theitaliansico

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Hello i am interested in upgrading my graphics for my Dell XPS 8300.
Specs:
i7 2600
8gb ram
amd 5670
460 watt PSU with 18.0A on 12vA 16.0A on 12vB 8.0A on 12vC
the one i want is the Gtx 550 ti 1GB superclocked by EVGA
or amd radeon 6850 1GB
If i cannot handle any of these upgrades give me a suggestion i am very flexible. That being said i will go no further then these current models as i have tried to put in a GTX 560 ti superclocked and it did not have the power required.In addition to that i am not upgrading PSU i tried that and lets just say that didnt work out too well. Please HELP! :cry:
 

theitaliansico

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I already tried that. that is what everyone tells me too do but i cant. i put in a new one already and lets just say it didnt work out
Anyway can i handle this GPU or not?
 

theitaliansico

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I have popped in the GTX 550 ti superclocked and returned it becuase it didnt work. I was a noob back then and didnt realize you had to plug in the pci 6 pin connection. After i returned it i spoke to a representitive at EVGA and he said it could have been the AMPS. So i upgraded to an Enermax 800w gold plus certified gaming power supply and tried to pop in a gtx 560 ti. i hooked everything up and it overheated and fried my hard drive. So now i wish to try again with the 550 ti or the 460 or maybe even 6850. I really wish to run BF3 on midium settings with some high without lag. That is all i want i am unsure of the PSU model but aside the from the data i provided above there is not much that i can tell you about it other than the fact that it is from dell. I believe it is a bottom of the line supply. I realize i made a mistake buying it from dell but i really wish to find the best graphics card i can buy for my PC without stressing the system. I simply wish to use this PC for another 6 months until i can purchase a new PC or build my own with much bettwer specs. The model on the side of the PSU is AC460AD. I think this is the dell model number not the actual model.
 
don't be that depressed the dell machine with that specs are strong enough to last for years, dell makes their own unique power supplies to fit their own system. but it's not a garbage PSU at all, they just feed their system as required, so you needed only to get a higher wattage one.
Enermax...hmm, i just heard about it recently and some reported it's good brand.

just tell me, did you fry out the GPU or the PSU itself ? i guess you just connected the cables wrongly that's why you have delivered some wrong voltages to other stuff.
GTX 560Ti will allow you to max out the BF3 and it outperforms the GPUs you mentioned.
you've the strongest CPU ever, good ram you just need a good GPU and some guide steps to connect it right, no need to get depressed
 

theitaliansico

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I know and if i had permission to try it again i would. The thing is this isnt my system its my brothers and after convincing him about upgrading it and then i fried its hard drive. he told me that i can never open that case again. But i could replace the graphics card no problem. I have learned alot since then. According to the technical support agent he told me the connections were fine but it was too much volts. i dont trust dell and they are probably wrong. All i need to know is if i can run the GTX 550 ti 1GB superclocked by EVGA on my current system. In a year from now i will be able to purchase the next gen gpus witha 850w power supply and i7 2600k overclocked with 8g of high speed gaming memory. So i am not too upset about it since i have somehting to look foward too. Thank you for the words of encouragement but i really need to know what is the best graphics card i can put in. If i can run gtx 550 ti superclocked im good for now.
 

theitaliansico

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Im going off to bed now so please leave your reply and ill let you know more in the morning thank you for all the help.
 
Fried your hard drive?

That's very strange. Are you keeping that Power Supply?

Anyway, your system can handle any graphics card you can purchase, it's just a matter of ensuring your Power Supply isn't defective and decidng on how much you wish to spend.

Don't get a 460. The 400 series runs very HOT.

Don't SLI or Crossfire. There's a huge article here at Toms that talks about micro-stutter.

I recommend a GTX560 as MINIMUM.

Here's my advice:
1) Get at least a GTX560
2) Look at several benchmarks
3) Get the BEST performing card for the PRICE (your budget)
4) start looking at NCIX or Newegg.
5) I personally recommend the GTX560Ti if you can afford it, but I'm unsure currently hot it compares in PRICE.
 

kd0frg

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the gtx 550 ti draws about a max of 116 watts, maybe 120 from the super clocked ver, thats around 9-10 amps on the 12v rail

lets digress a bit here, 460 watts total psu power

the intel i7 2600k uses about 95 watts
a 550 ti would use about 120 watts
thats over 200 watts, plus the ram, fans, and HDD's/cdrom/dvd drives

youll be pushin the psu pretty good if you pop in a 550 ti but i really cant say for sure because I dont know what else is in the system at this point, how many fans are there? how many dimms? how many hdd's? is there a blu ray drive? dvd drive? multiple drives?

a amd 6850 uses a little more power, about 130 watts so that uses even worse.

the 560 ti uses about 170 watts or more, which is about 14 amps or so, probably why it wouldn't run when you tried it.

