Dell Dimension 8100 upgrade problem...

J

jikim78

New Member
Hello!
I purchased Dell Dimension 8100 about 4 years ago, and it's performance is becoming outdated. So I started upgrading few parts.
Here's the spec of my computer:

Pentium 4, Processor 1.30Ghz
384MB RDRAM
16X Max Variable DVD ROM
Turtle Beach Santa Curz DSP, sound card
32MB DDR NVIDIA Graphic Card
40GB Ultra ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
130GB Maxtor Hard Drive
250W Power Supply Unit

The other day, I purchased NVIDIA e-GeForce FX 5900XT (128MB DDR AGP) graphic card to upgrade. I succesfully installed the hardware and the drive, but a message popped saying that the performance of the graphic card was lowered to protect the hardware. I found out that the required power supply unit was 350W. Then I called Dell to see if they had 350W power supply unit for my computer, and they said that the highest they have is 330W.
So is there a way to upgrade my power supply unit to a 350W one???
Dell told me they don't make 350W power supply unit for my comp.
Why is that?
Is it a marketing strategy so that they can sell more comps?
Is it because my mother board cannot support power supply unit greater than 330W?
Dell customer care could not answer any of these questions for me.
Also, Dell power supply units are designed so that they are different from what they sell at any computer stores. So even if I purchased a 350W power supply unit from any computer store, I wouldn't be able to installed it in my computer.
I don't know what to do. I really want to upgrade my graphic card, and any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
 
gratz on your choice of video card. I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm wrong but i think you can use any psu.....but... you'll need to drill new holes in your box to mount it, as well you need to make sure the new one will fit and not touch or interfere with anything. good luck.
 
Thx for your reply Canuk.
But my question is if I do drill a hole in the box and place a new 350W power supply unit, will it have any harmful effect on any of my computer parts, like motherboard or hard drive, due to it's high power?
 
Be careful with Dell, they are known to use proprietary power supplies. I'd hook the dell PSU up to an old ATX MB and see if it will power on before I hook a standard ATX PSU to a Dell. If it all works then any PSU should do provided it will fit in the Dell Case. if not the computer can always be transfered to a new case.

To be honest, I don't see why a 330 won't work. I can't see 20 watts making that much difference. I can see why your current 250 watt won't work but a 330 will probably do the job.

As far as wattage goes it won't hurt anything to use a higher wattage because your computer only uses what it needs. You can go out and buy a 600 watt psu and it'll work. The danger with Dell is like I said before. They like to use a proprietary power supply. The connector is the same but the wires are in a different order. Since it's hard to tell which models they do that with the safe thing would be to get an old test machine before I did any permanent damage.
 
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jikim78 said:
Thx for your reply Super_Nova!
What do you mean by old ATX MB???
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Like an old crappy pentium with an ATX motherboard so it'll have the same Power supply connector. Since it's an old worthless machine it's no loss if the DELL PSU fries the motherboard. If it does fry then you know not to buy a standard PSU for your Dell because it will fry the Dell. If it works then that model uses a standard PSU anyway.
 
Thx Super_nova!
Have a another question for ya.
If the graphic card requires 350W or greater power supply unit, 330W won't cut it?
I mean it's only 20W short.
What do you think???
 
actually I think Dells use eATX power connectors on their motherboards so you can probably use a standard ATX powersupply with a 20-24pin adapter for it(OCZ powersupplies come with these, or you can buy one for like $5). And don't go drilling holes in your case :eek: powersupplies are designed to fit cases of various sizes, the locations of the screws to hold it on are standardized
 
IT probably doesn't require 350 watts for itself, it probably says 350 because it assumes that your computer will draw alot of that power and it needs whatever is left over to run the video card. THey assume with 350 you'll have plenty of power left over to run the video card. With 330 you'll probably have plenty of power left over to run the video card. Hypothetically right now you have a 250 watt PSU. If your computer actually drew 250 watts, which it probably doesn't, then with a 350 watt PSU that would leave 100 watts for a video card. or 80 with the 330 watt power supply. I doubt the video card draws that much power. Now with the 250 watt PSU there's much less power left over for the video card. If it draws more than 80 watts from the PSU then it's a pretty powerful card! And you probably have more than that to spare from a 330 watt psu anyway.
 
I like to thank cromewell, supernova, and canuk for taking time to reply to my questions. You guys really helped me out. I really appreciate it. As for my problem, I think I'm gonna purchase 330W PSU from Dell like you guys suggested. Like you guys said, it probably don't use all that power anyway. My 250W PSU might not be sufficient enough, but I hope that the 330W does.
In the future, I'm not going to buy a comp from Dell. Dell comps are really hard upgrade I guess. In the near future, I hope to build my own comp, and may be you guys can share your knowledge when I do. Thanks for all your help.
 
I just purchased 330W PSU for my comp.
I hope it works. ^^
But I have one last question.
PSU supplies power to which parts of the computer??? If possible, can anyone list all the parts that it supplies power to.
I would like to know this info for myself.
 
There should be two connectors for the motheboard, a long rectangular one and a small square one. They will not plug in the wrong way. There are also connectors for each drive in your system. Basically just plug the new one in where the old one came out.
 
So is there a way to upgrade my power supply unit to a 350W one???
Dell told me they don't make 350W power supply unit for my comp.
Why is that?
Click to expand...
OEMs ship with the crappiest and weakest (note the distinction) PSUs because
1. The performance doesnt require power
2. They save money
3. By the time you need a new PSU they want you to buy a new comp from them

if I'm wrong but I think you can use any psu.....but... you'll need to drill new holes in your box to mount it
Click to expand...
You need to do an electrical hack job to get it.

But my question is if I do drill a hole in the box and place a new 350W power supply unit, will it have any harmful effect on any of my computer parts, like motherboard or hard drive, due to it's high power?
Click to expand...
For all intents and purposes ... you cant. They use funky power connectors (i.e., nonstandard). Now they DO have convertor kits like in my Vantec Stealth here

I think I'm gonna purchase 330W PSU from Dell like you guys suggested. Like you guys said, it probably don't use all that power anyway. My 250W PSU might not be sufficient enough, but I hope that the 330W does.
Click to expand...
Given the efficiency rating of those PSUs (on the order of 65%) ... it might just be enough :)

PSU supplies power to which parts of the computer??? If possible, can anyone list all the parts that it supplies power to.
I would like to know this info for myself.
Click to expand...
Absolutely everything that doesnt have its own discrete power (i.e., everything by the monitor, speakers, printer etc unless you somehow have it connected to the PSU).

They will not plug in the wrong way
Click to expand...
Dont be so sure ;)
 
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