Geting a new video card GeForce 7600 series,,,,,

[sirden1959]

Hey all,

I am not tech wiz but can upgrade, I play some games, use Photoshop cs2,
a cad program........

I am upgrading a video card some were under $200, pretty much decided to go with GeForce 7600 series, but it open to which one. So here is my system:

Intel (Essex2) Pentium 4 - 2.8 GHz (533MHz)
MEM DDR 1024MB PC333 32MX16 R0
Maxtor 120-GB 7M 60GPP Hard Disk Drive
300 Watt Power suppy
View Sonic 19" flat screen (single / DVI avaible)
Maxtor 120-GB 7M 60GPP Hard Disk Drive
HLDS DVD-RAM/-R/-RW/CD-RW Rambo 2 Drive R0

128MB NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440 (old one in use now)


Computer is a Gateway about 4 years old,,,yeah I know time to buy a new one.... Just got a new laptop, I want to upgrade this one for now...

So here ia what I need to know, with a 300 watt power supply what size of video card when thinking in watts? Will a 300 watt video card be pushing the limit? or should I go with some thing around 250 watts?

My thought was to go with 250 watts, but shoot I dont know...

sirden1959

 

[raybay]

When you use a top quality video graphics card, it is wise to improve your cooling system, any move up to 450 watt power supply, or more, and be sure you have more than adequate amounts of memory.
Most of the time, a 300 watt power supply will work fine, but when it fails, it can ruin the video graphics card and other components.

 

[wolfram]

For the 7600GT you can get away with a 300W quality PSU, for example an FSP Group one.

I highly recommend it, because I bet your current Gateway PSU won't do the job properly (it may freeze or overheat).