Video Card Question

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PaiD4U

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Feb 27, 2009
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I am running a (crappy) Dell Inspiron 518. It has 2.3 PCI Bus, and a crappy ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro. I am wanting to put in a GeForce 9800 GTX+ 1GB 256-bit GDDR3. I was wondering if my comp will handle it says it has 2.0 PCI Express. Just wondering if it will work I do not want to buy it and have it not work or fry my comp!

Thanks
PaiD4U
 
depending on the newer cards they normaly dont fit with a smaller tower. i had to upgrade towers just to fit a 1000w powersupply to run both my cards
 
That looks like a microATX case so the card should physically fit. However, you'll need to look at your power supply. My guess is that Dell put a about a 300 watt power supply in their and for a 9800 GTX+ I have to recommend at least a 500 watt with decent amperage on the 12 volt line.
 
Meh thermaltake is mediocre and $190 is really expensive for a 750 watt. Better off with something from Corsair like this one for $129

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139006 ($110 after rebate)

Or this 700 watt OCZ stealthXtreme for $94 (79.99 after rebate)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341019

Those both give you wattage bragging rights if you're into that sort of thing, and the thermaltake gives you price point bragging rights if you're into that. However, I have a feeling that since you own a dell that's not really your thing and that even 700 watts is overkill since you'll never have SLI or Crossfire. So I think this is more what you should go for

OCZ StealthXtreme 600 watt $69.99 ($39.99 after rebate)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341010

You can't beat that for $40.

FYI crazy radiation just because a power supply is sub $100 doesn't make it crappy. They're are a lot of extremely solid power supplies from quality manufacturers in that price category. Unless you are referring specifically to sub $100 thousand watt power supplies, to which I wholeheartedly agree they're bad.
 
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I am going to be installing my new PSU and 8800 GT probably Tuesday and I was just wondering if anyone could help me do so from what i understand the video card is ez as pie but i am gonna have to do the PSU first if i just take out the old connection the put the new one in until i have all the connections will that work? Just wondering thanks!

As you can tell I found a different vid card cuz i do not need a 9800 GTX and i am buyin this one from a friend for cheap and I have a 430w Themaltake PSU on the way. If I remember correctly this will run an 8800 GT just fine. If not please LMK thanks!
 
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817153023 well if this is the power supply you got you should have just spent the extra $10 and gotten the OCZ I linked you. at only 18 amps on the 12 volt line it might be okay, but you're going to be pushing it to the limit. It is also only rated at 60% efficiency compared to the OCZ's 80% and with the 8800 GT in there sucking up power you'll be lucky to get 60% efficiency out of it. It will work, but it won't be ideal. I understand if you're on a tight budget though.

As for installing the PSU you can do what you described. I would recommend unscrewing the old PSU so that when you get the new one all connected you can just plop it in and screw it down.

Remember all the cables for the power are keyed, you physically can't put the wrong power cable in the wrong spot. I would just look and see where everything is plugged in, remember that almost every device needs a power cable (except sound cards etc.), and pull the old PSU out so it's not in the way and you don't get everything tangled. If you can't remember what type of cable is for a device just look at the connector and then find a cable that matches it and plug it in, if it doesn't fit it's the wrong type of cable.
 
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