Poweredge SC440 bargain .. need video

TakeTheVeil

You couldve just said no!:D

Kaiser, i see ya put in a new PSU in your system. You think the 7800 would have ran on the 305w PSU unit?

If not, what PSUs are compatible with the SC440? Are Dell still using proprietary supplies?

_Kaiser_

TakeTheVeil wrote: »

You couldve just said no!:D

Kaiser, i see ya put in a new PSU in your system. You think the 7800 would have ran on the 305w PSU unit?

If not, what PSUs are compatible with the SC440? Are Dell still using proprietary supplies?

Well I got the replacement installed easy enough and the connections aren't anything unusual - 20 pin main connector, and a 4pin square connector. Bit of a tight squeeze in places (especially near the DVD drive) but it's all running happily now.

I had the same sort of 305w (or thereabouts) PSU in the Dimension 5150 originally but it wasn't up to the task which is why I bought the replacement PSU.- ran ok with a 7300LE though.. in fact it is again as I've put that older card and PSU back into it.

TakeTheVeil

oh.. so the PSU is just a normal ATX supply.. would this PSU work?

TakeTheVeil

Theres a new report on overclocking E2140 over at Toms Hardware which might be of great interest to a lot of people here.

They were able to overclock it to 3ghz on the stock cooler and 3.5gz with a Zalman fan.

As this was a budget build, they were monitoring power consumption and estimated annual running cost. Their system setup consisted of the CPU, motherboard, cooler, memory(2gb), graphics card(Ati HD3850), two hard drives, a DVD ROM and the power supply. Its good to note is that with both the graphics card and overclocked processor running at full load the power consumption was around 296w so with people saying Dell understate their PSUs, it seems like we're fine with the 305w

Ofcourse this all assumes youre willing to buy a new motherboard which allows over clocking. Whether you'd need to buy a new PSU too, i'm not sure myself. But it would also mean you wont need to chop away at the PCIE slot.

Chosen

a) It's not going to be easy to find an overclockable BTX motherboard.

b) If you change the motherboard, you will need different RAM, this is ECC and the board you will be buying will need non-ECC (if you buy a mainstream, overclockable board)

c) If you buy a motherboard, gfx card, memory and PSU, then why did you pay €200 for this system? To get a non-standard BTX case and 2 small SATA disks?

TakeTheVeil

well actually i was taking solace in the fact they had a very similar set up to most of us and were using a HD 3850, which when at full load remained under 305w

There was also a guy over in the other bargains alert thread who was interested in geting a new motherboard...so..relax

Chosen

TakeTheVeil wrote: »

well actually i was taking solace in the fact they had a very similar set up to most of us and were using a HD 3850, which when at full load remained under 305w

There was also a guy over in the other bargains alert thread who was interested in geting a new motherboard...so..relax

But I am relaxed. But you didn't answer my question: if you are going to replace all the above mentioned parts (PSU, mobo, gfx, ram) then why did you buy this system?
Why not pay €190 instead for a nice ATX case, an E2160 and a SATA hard drive and then buy a few pints with the change?

TerrorFirmer

TakeTheVeil wrote: »

Theres a new report on overclocking E2140 over at Toms Hardware which might be of great interest to a lot of people here.

They were able to overclock it to 3ghz on the stock cooler and 3.5gz with a Zalman fan.

As this was a budget build, they were monitoring power consumption and estimated annual running cost. Their system setup consisted of the CPU, motherboard, cooler, memory(2gb), graphics card(Ati HD3850), two hard drives, a DVD ROM and the power supply. Its good to note is that with both the graphics card and overclocked processor running at full load the power consumption was around 296w so with people saying Dell understate their PSUs, it seems like we're fine with the 305w

Ofcourse this all assumes youre willing to buy a new motherboard which allows over clocking. Whether you'd need to buy a new PSU too, i'm not sure myself. But it would also mean you wont need to chop away at the PCIE slot.

Wattage means little when it comes to video cards. You could buy a ****e 700w brand and it wouldn't run a 3850, or a top notch 300w one and it could be fine. Just because the total load was under 305w, doesn't automatically mean that the Dell will be fine. I'm quite sure the Dell has far worse rails then any gaming power supply out there, and it's very possible that it won't run anything better then a 7600/7900 series card.

papu

umm dell chips are the cheapest of the cheapest , why do you think they can sell them soo cheap? its casue their the bargain best buy bin @ intell , sure you might get a nice one but on average the chips are hopeless , friend popped a 6600 into a decent mobo and only got an extra 200mhz before it craps out , and thats with a scythe ninja ....

even if you replace everything u maybe horribly disappointed ;P

zod

just modded the slot and stuck in the 7300GT getting this on the vista experience meter



Think I'm getting x4 on the slot ..

