Dell XPS 420

i want a laptop

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My friend has a Dell XPS 420 and it has some awful Radeon 3450 or something video card, otherwise it's a decent system. 6GB RAM (don't know the speed sorry) Intel Quad core (don't know anything more about it, sorry) and some Western Digital 640GB hard drive. A decent system, he plays WoW and CS:S and probably a lot of other games I don't know about.

So he is getting around $200 and wants a new video card. I reccomended this one http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339 excellent card and the ratings are the best of all video cards on newegg, can't argue with that. But the issue is I don't know how good of a PSU the XPS has. My friend says it is a 375W. Now looking at that right now, I don't see how his system which is decently high end, can run on 375W. Can it? Or was he just looking at the 12v rail? 375W on the 12v rail would be 31.25A which sounds like the caliber PSU that would suit his system.

So does he need a new PSU? Was he reading it wrong? I was thinking a Corsair 550W, but if he doesn't need a new PSU all the better...so what are your thoughts?

EDIT: Crap, can a mod change the title of my thread to Dell XPS 420 PSU wattage
 
OK the Antec has the 12v in 2 rails. The Corsairs have all of the power on 1 rail which is a lot better you don't have to balance the load over the 2 rails.
 
Um I don't think so. For instance, 1 12v rail at 18A and another rail at 12v 18A. I have to make sure that nothing wants to use over 18A on the one rail, I have to split up my power consumption between both rails. On the Corsair for example with 1 rail at 36A I could hook everything up and not care because it's all on one rail, no power balancing.
 
again it doesn't really matter. This PSU is highly reccomened for its cheap price and reliability
 
Either way we haven't determined if my friends system can run the 9800GTX+ without a new PSU. Using the little newegg PSU calculator his system needs over a 375W PSU without the 9800GTX+ so I don't see how his current PSU could be 375W. Does anyone have an XPS 420? I need to know what the true wattage is!

OK I found out my friends PSU.

http://www.txcesssurplus.com/servlet/the-3495/Dell-Dimension-Precision-Power/Detail

I'm no electrical engineer, but I know enough that current * voltage = power (W)

So for instance, if you have let's say a case fan that uses 12v and .5A (beefy fan right there) thats 12 * .5 = 6W. That fan uses 6 watts of power.

According to my math, the max power output of that PSU is 620 Watts...but it says 375...

What's the deal...?
 
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