Quote:
Originally Posted by mesaywee
So the dell does in fact use the same power supply with the 6870, so like you said the 6950 should work.
However:
http://www.gpureview.com/show_cards....=635&card2=639
If you go there under details. It says max power draw. The 6870 is 151W while the 6950 says 200W. Is that a huge difference?
If I install the 6950 without a new power supply and the system doesn't have enough power during gaming will it just crash? Nothing to serious? I was going to just try it out with the stock wattage and if it crashes while gaming i'd then fork over the money to upgrade. |
Max power draw is a specification. In real world testing, the max draw was ~158W.
50 watts is enough leeway and depends on the quality of the PSU. I have a feeling DELL PSUs will be robust because they do such large volumes and want to reduce customer hardware issues as much as possible so they fit something robust that wouldn't take the entire system with it if it goes, incurring more costs for them.
"System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 312W" means that their entire test system including the videocard at full power draw only drew 312W. You should be fine with a 460W PSU. If it doesn't work, your computer may crash, become unstable, or simply shut itself off. No real damage should be done. Most videocards have at least 2 year warranty anyway so I wouldn't worry about that either.