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do i need to upgrade powersupply with video card
- Thread starter spectra5
- Start date
That depends on whether your power supply can handle the load from th Video Card. Wether or not your video card requires n extra plug, and your power plug has it, etc...
Can you tell us a bit more about your power supply, and the video card you want to buy?
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Can you tell us a bit more about your power supply, and the video card you want to buy?
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Ignorance is not necessarily Bliss, case in point:
Unknown has caused an Unknown Error on Unknown and must be shutdown to prevent damage to Unknown.
Most Dell power supplies have a little "headroom" that is, reserve power for addons, that would include a better graphics card.
Obviously that spare capacity is limited in most cases, so typically a mild upgrade is possible but a full on MONSTER 8800 or X1950XTX upgrade will almost definately exceed your current PSU's abilities.
As vacunita said, it would help to know what are your general specs ie: CPU/HDD/Graphics/PSU etc to determine upgrade possibilities.
Martin
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Obviously that spare capacity is limited in most cases, so typically a mild upgrade is possible but a full on MONSTER 8800 or X1950XTX upgrade will almost definately exceed your current PSU's abilities.
As vacunita said, it would help to know what are your general specs ie: CPU/HDD/Graphics/PSU etc to determine upgrade possibilities.
Martin
We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.
The answer is "maybe". Video card manufacturers for some reason can't just tell you a card requires "12 vdc @ 18 amps" and trust that you are smart enough to know that is 196 watts.
Instead, ATI says (for the X1650 example above) you need "350-Watt power supply or greater (assumes fully loaded system)". Which tells you absolutely nothing about what the card requires by itself. It also tells you nothing about how many watts for 5 vdc and how many watts for 12 vdc. You have to contact the card manufacturer tech support and ask what are the power requirements ONLY for the card.
Buying a motherboard and CPU is no easier. Go to a motherboard manufacturers website and their specs will say "500 watt PSU is recommended". Now how in the heck could they possibly know what you are putting in a system?
Instead, ATI says (for the X1650 example above) you need "350-Watt power supply or greater (assumes fully loaded system)". Which tells you absolutely nothing about what the card requires by itself. It also tells you nothing about how many watts for 5 vdc and how many watts for 12 vdc. You have to contact the card manufacturer tech support and ask what are the power requirements ONLY for the card.
Buying a motherboard and CPU is no easier. Go to a motherboard manufacturers website and their specs will say "500 watt PSU is recommended". Now how in the heck could they possibly know what you are putting in a system?
Johnthephoneguy
Technical User
This will help you determine what you have and what you need.
JohnThePhoneGuy
"If I can't fix it, it's not broke!
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