Upgrading old system: Will the PSU handle it?

[yackaro]

System: Dell XPS 410
NVidia GeForce 9800GT 512MB
4x 2GB DDR2 RAM (@1066Mhz i think not sure)
VIA vinyl PCI soundcard
two 5200RPM HDDs
a DVD+RW drive
Core 2 Duo... 1.86GHz not sure which model specifically not around it to check. it's rated 65 watts though.
375 watt stock psu, can't check the railings without pulling out everything on my desk(TV, Tangled cables, its sitting behind the tv and in the middle of the cable tangle, kind of cramped between the wall and the tv) should be able to find the specifics using searches like "dell xps 410 psu specs".

I want to upgrade it with:
a third hard drive @7200RPM, not removing other drives
Core 2 Quad Q6600 @2.4 GHz
NVidia GeForce GTX 750

I know that the graphics card I want actually pulls less power than the one I've got currently installed, but my worries are for the processor. will the psu be able to provide that much more than 65 watts to the CPU? all the calculators like newegg wattage calc and eXtreme PSU calc lite calculate 388 watts, and it worries me. Keep in mind I don't know the exact rail voltages and stuff as I cant check due to my inconvenient placement, should be able to find rail ratings with variations on the keywords " dell XPS 410 PSU specs". and before you tell me to upgrade my PSU and not worry about it, I have already attempted this feat to no success, as dell does that stupid stuff with their PSUs that makes it impossible to upgrade PSUs. Thanks in advance and I'm crossing my fingers for this because I want it to happen so badly.

 

[MasterDell]

Okay so this is apparently how you remove the PSU from a dell:
1. Locate the power supply in the system chassis
2. Disconnect the DC power cables from the system board and drives
3. Unroute the cables from the chassis hooks
4. Remove the four screws securing the power supply to the chassis
5. While lifting up on the front of the power supply with one hand, push down the release tabs located at the base of the power supply with your other hand. Disengage the power supply from the chassis
6. Once released, slide the power supply forward
7. Remove the power supply and its cables from the cables
Now, you should be able to remove the power supply

Once you are done that I would replace it with this: https://pcpartpicker.com/part/antec-power-supply-vp450

The VP-450 offers a decent bang for your buck and it is more than enough for what you will be doing.

 

[yackaro]

@MasterDell done tried with a 500 watt PSU. didn't work. I need to know if my CURRENT psu will handle it, as I cannot replace it as it will not work as I have already tried and failed. Have I not already explained that other power supplies will not work? Anyway, thanks for trying to solve my question, even though its an answer I have already attempted and found unable to do.

 

[MasterDell]

Wait so why didn't it work?

 

[yackaro]

i want to know if it will work before i order the core 2 quad. I know the graphics card will work if i get just it or it and the hard drive, as the one I currently have actually pulls more power. what I'm worried about is if the extra power pull of core 2 quad vs the 65 watt pull of my current core 2 duo will overwhelm the PSU, as my planned setup is listed @388 watts according to multiple websites while the general PSU wattage is 375. Like I stated I don't know the amps on each rail specifically so I'm not sure whether it will work together or not. If I had the amp ratings (cant get them due to inconveniently placed computer, as previously stated), it might help, but i don't, so i have to rely on web searches to find the rail amp ratings. unfortunately all I get when I search for them is amazon and ebay links to used replacements + how to change out the PSU (of which I've already tried and failed at). I just want to know if it provides enough amps on the necessary rails to handle it, otherwise i might have to stick with that POS core 2 duo 1.8 GHz and only enjoy higher FPS on the less CPU intensive games. if i can't get the quad in there without causing system instability, then it would be safe for me to assume that i'll never play battlefield 3, or even better, one of the many newer games with ridiculously high low quality settings at anything above slideshow mode.

 

[yackaro]

ah, I found a forum where someone posted a photo of the PSU label, uploaded it to my imgur. this should help? http://i.imgur.com/N8ukuOS.jpg

 

[Math Geek]

i have an xps 420 at home with the same 375 watt psu and the q6600 installed. i actually have an r9-270 running on it no problems. you should have dual 18 amp rails on it which is plenty for what your looking at. i also have 2 hdd's in it and it games well and has no issues.

folks will tell you it won't work but i did the math, took the chance and am very happy with the results. you should have 1 6 pin pcie power that allows for the upgrade like i did. the 750 is lower watts than the 270 so it should work no probs. you really want to be nice to yourself, go for the r9-270 like i did. i did add a fan at the back of the case to help move out the extra heat created but it's not a big deal. i did chose a non oc card just to be safe but like i said, the kids game the crap out of it on 1080p with no issues. they play battlefield 3, couple of the COD games, alien isolation and other shooters at mostly ultra/high settings and don't have any problems with psu or gpu giving it all it asks for.

