power supply

[Dymond]

Hey, ive just bought and tried to install a 6600GT graphics card... however when doing so ive put it in all fine but when i fire up the computer the monitor doesnt come on and says 'power save mode' - guess this means a bigger power supply - however i dont have a clue what type to go for so could anyone recommend a decent cheap one, have a dell dimension 8300. Cheers.

Edit - is it possible to get external power supply units? and is it possible to dual run them? and finally are they difficult to fit?

 

[aliasaid]

i'm not entirely convinced its the powersupply.

 

[COD2_fanatic]

did you plug the molex connector (if it has one) into the back of the card, i have a 6600GT and it requires one, also give us the wattage of your PSU it should say on the side

 

[Dymond]

Its a 250W Dell 0F0894
I didnt get a molex connector, and i dont know what one is either lol

 

[Nukem]

go here and fill in the form as best you can with what you know about your machine... if it's over the 250 wattage then you need a new PSU... you might be able to find a dell 350 / 400W one, but I wouldn't suggest using a non dell psu, only casue I have has so much trouble with tyring to do that... but maybe it was just me... Other might dis-agree...

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

 

[Dymond]

Comes up as 332W, thats with the capacitor, surge compensation and other lil bits. So it looks like that could be the problem?
I cant think of any else that would cause a 'power save mode' can anyone else?

 

[Nukem]

you can try and reseat the card... sometimes the first time a system will not see it. you might also have to reset the bios... try those first if you haven't already.

 

[Dymond]

I reseated the card a few times to no avail. Also... if i reset the bios i have to do this when the card is in correct? but when its in nothing comes up on the screen.

 

[Nukem]

you can pull the batery form the mobo for about 20-30 minutes with the power cable removed form the PSU (so it doesn't hold juice) then put it back in and pray!

 

[Dymond]

right well i tried doing that and it didnt work anyone got any other suggestions or do you think i was right in suspecting it to be the PSU?