I want to upgrade from the 7300LE to the 8800GTX but im worried that my 375W PSU will not be compatible. I was told that by upgrading my PSU, my motherboard will fry. Will installing fans keep my motherboard from getting killed?? and also does the 8800GTX need fans to be cooled as well???

dell xps410
intel core 2 @2.6
2gigz ram

Hello Raf, welcome to PCHF.

I'm not quite sure who on earth told you all of this, but I don't think you have anything to worry about.

With a 375w power supply, you already have some room for expansion, and should happily cover your Dell XPS 410. You can always double check your requirements by using: eXtreme Outer Vision - eXtreme tools for computer enthusiasts (click goLite and fill in your PC spec's).

You motherboard certainly won't fry by upgrading your PSU. Your graphics card will have it's own cooling fan, and some higher quality 8800's even come with water cooling. It will increase the overall heat in your system, so adding an extra fan in your PC certainly won't hurt, and you still keep an eye on your temperatures as a safety precausion at all times using: SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

After some digging I managed to find a GeForce 8800 Series Tested Power Supply list

Antec TruePower Trio 650 650Watt
AthenaPC AP-P4ATX85FE 850Watt
CoolerMaster RS-600-ASAA 600Watt
CoolMax CTG-1000 1000Watt
CoolMax CUG-700B 700Watt
EnerMax Galaxy EGA1000EWL 1000Watt
EnerMax Galaxy EGA850EWL 850Watt
EnerMax Liberty ELT620AWT 620Watt
Mushkin 550100 650Watt
Mushkin 550200 550Watt
Seasonic M12 SS-600HM 600Watt
Seasonic M12 SS-700HM 700Watt
Seasonic S12 Energy Plus SS-650HT 650Watt
SilverStone SST-ST60F 600Watt ATX 600W
SilverStone ST75F 750Watt ATX12V EPS12V 750W
SilverStone ST85ZF 850Watt ATX12V EPS12V 850W
Thermaltake W0104RU 650Watt ATX12V EPS12V 650W
Thermaltake W0117RU 750Watt ATX12V EPS12V 750W
Ultra Ultra31843 500Watt ATX Ultra / X-Finity / 500-Watt
Ultra Ultra31852 550Watt ATX Ultra / X-2 / 550-Watt
Ultra Ultra33120 600Watt ATX Ultra / X-Finity 2 / 600-Watt


So these all work but if your looking for an OC card then id aim for the higher end ones probably the 700+ wattage to allow for cooling systems / new tech etc

For the point of your mother board it wont fry it

Basicly The voltage going to your board doesn't change from a 350W Supply to what ever you choose, the wattage of the supply is mearly what your PC can pull from the PS it if it needs to (say you have a top end GFX card 6 case fans and some flashy lights etc) personally I was running a 500W PS on my Nforce chipset and the only difference in temp that changed was the ambient case temp due to the heat generated from he larger PS

Marked as Answered.

I'm just gonna chime in here, with your Dell you may have trouble upgrading the PSU as they often aren't standard sized

They are on all the tower series XPS's I've seen Zanc?