DocFock :
Ive also seen an advert for new asus mini graphics cards but I'm not sure if they have a smaller power consumption if any one has tried them could you tell me if they do ?
Yea, I've been looking at that one for quite some time now. It's one Newegg with a Assassins Creed IV and Splinter cell Blacklist game bonus for $270. I've been frantically reading about it and the most I found is that is has the lowest power of 155 watts and a high of 178 watts. Now, a Alienware x51 is optimized very nicely as far as power goes and it's been able to hold up to that, especailly with the new Keelper GPU Boast, it's way more efficient at power. I have seen specs of people on Youtube like Ray2kay6 and Freshlyduff who have put the system to it's breaking point (A FREAKING GTX TITIAN EVEN!). Look them up for yourself and you'll be pretty surprised. Now, as far as the lifespan of the card, that's no issue at all. It's your 330 power supply I would worry about. Pushing it to the max, since it CAN pull out the required power you need at anytime, it may have issues a little sooner but if you only play one game at a time and don't do other things, you have nothing to worry about. Still, if anything goes for the worst, your GPU should be fine. Now, keep in mind this is a OC edition but only by a little. Ideally you can easily put it back to the standard clocks of the GTX 670 to make it the same power as a normal one. Again, don't worry too much, as this is by far nothing to worry about, because plenty of people have been successful with 670s. It all depends on your own Alienware. If your that worried, keep the cover off for heat issues, take out your DVD drive and buy a new power supply if you REALLY HAVE TOO (you would install it just like you would on ANY system). One last thing and this is THE MOST IMPORTANT OUT OF EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!! You need to use that dual 6 pin to 8 pin power adapter that your card should come with, since it only is for 8 pins. With two 6 pins your power supply has, it will pull 75w from each and equal that of the 150w 8 pin. This is a must and if you don't, you WILL KILL YOUR ALIENWARE, I GUARANTEE IT! Check on the Alienware website even, because they now sell the GTX 670s and 760s with the exact same 330 power supply in them but with 4th gene i7s (which do require less power though then older models but only a VERY small amount). So to end if off, I wouldn't worry, I'm planning on buying that same little card myself and am really excited to upgrade from a old GTX 555. If you have anymore questions at all man, feel free to ask me.
Dalton Baker
P.S A good video explaining all this, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhhODhzf9Kw.
P.S.S Don't listen to other tech guys about the Alienwares who don't have experience, unless they own one, most are ill informed and base there knowledge off of other PCs. The Alienware x51 is a different breed of computers and should be treated like that, because these computers are not overpriced and are designed with quality.
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