awhir

zod wrote: »

just modded the slot and stuck in the 7300GT getting this on the vista experience meter



Think I'm getting x4 on the slot ..

nope that looks fine the 7300gt is a very weak card

zod

tried crysis just to test ( I'm not a gamer ) .. system seems to handle up to 1024x768 with anti aliasing off.

zippi

i have sc440, xeon 3040 (2×1,86) 1GBram, 160GB disk
I running the SC440 with the mod 4x slot and Gigabyte 8600GT GV-NX86T256H
I used this tool to mod
http://www.modelbox.cz/product_info.php?cPath=39_116&products_id=1154
http://www.modelbox.cz/product_info.php?cPath=39_116&products_id=1927
result?
3dmark 2001 (default after install) - cca 26500
3DMark05 v120 patch (default after install) - cca 9500
with 169.21_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql
diver add with nLite windows xp sp2
without overclock

Anti

zippi wrote: »

i have sc440, xeon 3040 (2×1,86) 1GBram, 160GB disk
I running the SC440 with the mod 4x slot and Gigabyte 8600GT GV-NX86T256H
I used this tool to mod
http://www.modelbox.cz/product_info.php?cPath=39_116&products_id=1154
http://www.modelbox.cz/product_info.php?cPath=39_116&products_id=1927
result?
3dmark 2001 (default after install) - cca 26500
3DMark05 v120 patch (default after install) - cca 9500
with 169.21_forceware_winxp_32bit_english_whql
diver add with nLite windows xp sp2
without overclock

Nice job, very clean

awhir

guys my brother just got one of these now hese looking for a gfx card.

he will be using it mostly for watching movies onto 1080p 40" and will be playing a small bit of games like starcraft craft 2(when it comes out) his budget is around 120e.

he will be modding the slot for 16x.

also he is also looking for a cheap sound card that can do dig optical or coaxial but the newer ati's 2*** series except the 2900 can send sound via hdmi ?

so what ya think ?

papu

awhir wrote: »

guys my brother just got one of these now hese looking for a gfx card.

he will be using it mostly for watching movies onto 1080p 40" and will be playing a small bit of games like starcraft craft 2(when it comes out) his budget is around 120e.

he will be modding the slot for 16x.

also he is also looking for a cheap sound card that can do dig optical or coaxial but the newer ati's 2*** series except the 2900 can send sound via hdmi ?

so what ya think ?

1. the slot is only 4x speed
2.2900 card can send sound http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd2900/index.html

3. if you want gfx 256mb 8800gt should be grand http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=708007

awhir

papu wrote: »

1. the slot is only 4x speed
2.2900 card can send sound http://ati.amd.com/products/Radeonhd2900/index.html

3. if you want gfx 256mb 8800gt should be grand http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/ProductInfo.asp?WebProductID=708007

would it not be better to get 512 as games like starcraft eat up memory.

papu

awhir wrote: »

would it not be better to get 512 as games like starcraft eat up memory.

yeah but a 512 is more expensive :P

Chosen

awhir wrote: »

would it not be better to get 512 as games like starcraft eat up memory.

Sure, and 768 would be even better
But papu linked you to an 8800GT with a price tag (€159) that's lower than the one of a 3850

awhir

Chosen wrote: »

Sure, and 768 would be even better
But papu linked you to an 8800GT with a price tag (€159) that's lower than the one of a 3850

my bro gota 3850 512mb for 140e so he's happy.

TakeTheVeil

Did it work in the 4x slot of the SC440?

awhir

papu wrote: »

1. the slot is only 4x speed

is it not 4x before modded ??

whats the point off modding the socket if theres no change ?

Chosen

To physically fit the card

TakeTheVeil

So what cards have people got to run in the system on the stock PSU? I'm waiting for Elara.ie to open back up on 7th Jan so i can pick up my soundcard and i'll probably pick up the video card too.

So a 7300 and an 8600 have been successfully used. Anything else?

Chosen

Gainward Bliss 8500GT 512Mb w/ Passive cooling here, works like a charm.

MayoForSam

7600GS, also passive, working fine.

TakeTheVeil

I've a bit more money left after christmas than i thought and would love to go for a HD3850 or even 8800GT 256mb that someone recommended on here.. but probably pushing it with those two cards so it'll probably be a 7600 or 8500 similar to ye two.

awhir

guys im confused why are you using the small black pci slot and not the pci-e slot ?

papu

awhir wrote: »

guys im confused why are you using the small black pci slot and not the pci-e slot ?

because thats a 4x lane ,

if you use the pci-e slot it throttles is to 1x speed

conzy

Im trying to find some conductive ink to try this Pin Mod any ideas where i could get some? somewhere like halfords maybe? I think conductive ink is used to fix rear windscreen heaters and such