I have a dell e510, which dell promised me would be more than capable of running games like HL2 and the like, as long as i have a strong enough video card. Problem is, the PSU is only 305w, and DECENT vid cards (i.e. the ones that you CAN'T order with the PC ) usually require no less than 350w. When i bought my eVGA 6800 GS, thinking i could upgrade my PSU to keep pace, i find out that not only would a non-dell PSU void my warranty, it would probably fry the PC.

The kicker is this: Dell doesn't offer a more powerful PSU. Great. I have the card running on the PC, but i get frequent lockups in newer games (FEAR, HL2, FarCry) which result in either returning to the game with no sound, or a complete PC crash requiring a cold shutdown.

HOWEVER

I get no power warnings whatsoever. If power is the issue, wouldn't i get a message saying so?

Also, advance notice: I know PCPowerandCooling makes PSUs that can be put into Dell PCs, but they don't have one for the e510.

I'm not worried about voiding the warranty, as i can fix most problems that would occur myself. Here are my specs:

Dimension e510
p4 3.0 ghz w/ 2 mb L2 cache
1 GB of stock RAM
Stock 80 gb SATA HD
Audigy 4 (retail)
eVGA Geforce 6800 GS PCI-E (retail)

Soooo...anyone know where i can find a compatible PSU? Preferably one with 400w or greater and a dedicated PCI-E line.

OR

Is the problem not the PSU at all?

Also, when the sound goes out, if i stay in said game long enough, i will get all kinds of clicks and odd scratching noises, then the sound will either come back or wait another 5 minutes and repeat.

P.S. Onboard sound and video are disabled already, so that shouldn't be what's causing the problems.

Your PSU won't give you any warnings before it goes to hell. Go to here calecualte the power you need and buy the proper PSU from newegg.com. Try to enable your onboard sound and remove the PCI card, perhaps that's the problem.

,,

262 watts at peak, according to that site

i guess it isn't the PSU after all...but aren't the amps more important than the watts? I think i may only have 18 on my 12v rail

I play Call of Duty 4 fairly often...never had a problem, and I don't need a larger PSU. I have an E510 with a Geforce 8600GT that runs most of today's games fine.