power to graphics card

[rexcalhoone]

hello
I have a verto geforce fx 5200 graphics card, running on an IBM netvista
with a P3 1 GHz processor and 256 ram, running windows XP ,graphics card driver up to date, directx same. The question i would like to ask is if the graphics card wasn't getting the power it should, or if it was possibly. That it would decline its performance. I read that an average power source for a computer is about 250 - 300 watts. I looked up the power source for this machine of mine and it says that it only has a 155 watt power source, couldn't believe it at first but yes thats all it has. Could this be the reason for may graphics card not performing properly. I know your probably thinking that the G.C is a piece of junk anyway :suspiciou but it still should be performing better than it is. It would be great for anyone to help me out thanks in advance :grinthumb

 

[MrGaribaldi]

:wave: Hello & Welcome to TechSpot :wave:

It is very hard to judge if the card is performing as it should or not just without getting any numbers on how it performs...

But to ease your mind about the PSU, the p3 isn't a very power-hungry cpu, and IBM uses quality PSU's, so it shouldn't be a problem.
Though if you are experiencing graphics corruptions I could be mistaken (as they mostly appear when the g.c. is running faster than the voltage allows).

So if you explain what the problem of the g.c. is, we'd have an easier time helping you.
(Are you having graphics errors? What FPS are you getting in different games? What graphics settings are you using (both ingame and in the control-panel)?)

 

[Tarkus]

I think the answer is "No it's performance won't decline." If there is insufficient power the graphics card would suffer corrupted graphics (garbage displayed) as Mr G. said. The 5200 is on par with a Geforce4 MX in speed, also the P3-1000 is getting pretty long in the tooth too. Even a change to a AthlonXP 2000 would make a huge improvement in graphics performance over that CPU.

 

[Marshal103]

I have a 5200 myself, and although it's PCI, one of the requirements was at minimum a 250W power supply. So perhaps that might be hampering it.