What's the Worst That Can Happen (Graphics Card Question)?

Question

Okay so I have a Dell C521. The specified power supply is 280w, however I've read that this is the average power. I just got a new video card that has a recommended power supply of 300w. Will this card burn out my power supply? I asked Dell tech support and the person said that I would just not get the maximum output of the card. Is this true? If not, what's the worst that can happen? Thanks

I don't doubt the tech support, but they seem to be giving me different answers. Thanks!

Answer 1

The absolute worst would be or your power supply to over heat and melt down, but that's not likely.

I ran a high-end video card in one of my computers for awhile with less than the recommended wattage power supply (it said I should have 350W and I only had 300W). What happened was that after about 10 minutes of playing any 3D game my computer would freeze and then reboot. It did this EVERY time I played a 3D game.

I would recommend that you buy a more powerful power supply. I would recomend that you get at least a 350W (that's the bare minimum anymore) but a 400W would be better.

Take a look at this site, it's where I get almost all of the parts for my client's computers.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+1131309959+1131414175&name=301+-+400W

Answer 2

LOL, that's strange. There's no such thing as not getting most out of your card. Either it runs properly or it doesn't

First thing is it wouldn't run properly. When you play a game, all important components such as your graphic card and CPU will be loaded, they will be at maximum power consumption.

When not enough power is supplied to your hardware, it will malfunction. You may get errors, games crashing or the entire system will just crash and stop responding.

All your hardware needs all to get all the power it needs. its most likely that it won't cause any hardware failure, but you still cannot use it as each time you play a game, it starts to crash and your system hangs.

I would suggest that you get a new power supply unit.