Dell 305w PSU...underrated?

[guyonthecouch]

i just got a new home pc, a dell dimension e510.

It's a PCI-E board, and i would like to put a BFG geforce 6600GT OC to round out the system performance (already upped to 1gb RAM from 256 or whatever came standard), as the only bottleneck on the system so far seems to be the graphics card

here's the problem: the card says it requires a 350w PSU, and the e510 PSU is rated 305w. This looks to be a fairly simple case of mathematics, but Dell said it MAY work (gg tech support, i could have asked a 3 year old if it MAY work :irk: ) and nearly every forum i've visited has said the same two things:
1)Dell PSUs are underrated
2)Specs for the card are overrated

Soooo.....wtf?

I can't find a definite yes or no anywhere, somebody help me!!!!

P.S. No, i didn't pick this thing out, i would have preferred to build my own:(

[RyderOCZ]

6600 GT or 6800 GT?

I know you typed 6600 but..in my experience they don't require that much juice...my pair doesn't even have a power lead on them...they get power from the board.

[guyonthecouch]

its a BFG 6600 GT OC

you have a pair? how do they perform vs a single 6800?

[RotorHead]

I honistly don't know if the power supply with your system will be able to run a 6800gt

I do know that if you want to switch out your power supply, you will need to do a lot of research. Many of the dell power supplies use a prapriatary pin out for the main power connector.

This site may help you out if you decide to go that route.

http://pinouts.ru/pin_Power.shtml

I'll see if I can dig up some more info about the video card compatability :thumb:

[guyonthecouch]

yes, that is why i was so worried about whether or not the 6600GT OC would run on my system or not; i can't seem to find a replacement PSU, and dell doesn't seem to be able or willing to answer my question. I knew this would happen, which is why i wanted to build the system myself :(

[guyonthecouch]

well, it took a week and a half, but dell finally told me the card would run just fine

dell service = :cry:

[guyonthecouch]

so then dell tells me my geforce 6800 GS wouldnt work even though it has the same power specs

what they didnt tell me was that the reason it wouldnt work is because i needed a $2 "Y" molex adapter to help power my card.

So i put it in, and it runs better than great. i also added an audigy 4 sound card, which is a bit of an overkill but hey, if ya can get it, why not?:rock: