Upgrade Old Dell XPS 420

[exar333]

Get the 6850 and forget the PSU. You don't need it.

 

[bamacre]

Get the 6850 and forget the PSU. You don't need it.

This is correct.

The 375W PSU that comes with the XPS 420 is more than capable of handling his system with an HD 6850, as well as any other video card that requires only one 6pin power connector.

My current system is an XPS 410 with the same PSU, and I'm running a Q6600, 6GB DDR2, and a "green" GTX 260 card.

He doesn't need a new PSU, period.

 

[toyota]

the 375 watt psu would probably be pushing it since it is a few years old now. the 425 watt psu would not be a problem at all though.

 

[mattspeer01]

I ordered the Corsair 650W PSU...so now I just have to pick the card.

Seems like the 6850 is the favored choice...unless there is a reason to get a 460 instead now that I am getting a new PSU?

 

[toyota]

I ordered the Corsair 650W PSU...so now I just have to pick the card.

Seems like the 6850 is the favored choice...unless there is a reason to get a 460 instead now that I am getting a new PSU?

that was a nice waste of 100 bucks especially if you have the 425 watt psu. I guess you just ignored all of us that told you that.

 

[RavenSEAL]

The problem is less the power of the PSU and more of how old it actually is, PSUs wear down over time and eventually go off in a smoky explosion. At 2.5 years old, i'd say it's time for a new one, then he can grab whatever video card he wants.

At that age, i would say the 375w is as efficient as a 320w PSU and that 425w is probably as low as 350w, and that even more depends on the brand of the unit. Good choice on getting a new PSU OP, you won't regret the added feel of reliability.

 

[toyota]

The problem is less the power of the PSU and more of how old it actually is, PSUs wear down over time and eventually go off in a smoky explosion. At 2.5 years old, i'd say it's time for a new one, then he can grab whatever video card he wants.

At that age, i would say the 375w is as efficient as a 320w PSU and that 425w is probably as low as 350w, and that even more depends on the brand of the unit. Good choice on getting a new PSU OP, you won't regret the added feel of reliability.

that 425 watt psu even at 2.5 years old is way more than adequate for a 6850 in that pc. a 6850 does not even use the power of cards that could be originally configured in his system even with the 375watt psu.

the only thing that keeps buying a new psu a waste of money is that he can always transfer it to a new system in a year or so I guess.

 

[RavenSEAL]

that 425 watt psu even at 2.5 years old is way more than adequate for a 6850 in that pc. a 6850 does not even use the power of cards that could be originally configured in his system even with the 375watt psu.

I give it to ya though, 650w PSU is a stupid move, a 500w would have been more than appropriate.

 

[toyota]

I give it to ya though, 650w PSU is a stupid move, a 500w would have been more than appropriate.

well I guess it depends on what kind of deals there are on that 650watt psu but paying regular msrp for a psu that is not needed in the first place is a bit silly. I have a 650watt only because it was on sale and I had intentions on upgrading to a quad and much faster gpu.

 

[bamacre]

It would take the OP fewer than 5 minutes to install a new video card, which is all he needs. I wish him the best of luck in upgrading the PSU, which IMO, he didn't need at all. My Dell's 3 year-old 375W PSU is running quite well, btw. 🙂

 

[RavenSEAL]

It would take the OP fewer than 5 minutes to install a new video card, which is all he needs. I wish him the best of luck in upgrading the PSU, which IMO, he didn't need at all. My Dell's 3 year-old 375W PSU is running quite well, btw. 🙂

Aha...come tell us that when it goes up in smoke and shiny little sparks 🙄

That thing is probably as barely efficient as a 300w power supply.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

Aha...come tell us that when it goes up in smoke and shiny little sparks

That thing is probably as barely efficient as a 300w power supply.

I've had a 350W power supply running for 5 years. 3 of those 5 years it ran 24/7 with both a hefty CPU and GPU overclock, along with several fans, sound card, TV Tuner, and a couple of hard drives. This bullock about his PSU exploding is unsupported nonsense. A 6850 uses a measely 15-20W more than an 8800GT. If an 8800GT hasn't made the PSU explode, a 6850 sure won't.

And I hope you know not all 300W power supplies as efficient as other 300W units.

 

[Teizo]

I ordered the Corsair 650W PSU...so now I just have to pick the card.

Seems like the 6850 is the favored choice...unless there is a reason to get a 460 instead now that I am getting a new PSU?

