BFG 6800OC in Dell Dim8300

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wearefree

Weaksauce
Joined
Sep 4, 2005
Messages
76
I recently bought a BFG 6800OC from woot after my 9800pro died suddenly. However, after I plug in the 6800OC and start the computer, I get HUGE artifacts all the way from POST to windows, and whenever I tried to install the latest driver, I got blank screen, and only the driver on the CD that came with the card would install. Then things get better, I could see my desktop before (with all sorts of artifacts), now I can't even see my desktop! I contacted BFG tech support, and the only solution they give me is to have a larger power supply, which I don't believe. They used

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/Power_Supply_Calculator.php?cmd=INTEL

to calculate and that was the only basis they determined my power supply isn't powerful enough. However, on the same calculator, it says 9800pro will require more power than 6800! My 9800pro ran just fine in the system (till I did something to it and killed it). My powersupply has a rating of 305W which translates a max output close to 420W (if a 250W powersupply could have a max output of 345W according to Dell, and even as high as 375W according some posts). I do believe I have a faulty card (my first woot:() and I have some options here:

1) Return the card to woot, and bite the double shipping charges; then buy this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16814130202

2) Keep contacting BFG and ask for a replacement. I don't know how generous they are (according to people posted on hard forum, they are pretty good).

I'm leaning towards option 1 because this 6800OC is so *loud*. I guess after using 9800pro with VGA silencer for more than a year I've already forgot how loud the gfx used to be:(

For people how has successfully installed 6800/6800GT in your dimension 8*** series computer without getting a new power supply, could you please post your original powersupply rating?
 
You can put a new PSU in the 8300 just fine. Dell stopped using proprietary power supply connections back in the Pentium 2 days. I know for a FACT that the 8300's case and mainboard will take a standard PSU. Those PSUs that Dell uses are a bit weak for my liking.
 
The PSU in Dells should be just fine. I had a 9800pro in the same computer that draws 54 watts before and supposingly 6800 vanilla shold draw only 49 watts. This information is from the same link above. So in all cases, my PSU should be able to handl 6800nu just fine. I'm guess that the "OC" feature by BFG may be requiring much more power than usual, if PSU is the problem. But the woot forum already have quite a few people complaining the same/similar problem.

In fact, after scanning the Dell community forum, I found numerous success stories about installing 6800/6800GT in their 4600/8300s, and some even had a puny 250W PSU. Gladly, woot already accepted my RMA request and I need to buy another one now.

This one has proven to be working with Dells:
http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=322687
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?item=N82E16814130202

Should I buy it from newegg or zipzoomfly? Zzf has slighly lower price and free shipping, but newegg will be less hassle to deal if issue arises...
 
I bought the one from newegg. From what I read on resellerratings.com, zzf is good with everything if the product works out good. Otherwise, it became pain to deal with customer service. On the other hand, newegg gets good reviews throughout everything. Since I've already had a bad experience with a non-functioning video card, I want to avoid all the possible issues, and I'm willing to pay the $9 difference for that;)
 
Have you been reading on the Woot forum for this card? Seems about every other card is defective, artifacting, DOA, and a famous plaid screen. Seems Woot got a nasty batch of these cards, thats proly what your problem is.

I got one there and it is perfect, even unlocks to the 16 pipes and 6 vertex units, just took forever for it to arrive.

Seems RMA-ing the card back to BFG seems to be the way most people are going.
 
It seems good. I've already returned mine though. The reason I don't want to go BFG is someone pointed out, we paid $170 (woot charge plus shipping to BFG) and will only get a refurb back. This is definitely unacceptable. I'd rather just return it and buy something *new* from somewhere else.
 
That is exactly what I would do if mine was a defect. If I wanted a refurb, there are lots of other places a whole lot cheaper than what I paid.
 
Mr_Evil said:
You can put a new PSU in the 8300 just fine. Dell stopped using proprietary power supply connections back in the Pentium 2 days. I know for a FACT that the 8300's case and mainboard will take a standard PSU. Those PSUs that Dell uses are a bit weak for my liking.
Click to expand...
Are you absolutely sure about this? :eek: 'Cause I asked on the Dell forums many times (before they were taken down :mad: ) and everyone told me repeatedly that you WILL fry your motherboard or new PSU (or both, God forbid :() if you try to install anything other than a Dell PSU (or those specially made PCP&C)... :confused:
 
1c3d0g said:
Are you absolutely sure about this? :eek: 'Cause I asked on the Dell forums many times (before they were taken down :mad: ) and everyone told me repeatedly that you WILL fry your motherboard or new PSU (or both, God forbid :() if you try to install anything other than a Dell PSU (or those specially made PCP&C)... :confused:
Click to expand...

Yes, you can install a non-Dell PSU into a Dell. I have done so to several Dell's..... an 8300, an 8400, and a couple of 4700's.

The biggest problem I have had is trying to close an 8400 that I installed an Enermax PSU in. The layout of the Dell's case and all the "extra" wire on the Enermax made routing of wire critical to getting the clamshell case to close.
 
I think that you need a more powerful PSU. The 8300 that I have came with a 250 watt power supply and an nvidia 5200 video card. I switched out the 5200 for a Leadtek A380 (nvidia 5950 Ultra) and that card didn't last very long at all. I installed a 425 watt PSU and another Leadtek A380 and haven't had any problems for almost 2 years now.
 
It may be true with a 250w psu, but mine came with 305w psu since the original comfiguration came with 9800pro. I know I messed up my 9800pro because there was once I took the vga silencer off to check what type of core I have to see whether I can flash it to 9800xt (what a stupid move) and I didn't wipe out the old thermal paste before I reapplied some new. Several days later, 9800pro died (my wife still blames me for that:() If I didn't touch it, the 9800pro should still be running strong.

Besides, looking at power calculator link:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_su...r.php?cmd=INTEL

It does show that 6800 vanilla takes LESS power than 9800pro, thus I believe my psu is just fine. People on both woot and dell forum have reported using 6800oc fine with their 250w psu. The card that I received from woot IS defective, and it has nothing to do with my psu.
 
My dad had an Antec TruePower 430w in his old Dell 4600--before he upgraded to A64.

--

I'd get a new PSU. Enermax.
 
1c3d0g said:
Are you absolutely sure about this? :eek: 'Cause I asked on the Dell forums many times (before they were taken down :mad: ) and everyone told me repeatedly that you WILL fry your motherboard or new PSU (or both, God forbid :() if you try to install anything other than a Dell PSU (or those specially made PCP&C)... :confused:
Click to expand...

Nope, won't do anything. I've gone so far as checking each wire with a multi meter and the Dell PSU matches a normal ATX PSU. The only thing that usually doesn't match up is the color coding, but as we know Electricity doesn't care what color the insulation is. Alot of people are ill informed about the Dell PSU deal. It was only their older Pentium II machines that had a different PSU pin-out.
 
Mr_Evil said:
It was only their older Pentium II machines that had a different PSU pin-out.
Click to expand...
actually, afaik, they were using the proprietary pinout up until 423 - im pretty sure hte p3 systems used it too.
 
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