Rob Murray Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 This is sort of CM related; I'm looking for a decent not too pricey graphics card upgrade. My system is a Dell Dimension 4500 series P4 2.0GHz processor, Windows XP ( Service pack 1 ), 512 RAM, 250 Watt power supply & I think ( have to check this ) a 4x AGP slot. I've got a Nvidia Geforce 4 MX 420 in there right now. My problem is that none of the cards that I've seen on the Internet list their power supply requirements. I don't want to spend a lot of cash on something that may not even work in my system. I'd like to stick with an Nvidia based product as I like to be able to use fog in CM ( which of course ATI doesn't do ). I'd like to buy the card locally here in Toronto as I don't know how to install the thing and also if there's a problem I don't have to ship the thing back through the mail. The most attractive card to me looks to be the MSI Geforce FX 5900 XT 128 card - however the power supply requirement isn't listed ( of course :mad: ) I'd appreciate some help with this. Thanks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted July 15, 2004 Share Posted July 15, 2004 A GeForce FX 5900 XT/SE is a great card. As you pointed out, most manufacturers don't post the required power supply specs for their cards. PNY does list the specs and here are some for their GeForce FX 5900 SE. They claim a minimum of 300W for the power supply (though this is a minimum that they list with a lot of their videocards). This should be fully applicable to the MSI version of the card. If you feel that your power supply is limiting you in your videocard choices you can upgrade it, though a Dell-compatible power supply may be a bit expensive. PC Power and Cooling offers very good power supplies, with some of them being specifically Dell compatible (because of their unique wiring). The Turbo Cool 425 Deluxe is one model that is compatible with your particular Dimension 4500 model (you may have to select your model with what comes up with the above link). However the price is a bit steep. They are US$149.00 (without shipping and whatever else may be necessary for customs). Looking at the specs however, the Dimension 4500 may use a standard ATX pinout (I'm not sure of this), so you may want to contact Dell support to see what they say. If it does use a standard ATX pinout, then you can get a good power supply for quite a bit less. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Murray Posted July 16, 2004 Author Share Posted July 16, 2004 Thanks very much for the help. I'll be shopping around a little more before I plunk down any cash. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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