GeForce FX hopes dashed - need a 300W power supply!

[LiquidX]

Hey guys I have 250watt PSU and was planning to get the new FX but all that was dashed when I read a 350watt PSU is required. Does anyone think I will run into any problems?

My set up, its a Dell.

Demension 8200
P4 2.53
Ti4200
1gig RDRAM
48X24X48 CDR
16X DVD
Audigy 2
250 watt PSU
Will all of these take power from the FX if I was to get one.

Thanks in advance.

[Alphy]

Yes, you simply won't be able to run it. Head on over to Newegg.com and you can buy yourself an Antec TruePower 350W power supply for I think $60-75 which is a good investment in itself.

[volt]

What you can do is research how much each part consumes and figure out how much you have left. I don't believe NVIDIA specified how many watts will that thing eat. But in my opinion 300 PSU should be "ok". 250 Watts is not enough IMO.

[fasedww]

Dells motherboards are special wired to there power supplys you will have to get one from them if they have bigger power supplys or else you would have to get a different motherboard. Theres is a place you can call it's pc power and cooling they have a power supply that will work on the dell systems Look it up on the web and give them a call:)

[AnteP]

Originally posted by volt
What you can do is research how much each part consumes and figure out how much you have left. I don't believe NVIDIA specified how many watts will that thing eat. But in my opinion 300 PSU should be "ok". 250 Watts is not enough IMO.

300w will do just fine. :) I checked it out.

[LiquidX]

Hey guys? Can my 250 PSU atleast handle a Radeon 9700 PRO?

[volt]

This may help:
http://firingsquad.gamers.com/guides/power_supply/

[jAkUp]

250 watts??!! 350 is recommended just for a p4. geez... get that thing upgrated if you dont want to have future troubles

[StealthHawk]

i'll chime in too. 250W just doesn't cut it.

bad, bad OEMs trying to cut costs:nono:

my friend's Duron was even unstable with a 250W.

[jAkUp]

hey i got a left over 350 watt power supply that came with my case... hehe i would give it to you if i could:)

[SlyBoots]

http://www.endpcnoise.com/cgi-bin/e/dellconverter.html

and, IIRC Dell uses a different spec ie sustained watts vs peak...

IMO, the Dell 250w should be fine;)

edit to add> Pentium 4 Dell Models that do not require an adapter:
Dell Dimension 4300, 4400, 8200

[SurfMonkey]

For power supplies, I think the quality counts for more than the quantity. I had an AOpen 250W PS and that managed to power my old box without a problem, (XP1900+, 512Mb DDR, SB Live, Ethernet, 2x 60Gb IBM HDs, DVD ROM, CD-RW, Win-TV, Ti4400).

The power rails remained nice and constant.

I think what is more likely to happen is that if the FX can't get enough juice then it will cut down on it's core and ram speeds. So you'll end up losing performance but have a card that still works.

[Grrrpoop]

Originally posted by LiquidX
Hey guys? Can my 250 PSU atleast handle a Radeon 9700 PRO?
IIRC Dell have a few models which come with 9700's and they too have 250w PSU's.

They're allegedly pretty high quality units, so don't dwell on the number too much :)

I have no idea whether it'll cope with a GFFX.

Surfmonkey: bearing in mind that the only advantage GFFX seems to have over the 9700pro is it's core/mem clocks, would u be happy paying $399 for a card which auto-lowers it's performance to that of a $300 card? :o

[BladeRunner]

Umm I see it as a general statement to avoid negative user feedback if the card plays up in your PC. It as little like AMD's recomemded PSU thing, and the world wont end if you use a non recomended PSU, or for that matter a GFFX with a 250 watt or 300 watt PSU. Up to a point it's often more down to PSU quality than power ratings, as a really good 250 will often be better than a cheap 350. What about these shuttle systems? they seem to be fine with high end vga and a top CPU on quite a low spec PSU's? I guess another factor is how much additional hardware and fans you have hanging off the PSU also.

The thing is try it. and then buy a better PSU if need be, they aren't that expensive, but if you do by a new PSU do yourself a favour and buy a good quality one while you are at it.

[SurfMonkey]

Originally posted by Grrrpoop
Surfmonkey: bearing in mind that the only advantage GFFX seems to have over the 9700pro is it's core/mem clocks, would u be happy paying $399 for a card which auto-lowers it's performance to that of a $300 card? :o

Ah, but I wouldn't be. I have a nifty 400W ps, if I still used the 250W and I definately wanted a GfFX then I would be willing to take the drop in performance until I could get a bigger ps. If that is required.

