.

Dell might send you a PSU that has a 6-pin connector, even tho' you don't order a video card. Hard to say. Good luck.

 

[Writers Coin]

Thanks Slugbait!

Maybe it would pay off to just order the card from them and pay the extra $30 or whatever to make sure it's hooked up right and works, no?

 

[Schmide]

Fixed link

It comes with the power adapter.

It's an 80w card btw.

You can do it, we believe in you.

 

[Slugbait]

That would be my advice...otherwise, you may end up having the same bad experience I had with Dell (actually, I've had a few bad experiences with Dell...)

 

[Writers Coin]

@Schmide Whoa, one gig of memory on that card? Sweet.

But again, not to make a total fool of myself (maybe it's too late for that), the specification tab on that very page you linked to says it requires a 400W power supply. Will my 350W Dell explode if I try to install that card in there?

 

[mpilchfamily]

If it where a know top quality PSU form a name brand manufacture then i'd say your fine. But since its an OEM PSU you may want to go with a good quality 400W PSU just to be safe.

 

[Schmide]

Originally posted by: Writers Coin
@Schmide Whoa, one gig of memory on that card? Sweet.

That was your link i just fixed it. (Had a ")" at the end of it)

If you give us the specs of the system you're looking at, we can calculate your power profile and give you an idea of where your PSU would be operating.

 

[Writers Coin]

Oops, I guess I had no idea I was linking to a 1GB card.
Anyway, if I maxed out my budget, here is what I would come to:

Studio Mini-Tower Intel® Core? 2 Quad processor Q9650 (12MB L2, 3.00GHz, 1333FSB) RMQ965H [224-1778]
Operating System Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium Edition SP1, 64-Bit VHP61E
Memory 4GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 4DIMMs 4GB84 [311-9314]
Keyboard Dell Consumer Multimedia Keyboard and Laser Mouse 6BTNMMK [330-0915][330-1158]
Monitors 20 inch S2009WFP Widescreen Digital Flat Panel Monitor S2009W [320-7844]
Video Cards nVidia GeForce 9800GT GT9800 [320-7309]
Hard Drive 500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache? 500S [341-7641]
Floppy Drive and Media Reader Integrated 16-in-1 Media Card Reader INTMCR [311-9655]
Mouse Mouse included with Keyboard purchase NONE [310-5678]
Network Card Integrated 10/1000 Ethernet IE [430-3322]
Modem No Modem Option N [313-7115]
Adobe Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 Multi-Language AAREAD [410-1867]
Optical Drive 16X DVD+/-RW Drive 16DVDRW [313-6915][420-8152][420-9164]
Sound Card Integrated 7.1 Channel Audio IS [313-7114]
Speakers No Speaker Option

So if that's the case, I should probably just order it without the geForce card, buy it myself for $30-$40 less, and install it myself.