the only other option is to order a PSU from dell that is of a higher wattage, it might require a proprietary PSU as some dell XPS systems do.

or if you can pickup a 550 ti locally and return it if it has a problem, give it a try.. if it loads up, run something GPU intensive like furmark, make it take max load and max power draw to make sure you have no problems running it as the card itself requires a minimum of a 400 watt power supply so you SHOULD be okay with a 550 ti but im not gonna make any personal promises :(
 

theitaliansico

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Thank you that is what i needed. But i dont want to spend any more money i am keeping the 800w unless i decide to buy a computer. Some tolld me that in order to get the total amp capability on the PSU you need to add together all the 12v rails. Is that true anyway i dont have enough wattage to run 560ti and dont really care much for it i am getting a 2000$ system in 6 months this is temporary i only wish to play battlefield 3 on medium settings. I think the GTX 550 ti superclocked will do it. So my PSu should be fine correct?
 
You do not ADD the Amps on the +12V rails. There is a COMBINED value you need to find which is a little lower than the added value. For example, I saw a system with 2x22Amp rails but it actually supplied 36Amps combined. It is possible that you could simply add them up but that depends on the manufacturer. You'd need to contact the manufacturer or find that combined value in the PSU's description sheet.

PSU is fine?
I assume you mean the 800W Enermax? Yes. I don't know its Amp rating but it's almost certainly far higher than the 550Ti needs.

New graphics cards:
May I suggest you build your new system once the NVidia 600 series is released in Q1 or Q2 of 2012. These graphics cards will use about HALF the power. For example, a card with 2x the performance of a GTX570 will use roughly the same Wattage and Amps (Amps are 38A).
 

theitaliansico

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i meant the 460 watt in the computer currently the 800w fried HDD and i had to replace it. Will the 460 w be able too. And yes im aware of the new gpus i will wait for them. The 460 w specs are above in the origanl post as far as amps and i think i have the wattage covered. will the 460 work wth thos amps on the GTX 550 ti 1 GB superclocked
 
NVidia 600 series details (roughly):
1. about HALF the power consumption when gaming
2. Lower IDLE power consumption
3. improved Tessellation (will be a big deal in the future)
4. *PhysX 3
5. THREE or more monitors and many graphics cards (to compete with AMD)
6. Anti-Aliasing improvements
7. CUDA improvements?
8. Other.

*PhysX v3
PhysX v3 is a significantly improved version of PhysX for applying physics effects in games. The new 600 series will support this allowing for less of a hit in-game when PhysX is enabled. It will be backwards compatible with PhysX 2 games but won't add any visual quality not already coded for.

PhysX v3 needs the following:
1. PhysX v3 capable graphics card (NVidia 600 series)
2. software update
3. Game built using PhysX 3 tools (no games exist yet. Probably see at least one at 600 series launch).

I'm uncertain how older graphics cards will handle the newer PhysX 3 games. I'm pretty certain it will be backwards compatible with "LOW PHYSX" for pre-600 series and "HIGH PHYSX" for 600 series and up.
 
enough Amps?

I believe your card needs 24Amps. I looked it up. Your two rails add up to 34Amps but I suspect the combined value is between 26 and 30Amps.

So I'd have to say PROBABLY.

That 24Amps would be a PEAK rating which is usually only achieved when fully stressed like running Furmark. Even with the GPU as a bottleneck in your system (it is) a normal game would likely use about 20Amps.
 

theitaliansico

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the guy at dell said i could handle a gtx 560 but im going to downgrade just to be safe.
 

theitaliansico

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I have a i7 2600 but i dont think that is true because i popped in a gtx 560 ti and it didnt work. That is a middle to high end card not even high end. I am now trying to put in the model below that or two models below that. my power supply has two 6 pin pci connectors so im assuming it can pump at least 150 watts to any GPU. But it is that amps im worried about. I dont know what kind of PSU dell put in but from what i read so far it looks like i can handle the GTX 560 but i would stress the system slightly. The one i want is in bold. Do you think judging by my amps and wattage ill be able to handle it?
GTX 560 ti 1GB Superclocked:500 watts and 30 amps i think
GTX 560 1GB Factory Settings:450 watts and 24 amps
Gtx 550 ti 1GB Superclocked: 400 watts and 24 amps
My PSU Specs:
460w
18.0A on 12vA
16.0A on 12vB
8.0A on 12vC
 

theitaliansico

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i think at this point after doing a little more research im going to pop in gtx 560 and see how it goes. I have one more question though. When they say i need 450 w and 24 amps is that the maximum the GPU will ever need? or is this just bare minimum?
 
im pretty sure thats the max it will need, however 24a is not equal to 450w, if it was we wouldn't even suggest using that psu since running a psu at its max voltage not only doesn't work its almost dangerous.... either way i would replace the psu just to be extra sure the next time you get some money to a quality 600 - 750w unit so it lasts you in the future :)