Motherboard + Power Supply Question

[NEED WOW NOW]

Ello - Haven't been on here in ages(Blames WoW - Yes, I'm back in it - 2 Lvl's 80's working on 3rd - killed Lich King on main)

Annnnnnyyyway . . .
I have a friend in my guild that has a Dell Studio XPS 435MT and he wants to upgrade the video card. He called Dell and asked if he could get them to upgrade it and they said no because -

The video card he wants to upgrade to (5970) requires a 700 watt power supply and the motherboard can not handle a powersupply over 350 Watts. It's even more suppicious that the computer he has has a 475 Watt PSW too! Could Dell be pulling a blind one on my friend here?

Is there such thing as a motherboard that can't handle too much power?

 

[airsoftkid]

I don't think so, but that's coming from someone that has been asking questions like mad lately..

 

[Atomic Rooster]

ATI recommends at least 650 watts and there is no such thing as a motherboard that can't support high wattage power supplies.

 

[ACES WILD]

Dude I have a 435mt that I use as a home server, first thing I did to it was put it in a new case and throw a corsair 650TX in it, works like a champ. Only handling 370watt or whatever is absolute bull.
A side note, I bought mine from dell scratch and dent for like 500ish (with an i7 and 4gb of ram!) they are pretty nice machines but the board does kinda gimp the i7 920. Another side lol is the fact that mine with the 4gb of ram came with 4 1gb dimms I suppose for (3x1 in triple channel and an oddball but still). Also, Its a standard mATX board so tell your friend to get rid cramped space in that dell plastic and let it breathe in a new case.