Power Supply Question...

[Qballbandit]

First off, I am sorry that I can't tell you the name of the PS I have currently, only that it is a 350w unit. I want to upgrade to a 9800pro vid card, and was wondering (because I have heard it's a PS killer) if I will need a PS upgrade as well. What should I be checking to kind of do my own homework on this???
Specs are all below, and I am currently running a 9600pro.
Other than modem, sound card, and vid card - all my other slots are not being used at this time.

Thanks ya'all!!

Neil :7

AMS Athlon XP3000 (333fsb)
Asus A7N8X nvidia nForce II Ultra 400 mobo
ATI Radeon 9600 pro, 128mb
1024 Corsair PC3200 ddr 400 (at 333)
WINXP Pro, dx9b
4 Case Fans

[loki]

The minimum recommended for a 9800Pro is 300W I believe, so you should be fine. How many hard drives and CD/DVD drives do you have? These will probably use more power than the modem or sound card. If you have more than one or two of each, you could be hitting the limits. A good quality 350W+ Antec, Enermax power supply won't cost very much if you are really worried.

No name power suppplies don't always provide the power they say though. If you live in a very hot environment, that will reduce the power available too.

loki

[Qballbandit]

Hi LOKI!!!!
Thanks alot. I have one Hard drive, and one CD/DVD drive. I am pretty sure the 350w unit I have is an Antec - but I will check. I kind of forgot about those devices, thanks for reminding me. If I had more confidence in installing a newer 400 or 450 watt PS, I wouldn't worry so much. I know they are not very expensive, but don't want to pay somebody else to do it, and I don't want my PC in the shop for days until they can get to it.
I will get the card and see how she runs!

Thanks again,

Neil :7

[loki]

If it is an Antec PS unit, then you shouldn't have any trouble. Give it a try and see what happens.

Replacing a power supply isn't very difficult unless it's something like a customized Dell model. If you are comfortable with a screw driver and don't mind opening your computer, it's pretty straight forward.

Let us know how it goes with the vid card. Good luck!

loki

[aigean]

yeah im with loki, just try it. the worst that can happen is that your vid card will crash and you'll know to beef up your ps.

[Qballbandit]

Yep,
And I am ok with adding devices like cards, swapping a hard drive, or installing a cd unit, and og course changing memory. But the power supply thing just looked alittle more involved. All the "smart cabling" in my case makes it harder for me to see where everything travels, because it's all one cylinder of wires now, but if I take the time, I could probably do it without problems...heh, heh....

Thanks alot guys!

Neil :7

[aigean]

yeah, if you can swap out the other stuff, you can do a power supply no problem. it's pretty much a no brainer, just take your time.

[burnside]

Neil,

I just updated my video card to a 9800 Pro and no problem with my 350 watt power supply. I'm running a Intel 2.53 ghz, 2 hard drives, a cd read/write drive and a DVD CD drive, plus 3 case fans.

My advice is to make sure you have enough case cooling capacity - the 9800 Pro has a good cooling fan, but something has to move that hot air out of the case.

Dale

[fbobum]

Was just curious after reading this thread; where can one find what PS is adequate/recommended for a particular item, i.e. a video card? Is this something available on the box, product website, online stores?...Thanks.

[SPOFF]

FBOBUM: In the case of the ATI Radeon 9800 PRO, the minimum 300W power supply requirement is printed on the outside of the box it comes in under "System Requirements". The ATI websight "should" have that info as well. SPOFF