Power Supply question

[willo]

I have an emachines 2800+ Xp machine with a 250 watt PSU.

I am going to purchase a 256MB Radeon 9600 AGP. Do I need to worry about the PSU? If so, can I swap? Thanks folks

 

[agissi]

Its hard, a 9600 isnt a power hungry ground breaking card, but a 250w is really low.

If you have the money I'd do it to be safe, otherwise if it would be a big struggle I'd roll the dice & stick with the current psw. I recon you'd be ok but you never know. Maybe someone would have a better insight here.

 

[olefarte]

Like willo, I'm thinking of upgrading my video card, and I've got a 250 watt power supply. If I "roll the dice", what are the chances of any permanent damage to anything.

 

[Nodsu]

There should be no damage. You may get stability issues, so save often during the test period

What video card are you getting and what system do you have at the moment? We might be able to tell you to buy a new PSU right away.

 

[agissi]

Ive heard that damage can happen, such as the card dying from a little less electricity than it should get after a long period of time but never bought it.

As nodsu said, depending on the card, it may not be power hungry, or it may be and we can let you know if you need a better psu right out the of gate.

So no damage, just maybe stabiliy, or it just wont work, but I recon you could get by just fine on a 9600 with a 250w. Not a 9700 or 9800, but 9600 most probably.

 

[willo]

reower supply on emachines

It is the emachines 2686 XP 2600+

I don't mind doing the swap myself up to 400W or so-rather avoid it if I could, however.

Thanks for your help/responses

 

[olefarte]

I think you are going to tell me to buy a new power supply right away. In my case, I've already got a 9700 Pro, that came with my Gateway 700XL, (rest of my specs in my profile). It has the stock power supply at 250 watts.

I'm thinking of getting a 800XT or 6800GT, kind of leaning toward the ATi. And I DO know these are power hungry cards, but my budget will be stretched with just getting the card, even without getting a new power supply, that's the reason for my question. I don't want to get a new card and then ruin it. But I might take a chance and get a new card, if I'm not taking a risk of doing any physical damage to anything in my PC.

Edit: I think that ATi said that the 9700 Pro needed a 300 watt power supply, but it has run fine on the 250 watt that Gateway so generously provided.

 

[Imp]

if you are seriously thinking about getting 1 of those high end cards then i would certainly upgrade my power supply to a 350w minimum and if possible go for a 450w or higher, that way you know for sure that your system will never be able to demand more power than your PSU is providing