[poursoul]

click here (http://www.alienware.com/main/system_pages/navigator_extreme.asp)

first check the specs then check the power supply it's unbelievable. Must be a typo or a kick a$$ PS :eek: :eek:

[Grrrpoop]

Originally posted by SurfMonkey
Ah, but I wouldn't be. I have a nifty 400W ps, if I still used the 250W and I definately wanted a GfFX then I would be willing to take the drop in performance until I could get a bigger ps. If that is required.
I think it's safe to say that the vast majority of ppl seriously looking to buy a GFFX will have at least a 350W PSU :)

It's like the 2-slots argument. Yes it's bulky as hell, perhaps unnecessarily so, but a "gamer" is unlikely to have all his PCI slots filled, and the one beside the AGP is least likely to be used in any case.

We'll have to wait for the reviews to find out the truth over noise levels and whether that quote to the effect that "gamers use headphones anyway" was for real :D

I agree that the 350W psu comment is just to cover their backs when ppl have issues (inevitably someone somewhere will).

poursoul: good example of quality over quantity! Sexy lil box too.. :cool2:

O.. reminds me, the pix I've seen of the GFFX make it looks huge in length too, would one fit in a Shuttle case?? The Alienware look like a black Shuttle..

[BladeRunner]

Grrrpoop

Yeah as you say anyone considering laying down the cash for FX on release should have the PSU situation covered by now really.

On the Shuttle thing I'm not fully understanding Anandtech review comments HERE (http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.html?i=1764&p=5) of the Nforce 2 SN41G2 shuttle.

It appears to have one AGP and one PCI slot, but they say this in the article.

Although simplified, the FN41 motherboard layout suffers from the same problem that the FX41 did – a hard to reach clear CMOS jumper. And the same AGP/GeForce FX limitation exists as well, although any other single slot graphics card should work fine in the XPC

Not sure why FX would not fit then? of course you'd loose the PCI slot but FX is the same length as a TI4600, so it will fit length wise as they used an Asus Ti4600 for the review. :confused:

[Grrrpoop]

Originally posted by BladeRunner
It appears to have one AGP and one PCI slot, but they say this in the article.

Not sure why FX would not fit then? of course you'd loose the PCI slot but FX is the same length as a TI4600, so it will fit length wise as they used an Asus Ti4600 for the review. :confused:
I was confused too! The answer lies in the picture on the page u linked to:

http://images.anandtech.com/reviews/system/shuttle/sn41g2/cmos.jpg

In the foreground is the AGP slot, and behind it is the PCI slot. I read thru the review and it seems they've swopped the locations of the AGP and PCI slots - there's no spare slot "below" the AGP slot! :o

Looks like Shuttles are a Dustbuster-free zone until they change the way they make the mobo's or someone does a serious mod-job on their GFFX..

[BladeRunner]

well spotted that man :D

why do they always think there's a need to try to re-invent the wheel :rolleyes:

[LiquidX]

Yeah as you say anyone considering laying down the cash for FX on release should have the PSU situation covered by now really.

Blade!! I dont have the PSU situation coverd and I dont think I will. I have Dell and it would just ridicules to try and fix my 250 PSU watt problem. I would have to buy another case and mobo for atleast $300 and $400 for the FX thats $700 which would be a waste.

I like to buy a new rig every year so I will just stick a FX in there anyway and hope it doesnt catch fire.

[ChrisW]

I think the quailty of the power supply is much more important than the power supply rating. That said, Dell uses very high quality power supplies. It would not surprise me at all to find out the GFFX works perfectly on a 250W Dell power supply. Maybe you should wait to see if other people with Dells get it working before purchasing new parts?

[mreman4k]

Originally posted by LiquidX
Hey guys I have 250watt PSU and was planning to get the new FX but all that was dashed when I read a 350watt PSU is required. Does anyone think I will run into any problems?

My set up, its a Dell.

Demension 8200
P4 2.53
Ti4200
1gig RDRAM
48X24X48 CDR
16X DVD
Audigy 2
250 watt PSU
Will all of these take power from the FX if I was to get one.

Thanks in advance.

Well Dell underrates their power supplies. They are really rated for 345 watts. Go over to the Dell Dimensions support forums to confirm this.

[LiquidX]

mreman4k you seem to be right from all accounts they are under rated. So by all accounts the Dell PSU should be fine.


ChrisW yes I think I will wait to see if Dell sells the FX in a system set up or when another Dell user tries it out.

[zakelwe]

I'm sure you'll be OK. People warble on about needing 250-300w for Amd XP's but I ran a XP1800 @ 1655MHz in a machine with a 150w psu. Can't imagine you'll have any trouble unless you loads and loads of extra kit in there.

Regards

Andy