Wattage?

[Miscelaneous Gamer]

So, I have a Dell Dimension 5150 with a 305w PSU.
And currently running a Geforce 6800 GPU.

Now, quite an upgrade from the old system, but I'm looking to upgrade once again.

Now, a nice little Geforce 9600GT looks like a nice little toy to play with, but, I need to know if my little teeny tiny 305w PSU will suffice with it's request for power.

BTW, there'd be a couple USB devices (like a gamebridge/flashdrives and an external HDD but that's powered from the wall, not the pc itself, so there'd not be any drain from the PSU) but that's minimal drain from the USB ports, on top of the system(/specs).

 

[JBravo]

I'm afraid not. I know the watts required for a 9600gt is atleast 400W. So I would recommend a 500W and get it over with

 

[alexp999]

I would probably change the PSU, dell 300W cant be that great in the first place.
Mind you it wouldnt cost that much to upgrade your whole system to get the most out of that 9600GT

If just the PSU I would recommend a Corsair VX450

 

[Error 404]

Well, looks like you've got a fairly upgradeable PC.
I would recommend getting a 500 watt PSU as JBravo said, but pairing that P4 with a 9600 would probably bottleneck the card.
You should see if you can get the CPU upgraded, as a Pentium D would get much more performance out of that card. Unless Dell has fudged around with the chipset, it should support Pentium Ds, and you might be able to find some fairly cheap ones on eBay, or even in the Buy, Sell and Trade section on these forums.
You don't have to upgrade the CPU, but it would be a good idea so that you're not bottenecking the card.

Edit; lol, while I was writing a long speech about it, alexp999 put it much more succintly.

 

[InnocentCriminal]

I'm with Alex on the Corsair VX450, just read any review and you'll see how it gets praised! Saying that though, you might want to look into the specification of your case/chassis as some cases use propriety dimensions for things such as PSUs. You don't want to go blindly go out, get a new PSU and GFX card only to find that you can't fit one of them in your case.

As for upgrading your other components, if you're content with your P4, then stick with it, yeah it'll bottleneck the card, but if you're gaming at 1280 x 1024 you'll still see a huge increase over your 6800. The 9600 can easily be put into another system at a later date saving you money on older hardware. If you do feel as if you're compromising performance and want something faster, you could always get some faster RAM, or as it's been mentioned a faster CPU.

I forgot to mention. The reason as to why I agree with Alex on the choice of PSU is due to the fact that the Corsair PSUs are so freakin' efficient! They really are excellent and talking from my own personal experience I cannot fault them at all. There is a massive misconception about PSUs which is where everyone goes on Wattage alone, that just doesn't apply anymore. These Corsair PSUs are so good, that they punch above their weight, or should that be wattage? They're so well designed & made, the VX450, even though a 450W PSU is actually on par or better than some 550W PSUs by other manufacturers.

 

[JC316]

Yeah, the 300W just ain't going to cut it. I would go with the corsair HX550W, a very very nice unit for pretty cheap.

 

[The_Real_DeaL31]

i own the corsair HX550W on one of my old rigs, its rock solid

 

[twicksisted]

I went the long route of upgrading a Dell Prescision 360 a while back.
socket 478 P4 3ghz
DDR1 ram

Unfortunately the only better chip that I could get was a skt 478 3.2ghz chip (or 3.4)
The psu i bought was an OCZ GameXstream 600W and at that stage a brand new X1950pro.

I second the corsair PSU choice as its a quality unit and the price is great too... id say definately try and go for something large as you will be able to keep it for a lot longer as you build different computers. go for the 550W or 620W

The psu mounting holes were in different places so I had to cut the back of the case with a jigsaw to make it fit... its a real PITA but it will make games a lot more playable for you.

 

[Miscelaneous Gamer]

I'm afraid not. I know the watts required for a 9600gt is atleast 400W. So I would recommend a 500W and get it over with

Uh... you absolutely sure you got the wattage on that card right?
Wiki claims the card eats about 98ws, not near the 400w you claim.

You going by an entire computer setup or have I not looked in the right place?

 

[Solaris17]

Uh... you absolutely sure you got the wattage on that card right?
Wiki claims the card eats about 98ws, not near the 400w you claim.

You going by an entire computer setup or have I not looked in the right place?

nvidia specifications say the card needs a minimum of a 400w PSU to run. that is were he is getting it.

 

[wahdangun]

why don't you use hd 4670, it's have realy low watt and doesn't required any PCIe power conector.
here the review :
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4670_IceQ_Turbo/
here the power consumption:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4670_IceQ_Turbo/24.html

i think your psu can handle it nicely

 

[r9]

So, I have a Dell Dimension 5150 with a 305w PSU.
And currently running a Geforce 6800 GPU.

Now, quite an upgrade from the old system, but I'm looking to upgrade once again.

Now, a nice little Geforce 9600GT looks like a nice little toy to play with, but, I need to know if my little teeny tiny 305w PSU will suffice with it's request for power.

BTW, there'd be a couple USB devices (like a gamebridge/flashdrives and an external HDD but that's powered from the wall, not the pc itself, so there'd not be any drain from the PSU) but that's minimal drain from the USB ports, on top of the system(/specs).

I always vote for low wattage but yours is way to low go and buy your self a new PSU
It wont hurt if you plug it on that 300w psu but watch the voltages and the temps of the psu.
If the voltage of 12v rail is 11.7 - 12.5 and the PSU is not heating too much you are OK.

 

[r9]

why don't you use hd 4670, it's have realy low watt and doesn't required any PCIe power conector.
here the review :
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4670_IceQ_Turbo/
here the power consumption:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/HIS/HD_4670_IceQ_Turbo/24.html

i think your psu can handle it nicely

Yes that is excellent card for the money and for the PSU
Without AA and AF it is little slower compared to 9600GT but with enabled AA and AF it will be close match.