Video Card

[S3Trio]

Hi, I just purchased a PNY GeForce4 MX440-se video card from Tiger Direct.
No where on the specifications on Tiger Direct are their any mention of
minimum requirements. After I ordered the card I went to nVidia's site and
looked up the some of the features and warranty information. nVidia has a
minimum requirement of a 250 watt power supply. I have a Dell Dimension 4100
with a 200 Watt power supply. Any one know if this card will work? Will I
burn out my power supply? Any thing else I should know?

Thanks

S3.

 

[S3Trio]

Thanks Dave for the information. All I am running in the machine
is one hard drive, Sound Blaster Live PCI card, 10/100 nic card, one case
cooling fan along with the power supply fan and the AGP card when I get it.
Their is a Foxconn stamped on the power supply if this is any help. Like I
said in my post Tiger Direct had no mention of minimum requirements. If they
did I would not have purchased the card. Thanks again Dave the information
is appreciated.

S3Trio.

 

[Adrian]

I'd play it safe and try to upgrade the power supply. It's simply not worth
it to gamble on it working. The last thing you want to do, is starve the
motherboard of power. I think the guiding factor would be if nVidia says it
wants a 250watt, and you have a 200watt - that would be enough reason to
upgrade it.

~ Adrian ~

 

[Adrian]

I hate to sound cynical, but is TigerDirect going to be there if anything
goes faulty on your computer? It's fine to give out assurances, but will
they back it up in the event something goes wrong? Their goal is sell
computer hardware. I hate for you to fry something (RAM, CPU, etc.) due to
a cheap video card upgrade.

If you're comfortable doing that, then that's OK. If it were me, I'd maybe
look on eBay for a PSU upgrade, similar size to what you have now, a Dell
branded one.

Good luck.

~ Adrian ~

 

[S3Trio]

Good point because I am not 100% comfortable doing this. My anolagy is the
computer has 6 months left on the warranty. If their is a hardware failure
and Dell contributed it to the video card that lists 250 watts as a minumunm
requirment. Tiger Direct assures me their is no problem putting a 250 watt
card with a 200 watt power supply my way of thinking is Tiger hasn't a leg
to stand on. On the other hand I will take your advise and poke around ebay
for a 250 watt power supply. I didn't consider your reply cynical by any
means. I thought you was right on the mark.

Thanks S3.

 

[S3Trio]

strike minumunm--------add minimum

Good point because I am not 100% comfortable doing this. My anolagy is the
computer has 6 months left on the warranty. If their is a hardware failure
and Dell contributed it to the video card that lists 250 watts as a minumunm
requirment. Tiger Direct assures me their is no problem putting a 250 watt
card with a 200 watt power supply my way of thinking is Tiger hasn't a leg
to stand on. On the other hand I will take your advise and poke around ebay
for a 250 watt power supply. I didn't consider your reply cynical by any
means. I thought you was right on the mark.

Thanks S3.

 

[Adrian]

If Tiger Direct is saying a video card that requires 250watt minimum, will
work on a system with a 200watt PSU, they are crazy. They are just trying
to sell you something, regardless of the situation. I mean who on earth
would give a recommendation like that?!

I'd play it safe. Have a look at this link, it has power supplies (in
Canada, I know) and specifically mentions something to do with Dell
proprietary units.

 

[Adrian]

If Tiger Direct is saying a video card that requires 250watt minimum, will
work on a system with a 200watt PSU, they are crazy. They are just trying
to sell you something, regardless of the situation. I mean who on earth
would give a recommendation like that?!

I'd play it safe. Have a look at this link, it has power supplies (in
Canada, I know) and specifically mentions something to do with Dell
proprietary units and an adapter they sell.

http://quietpc.ca/psu.html

~ Adrian ~

 

[kony]

If Tiger Direct is saying a video card that requires 250watt minimum, will
work on a system with a 200watt PSU, they are crazy. They are just trying
to sell you something, regardless of the situation. I mean who on earth
would give a recommendation like that?!

The same company that sells a kit with a "GigPro" CPU
(actually a C3 650MHz), claiming that it's:

"(Comparable to Processing Power of 1GHz Intel)"

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?sku=k13-1000


TigerDirect should be avoided.


Dave

 

[Adrian]

Amazing, eh? A VIA C3 650MHz CPU is comparable to an Intel 1GHz?!

I just loved this item in their Return Policy:

"ALL NON-DEFECTIVE RETURNS ARE SUBJECT TO A 15% RE-STOCKING FEE and such
returns will be for store credit or refund at TigerDirect's sole discretion"

Meaning, if you buy something and find out you ordered the wrong item, or,
you just don't like the item you bought, you may end up getting a store
credit, and not a refund! Just great. The last thing you want is to be
forced to order from them again!!!

~ Adrian ~

 

[nECrO]

Thanks, I received the card about 3 hours ago and installed it. On the side
of the box it came in it said " 300 watt power supply required". The seller
lists no requirements, the manufacturer lists 250 on their web site and 300
on the box they package it in. Go figure!

Thanks for your input, and wish me luck! I may need it!

S3.

As an afterthought, I would like to add that I added Tiger Direct on my "Put
sensitive parts of my body into a meat grinder before doing business with
these people" list long ago. I see nothing has changed with them. their
prices and shipping costs are a joke and their support and return policies
are laughable. Consider it a lesson learned. Stay away from Tiger Direct. In
case you are interested I added links below for much more reputable online
vendors and as always check http://www.resellerratings.com before any
purchase.
nECrO
http://www.newegg.com
http://www.googlegear.com
http://www.accupc.com
http://www.directron.com

 

[Kanolsen]

I have also in a later posting (waiting to see answers - posting
below) bumped into similar problems since I have a PIII IBM and dunno
the wattage on it and have now bought a graphicscard like below.
Q1: will the same wattage problem occurr for me? I have 1x40gb hdd, +
2x120Gb hdd+ hp8200 cd-burner. 1 nic, SB 128 soundcard.
Q2: read something somewhere that it does only support 4xAGP and
above. I have 2x will it not work?

POSTING:
I have a PIII450mhz IBM PL300 with 156ram and agp2X, I have bought a
dualscreen MSI GeForce4 MX440-8X 64MB DDR AGP, MX440-T8X, Tv-Out,
so I can have 2 monitors. The min specification say that I need a
650mhz, but I do not know why that should have anything to do with it
- shouldn't it take some of the load FROM the processor?

Can I still use it or should I return it?


Thanks for all help!

Kanolsen