Will the Dell XPS 8300 run the AMD Radeon HD 6870 with 460w of power supply with any problems even while overclocking

Ok, what is the best graphics card I could run on my Dell XPS 8300 even maxed out without any problems?

You should be able to get away with a 7850. According to Anandtech, total system power draw at load is under 300 watts.

Of course, you could always change the power supply, like I did with my XPS 7100. Note that you are limited to power supplies with a length of 5.9 inches; longer ones won't fit, as I discovered with my 600-watt OCZ Fatality.

I think this is incorrect.  Looking at what Dell shipped:

en.community.dell.com/.../19383996.aspx

"I have a Dell XPS 8300 with a Radeon HD 6870 graphics card, both factory installed by Dell.  The PSU is the conventional 460 watt version and there is only one 6 pin PCIe connector coming from the PSU, which has been split between the two sockets on the video card."

...and even retail ones seem to work:

en.community.dell.com/.../19445281.aspx

"I purchased a XFX Double D HD-687A-ZDFC Radeon HD 6870 and it fit very easily in my XPS 8300.  It is whisper-quiet, and the operating temperature is very cool.  No modifications to the power supply."

Your thinking is not based on testing.

There are versions of the power supply that DO support High end Radeon's and there are versions that

DO NOT and would cause DAMAGE.

There are multiple versions of power supply for the XPS 8300.  If you did not purchase a High end card it is EXTREMELY LIKELY that you must update your power supply to add a 6770. The models that come with this card have a 460W power supply.

Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products

Corsair TX850 V2 for example.

If you got a low end model you also got the low end power supply.

GCJ42 Radeon HD5770 P120A
Area-51, 1.2KW OR 1.1KW power supply
Aurora-R2, 875w or 525w power supply
Aurora, 875w or 525w power supply
XPS 8300, 460w power supply
Studio XPS 9100, 525w power supply
Studio XPS 8100, 350w power supply
Studio XPS 7100, 460w power supply
Studio XPS 435T, 475w power supply

DW5CW Radeon HD5970 E120A
Area-51, 1.2KW OR 1.1KW power supply
Aurora-R2, 875w or 525w power supply
Aurora, 875w or 525w power supply
Studio XPS 9100, 525w power supply


Area-51
KGTGV 1.2KW, 240VA, Flextronics (NOT Interchangeable with Y915P)
Y915P 1.2KW, 216VA, Flextronics (PSU-J297R including Bracket)
G821T 1.1KW, UPC, Hipro
R622G 1.1KW, UPC, Delta (Interchangeable with W301G)
W301G 1.1KW, UPC, Hipro (Interchangeable with R622G)
TK034 1KW
U662D 1KW, PFC, HiPro
UR006 1KW, PFC, Delta

Aurora-R3
HNRP3 875w
J556T 875w, UPC, Hipro,
W299G 875w, UPC, Delta (Interchangeable with U595G)
W85G8 525w

Aurora-R2
W299G 875w Delta 85% EPA UPC
J556T 875w Hipro Silver UPC
0G05V 525w Hipro 85% EPA UPC
U597G 525w Delta 85% EPA UPC

Aurora
W299G 875w Delta 85% EPA UPC
J556T 875w Hipro Silver UPC
U595G 875w Hipro 85% EPA UPC
X008G 525w Hipro 85% EPA UPC
0G05V 525w Hipro 85% EPA UPC
U597G 525w Delta 85% EPA UPC

XPS 8300
2Y8X1 460w Delta
7P3WV 460w Huntkey
WY7XX 460w Acbel

Studio XPS 9100
7JVXX 525w, PFC, Delta7 (Cannot Support ATI Radeon HD 5970 - DW5CW)
28W2K 525w, PFC, Chicony (Cannot Support ATI Radeon HD 5970 - DW5CW)
M1J3H 525w, PFC, Delta7 (Supports ATI Radeon HD 5970 - DW5CW)
V4NC2  525w, PFC, Chicony (Supports ATI Radeon HD 5970 - DW5CW)

Studio XPS 8100
J130T 350w, NPFC, Delta
K159T 350w, NPFC, Liteon

Studio XPS 7100
7YC7C 460w, PFC, Acbel
8FC6W 460w, PFC, Bestec
DGX9R 460w, PFC, Delta

Studio XPS 435T/9000
F217J 475w

Oh, hey, thank you for agreeing with me.  Take a look at the OP.