 

[Math Geek]

and the pic you just posted is the same one i have. your good to go with the q6600 and an r9-270 if you wish it to be so.

 

[yackaro]

well, i'm on a budget, and to keep it around $200, i've got an EVGA GTX 750 in my newegg cart that is currently on sale for $99.99. will stick with the 750. I have an nvidia shield and want to take advantage of the streaming features incl. with having a gtx650+ and compatible cpu on top of the large amounts of extra performance I will recieve upon installation. this stuff + cooling paste (as the paste thats on the processor ATM is literally dust, suprised it's never overheated on me) is around $215 total, and I already have 8 GB of 1066MHz ram, so I can say I'll be a happy gamer for possibly even years when i order these parts 😀.@MasterDell thank you @Math Geek ESPECIALLY thank you. What you said was more than all I wanted to hear, it's always better to get an answer from a person with experience! R9 270 takes more watts than what I have now, the 9800GT (i thinkso, at least), so that means i should have leas and bounds of headroom with my 750 even with the hungrier processor! thanks so much I really needed to hear an answer like that.

 

[MasterDell]

I do have experience and I am willing to promise that you that that psu with so bang.. Likely it will go within the next 1-3 years. Now when it goes it could A. Simply blow up on its own and cause some smoke. B. Catch fire C. Short out and ruin your I tire system. I wish you could tell me the exact issue with that particular PSU so I could help you on that front but it doesn't seem you are willing to provide me with that info 🙁 sorry in advance for when something happens

 

[Math Geek]

your welcome.

i know the psu's can be a pain to take out of the xps systems. done it a few times myself and know how horrible it is. the whole system has to come apart for the most part. you will be fine with what your looking at. the psu is old and got some years on it but that does not mean it will fail at the first stress. got 3 kids running mine 24/7 (or it sure seems like it) for over a month now and no issues. i'm sure eventually the psu will fail but at 8 years old it's gonna fail eventually no matter what.

ignore the gloom and doom your house is gonna burn down nonsense. that's just what it is, nonsense.

enjoy your new gaming power.

 

[yackaro]

i believe my PSU would have already failed half a year ago, if what you say is true, MasterDell.The most I've done related to having my computer completely off is either restarting it or power outage. and guess what? I don't even have a surge protector. if it were becoming more susceptiple to failing as the years fly by, the surge from the power outage would have murdered it for sure, as would the 24/7 running time. Now that I think about it, last time it was legit off (as in no force shutdowns due to false wakeups, etc. that would require me to shut it down or restart it), was when I had that power outage, which has been months ago now. Since then it's either been idle/on or in use. I think my current setup should have brutally murdered that PSU by now, the way I use it.

 

[g-unit1111]

Knock off the fighting, both of you, or this thread will be closed and bans will be issued. I don't want to have to warn you again.

 

[yackaro]

guess what? i just found out that the graphics card I got is unique to me for the time being. I'm going to take advantage of that and make the very first unboxing video for it; when you look for evga GTX 750 FTW edition w/ acx cooling on the internet, all you can find is the evga 750 Ti FTW edition w/ acx cooling! I have to make an unboxing video for it; I can claim it as an "original" video, due to the fact that nobody has done an unboxing for it yet. I wish I could find an unboxing video for it; I need to make sure it includes the 6-pin to molex adapters so I can power it, as my PSU only has a single 4-pin.

 

[Math Geek]

i'm not sure why you need the molex adapter? that card needs 1 6 pin connector which you should have. the recommendation i gave was based on you having the same psu i do with a 6 pin connector. if you don't have it, you may want to reconsider using the psu. look close, my 6 pin was run with the hdd cables and comes out between the 2 hdd cages. has black and yellow wires and was tucked away under the intake fan just above the hdd's. if you don't have this cable then your psu is different from mine and i can't say for sure you'll get the same results from it. using the adapters is not really recommended. if you use it, then don't oc the card even though it is made for it. you're mixing power and such with the adapter and it may not give all it would if using a true 6 pin cable.


it is nice to be able to be first if you can be enjoy the unboxing and hope you get a million views to unboxing video. but look close for that 6 pin and consider the alternative if it is not there. enjoy

 

[yackaro]

