[Namflow]

Last year, I bought a MSI R5450 MD512 hi definition graphics card for my Dell tower computer. My Dell has a 250 watt power suplpy and the graphics card recommends a 400 watt power supply. Everything was fine until this past month. My computer would not restart. When I removed the graphics card, everything was fine. Do I replace the graphics card or the power supply? Is there anything else I should be looking at?

Thanks in advance

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Hi Namflow

My Dell has a 250 watt power supply and the graphics card recommends a 400 watt power supply

You should never have used the card without first fitting a suitably powered PSU, some GFX cards are power hungry and what happens is other components are deprived of power and so operate under stress which in turn weakens them and shortens their life expectancy.
Use a PSU calculator such http://www2.corsair.com/psufinder/ to find the required output and let us know what model name or number the Dell is so we can check the details as some will only accept propriety Dell components.

[phillpower2]

Hi Namflow

My Dell has a 250 watt power supply and the graphics card recommends a 400 watt power supply

You should never have used the card without first fitting a suitably powered PSU, some GFX cards are power hungry and what happens is other components are deprived of power and so operate under stress which in turn weakens them and shortens their life expectancy.
Use a PSU calculator such http://www2.corsair.com/psufinder/ to find the required output and let us know what model name or number the Dell is so we can check the details as some will only accept propriety Dell components.

[MWolfman]

I have an Dell Inspiron 518 Desktop. The power supply failed last Spring and it was replaced with a 250W unit by a local tech company.

the chart is recommending a Corsair power supply.

[phillpower2]

Not sure what you mean by "the chart is recommending a Corsair power supply" MWolfman
The Corsair PSU was only an example as it is user friendly, others such as http://extreme.outer...culatorlite.jsp and http://educations.ne...calc/index.html are available but require more user input.

[MWolfman]

so what I take from this is to buy a new power supply and keep the graphics card, right?

[phillpower2]

MWolfman

so what I take from this is to buy a new power supply and keep the graphics card, right?

Are you seeking assistance for your own issue?
If you are please start your own topic so as to avoid confusion, thank you.

[Namflow]

Thanks, Philpower. I am going to buy a new power supply this week and see if my graphics card will work with it.

[phillpower2]

Thanks for the update Namflow
Let us know when you are back up and running or if we can assist you in any way.

[Namflow]

I went to Bestbuy and bought the Dynex 520W ATX CPU Power Supply. They didn't have the Corsair PS advertised on their site in stock. I put it in last night and also put the graphics card back in. I am up and running without any issues. I now have a 250 W power supply in the drawer for emergencies

Thanks for all your help- I really appreciate it.

[phillpower2]

I am happy that you got it sorted, thank you for choosing GTG and for allowing me to assist you