XPS 8300, 460W PSU, Radeon 6870.  

I had meant to reply specifically to you so it may be unclear and for that I apologize.  However, let's look at what you quoted:

XPS 8300

2Y8X1 460w Delta

7P3WV 460w Huntkey

WY7XX 460w Acbel

Pretty much everything else you quoted were for models that were not relevant.  So, I guess, please give a breakdown on what the differences between the Delta, Huntkey, and Acbel PSUs are.  You're also referencing a Radeon 6770 and ADDING a card while it's pretty obvious the OP is replacing the existing card with another one.  I'm giving you that one in case you somehow thought the OP wanted to have two video cards in the system in which case, yeah, the PSU might not be up to that.

Regardless of that, in real world testing, you'll see that even under load, a strained CPU and GPU aren't going to blow out the PSU:  techreport.com/.../15  305W under load for both.

If you bother to search the interwebs for "XPS 8300 Radeon 6870" you'll find many people asking this same question and several hits where people actually purchased retail cards and put them into their XPS 8300s without issue.  Several hits on Tom's Hardware forums, if memory serves.

So if you can give a breakdown of what amps are being pushed out on different rails for those three PSUs that the XPS 8300 seems to use, cool.  That'll explain your position.  However, truth be told, it looks like you just copied and pasted some other forum posts, formatting and all, as a reply.

For relevance, I have two XPS 8300s.  Cracking the case on one, which I'm going to put a 6870 in in a few weeks (which is why I searched this topic in the first place) shows it to be the Delta part number, 02Y8X1.  

+12VA = 18A

+12VB = 16A

+12VC = 8A

+5V = 25A

+3.3V = 17A

-12V = 0.3A

+5Vaux = 2A

+5 and +3.3 combined = 142W

+12A and +12B and +12C combined = 385W

There's a data point for you.  If I remember to post here again after I get the 6870, I'll post the results, positive or negative.  I've already swapped out a 5670 or something similar (I forget, it's in an HTPC now) in the wife's XPS 8300 for a Nvidia GTX 460.  I didn't check her power supply but I surmise it's the same since we both got the same 2600's, the high-end configuration.  So I guess that means the PSUs will be the same and are the high-end ones?  Or would they change based on the GPU added to the SKU?

Regardless, looks like the model I have, the EVGA GTX 460 FTW, is drawing more power in real life than the 6870 does:

www.tomshardware.com/.../evga-geforce-gtx-460-ftw-01g-p3-1378-tr-overclocked,2795-14.html

So I guess my thinking is based not only on my own testing but also the testing of various review sites plus anecdotes from other actual Dell XPS 8300 users who have not only ordered the preconfigured Radeon 6870 but also added retail ones after purchase.  I am not unfamiliar with different Dell SKUs having different abilities, notably the Inspiron 410 which I love having a specific motherboard and PSU that can accept quad-core CPUs whereas other revisions of the Gigabyte-OEM motherboards only accept dual-core CPUs.  If there are different motherboard revisions for the XPS 8300 you may be onto something, but in the 410's case it had different wattage in the PSU, not the same wattage for each model.

Anyway, I look forward to finding out more information on the XPS 8300 PSU SKUs from you.

Ok, it took a while longer to get the 6870 than I anticipated, but I got it and it works fine.  Played some Borderlands 2 at max settings at 1920x1200.  While it did slow a bit in the fps, the PSU was able to let the video card pump out the pixels without dying.  I wanted to post a followup in case anyone else finds this thread with the same question.  The card is better performing than the 6760 or whatever was OEM in this Dell.  The driver calls it a "6700 series" and it didn't specify on the casing when I took it out.

The 6-pin connectors coming from the PSU are both on the same line.  I guess Dell feels confident on the power this PSU puts out and didn't feel the need to run a separate line out from the PSU (on different rails?) for the second 6-pin connector.  The driver on the 6870 calls it a "6800 series".  I kinda wish the drivers actually told you the model numbers nowadays but I guess that's neither here nor there--you can download some other tools that'll tell ya.  The card is running at 900 MHz, some PowerColor card.  I don't think it's factory overclocked

Hope this helps someone else looking to upgrade their XPS 8300.