@Math Geek, I've already mentioned multiple times that I have already tried to change the PSU, and it didn't work. How many times do I have to pound that fact into people's head before they understand that my dell is just one of those models? That is the reason I started this forum in the first place. When I put a non stock psu in it all I get when I turn it on is a ~500hz beep and orange power led tint. Put the original back i it works perfectly fine. I would have gotten a new PSU and stayed silent about it if I were able to change the PSU. I tried about three different PSUs that my father had just lying aound in his house (Why.... juat why would you just have PSUs lying around your house like that? I'm sure at least one of them's actually been busted in some way by now, dad.) before I gave up. I used one of those power supplies in my build prior to this one so I know it works. Even it didn't work with the dell. Have I placed my point about the reason I asked this question yet? I hope I did, cause I explained alot this time rather than just straight up say that I already tried, it didn't work. "I already tried, it didn't work" should have been a fine reasoning to stop the talk about getting a new PSU (I shall note YET AGAIN, that is not an option, as my pc won't work with it). Am I clear?
Edit; I reread the post I made this comment about, maybe it is a six-pin, been forever since I checked, and its still a few days before I'll absolutely have to pull the computer out from behind the TV to install the card, maybe it is a six-pin. I still want to say its a 4-pin. It'd still be nice to have the molex adapter even if it is 6-pin.

 

[Math Geek]

i'm sorry if you misunderstood my comment. i only meant that when i stated you should have no issues running that card it was assuming you had the same 375 watt psu that i do. i was in no way suggesting you could/should change the psu out but only that if you did not have the same 6 pin that i do, then you do not have the same psu i do and i can no longer say that your ok with the gpu you picked.

dell is horrible with compatibility and though i have not run into the same issue you are describing, i have no doubt it is there. if you can only use that psu, then so be it. if nothing else and your comfortable using the molex adapter, then by all means go for it. i went against every recommendation out there using an r9-270 in my xps 420 but i did the math and was comfortable with the decision and am very happy with the results.

again my apologies but i was not implying you were somehow incompetent in changing out a psu.

 

[yackaro]

Well, I got the parts, put them in, booted windows 10, Prime95'd it, downloaded MSI Kombustor, ran both at the same time, PSU seems to handle it just fine. when under load everything goes up to about 60°C, in idle (20-30% cpu and 0% gpu) the gpu hangs out at 32°C and the CPU hangs out at ~39°C. Still not sure whether I mixed the thermal compound at a good concentration, but it seems to keep the cpu away from the overheating point. In gaming, I've become able to play The Forest at ~60 FPS on max settings @1080P 60FPS and BeamNG.Drive runs @1080P 10-30FPS on max where before they both ran @10-20 FPS on low settings 720P. I have NVidia GameStream now since I have an NVidia Shield Portable, which is actually pretty good for playing TES: Skyrim, of which defaults to high instead of medium on settings autodetect now. Only problem is that I've been trying to put windows 7 on the new hard drive but it keeps asking for drivers now for some reason. I'm trying several different things to get rid of the asking for drivers prompt, currently trying a different iso (written to a USB dribe this time using W7USB/DVDD/LTool). Hope this iso works!

 

[yackar]

Finally managed to install windows 7 by flashing the new ISO to a flash drive and doing the USB port swap trick to bypass the driver request screen (something I was unable to do with the DVD) and I installed and liscensed it and ran updates and transferred my steam installations and everything and now I get processor Idles @0-5% and ram idle usage of ~1.5GB over the previous 20-35% and ~5GB idles from windows TP. now the processor idle reads @ ~35°C and my games have been able to take advantage of the extra headroom in the RAM and CPU. I've even decided to redownload Battlefield 3 now that my pc meets minimum or maybe even recommended requirements to run it... (takes a long while to d/l 20 GB on a 3Mbit/s connection D: otherwise I'd've redownloaded it just for the sake of it in the past) so far I'm more than enjoying the newly found headroom in all of my games' settings and FPS... even windows seems to feel far smoother than it used to. I've also found that I'm able to create underscan resolutions up to ~1.75x 1080P on windows 7... which I was for some reason unable to do in TP.... likely the more familiar system driver code that made it do-able. but anyway thanks again for all the help I couldn't have assured myself without you. Now I still have to get my video editor installed on windows 7 and get that video readied and uploaded...... I'll do it eventually.

 

[yackaro]

Ummm... I don't know what to say about what I found out about my graphics card a few days ago. I was trying to see if I could find ANY form of information on it apart from the newegg site, and 1: its been taken off of newegg, leaving absolutely no way to obtain this card anymore and originally I thought no information at all about the card... I couldn't even find it on EVGA's own website... I found something... I'm not sure what page I went to on the site, but it listed features and individual specs for all of their different versions of the GTX 750 and 750 Tis, and it was there. I clicked on the button for it, looked over in the corner where it was supposed to have the price after having a nice re-skim through my card's specs, and rathe than a price tag, it said it was unreleased. Now I don't know HOW or WHY it ended up on Newegg and let be buy it even though it wasn't supposed to be released, but that... awesome. I got something that's unique to me, at least for a while, and I like the idea of that. Computer's been running fantastically, btw.