Please report back if you have any screw hole issues. The way your case looks configured it looks like not all are going to align properly. It shouldn't be a big deal, but this is something I am interested in knowing for future reference (I was looking at a Dell 9100 but noticed the screw placements for the psu are proprietary, and your case looks to be configured the same).

Which 650 did you get btw? There are two different models. Dell cases can be a bit cramped and their PSU are configured to give you just the amount of cables you need for your personal configuration, so a modular unit would be better for an upgrade imho, though the do cost more.

 

[mattspeer01]

I got the non-modular PSU since it was on sale for $69. Someone else put the same one in an XPS 420 and said it worked fine, even the screw hole alignment and he was able to make room for the extra cables.

 

[bamacre]

Don't worry about your case being cramped. This isn't a $299 dell, the XPS 420 is a high-end model. Plenty of room in there for an HD 6850.

I've worked with a lot of Dell systems (including a handful of XPS 420's), and if I were you, I'd install the HD 6850, not the new PSU, and see for yourself you don't need the new PSU. 😉

 

[Teizo]

Don't worry about your case being cramped. This isn't a $299 dell, the XPS 420 is a high-end model. Plenty of room in there for an HD 6850.

I was thinking more of an excess cabling issue whereas tucking them neatly may be a bit cumbersome. It may not be the case, but myself...I detest cable clutter. I realize that is stating my own personal preference, and that is likely not the case for everyone as what I call clutter may not be clutter in someone else's eyes though. And, those higer end Dells do have a little more room, but I still think modular psu's are worth the extra for the sake of cable clutter.

 

[faboo]

Hi all. I just found this thread today (I'm new to the forum) and I'm just hoping to clarify a few things.

I have an XPS 420 and I haven't made any changes to it. It's just over 2 years old (purchased from Dell Outlet in 8/08) and has worked great for me other than painfully slow boot times, but that's another issue for another forum. It was probably on for 8-12 hours a day for the first year and then about 4-6 hours a day for the second year. That's just an estimate average. No overclocking or anything like that.

Quick specs: Q9450, 4GB RAM, Vista Ultimate, 512MB 8800GT, 2 SATA HDD, 375W PSU

I also want to upgrade it, mostly to better handle Starcraft 2. (probably the toughest thing I'd throw at it since I'm not as big into FPS).

My system has a stock 375W (I'm assuming that the part that says "DC OUTPUT: 375W" is referring to the PSU) so that's what I'm working with here. Have never had any problems with it as far as I know. I'd love to upgrade it as much as possible without messing with the internals too much as I'm not super computer savvy (not oblivious either, but I'm much better at using a computer than building one). Especially since this 420 is the BTX case.

From what I'm reading here, it sounds like the 6850 is the recommended card for the 375W PSU, is that correct? Is there another card that anyone would recommend or that I should at least consider? Will it do SC2 well enough for me? I'd love to max out settings. My monitor does go up to 1920x1080 so I'd push it to that if possible.

It sounds like the 460 might be too power hungry, plus I keep hearing about noise and heat issues and I'm not so sure how great this XPS case is with heat. I was looking at the 5850 but that might be too power hungry too. It's too bad since these seem to be on sale of late). Any recommendations or advice would be greatly appreciated! =)

Anyways, thanks in advance! Please let me know if I'm doing anything wrong since I'm new here. =)

 

[cusideabelincoln]

The 5850, 6870 and GTX 460 are basically equals in power consumption. They would probably work fine with the 375W power supply. The 6850 is just the safest option as it requires the least power of any card similar in performance to it. It's safer because it uses less power, not necessarily because the 5850 or 460 will cause your PSU to explode.

I'd bet all of these card will perform the same for, though, as Starcraft can be CPU-limited. Without a CPU-limit you'll see these cards all perform pretty close to one another anyway, as reviewers use the fastest Core i7 processors:
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...286-amd-radeon-hd-6870-hd-6850-review-21.html
http://techreport.com/articles.x/19844/10
http://www.hardware.fr/articles/804-12/dossier-amd-radeon-hd-6870-6850.html

Since your processor is slower than a top end Core i7 you'll probably experience the same visible performance with any of these cards in Starcraft.

So an HD 6850, HD 5850, or GTX 460 are your best options as they are the cheapest. The 6850 is probably a tad bit more expensive than some 460s and 5850s you can find, but it does draw the least amount of power. You basically have your own decision to make now. I think any card will work equally fine.