Apparently my computer has a 300 watt power supply. I am wanting to purchase a new graphics card but apparently in order to get a better graphics card then my existing card, Geforce 8400, I need a larger power supply.What will I need to purchase to increase the power supply to 500 watt and is it really worth buying all this? I am thinking I might aswell save up a bit more and buy a new computer.Any help apprietiated, thank you.
Replacing okorder /... That link sorts the power supplies (ones in the 500 to 600 Watt range) by customer rating. DON'T cheap out on a power supply, you will only have headaches down the road. Stay away from companies like Rosewil and HEC for power supplies. I love the Antec brand, been using them in my PC builds forever (15+ years). Also, look for ones with a 120mm fan, they are a lot quieter. One note.... some computer manufacturers use a non-standard power supply, and you cannot retro-fit a standard ATX style power supply in their case. I have an old Dell that uses a really long and slim power supply that sits at the bottom of the case, and I am stuck with it unless I buy an upgrade from Dell (which aint gonna happen).
between the answerers above claimed a computing gadget in use is like having on a 40watt bulb. properly, in case your 40watt bulb attracts about one hundred and fifty-200watts, i ought to heavily ask for my funds back. i have checked countless the computers i have owned with a skill-intake meter, and they have a tendency to apply between one hundred and fifty-200watts. skill is measured in watt/hours, so a computing gadget like this left on for an hour ought to apply 200watt/hours of electricity. those computers have had processors contained in the a million.5Ghz-2GHz variety. once you're utilising a very quick processor and also you do a great number of gaming with a posh portraits card equipped, you should probably stick yet another one hundred-150watts onto that. A CRT reveal screen makes use of a honest quantity of skill too - my previous 15inch one averages about 80watts. liquid crystal reveal visual reveal unit instruments have a tendency to be a lot less skill hungry than CRTs. Leaving computers on even as they are no longer in use isn't only a waste of money yet obviously also an uneccessary contribution to international warming. yet another aspect to bear in mind is that digital elements have restricted lifespans, in a lot of situations measured in tens or 1000's of 1000's of hours. Capacitors (you'll discover a great number of those on your skill grant and on your motherboard) have shorter lifespans than many different elements, significantly shorter in the adventure that they are run in warmth or warm environments.
There's nothing you can buy to boost your existing power supply - you have to buy a complete new one. Luckily though power supplies are relatively cheap. You can find a 500w supply for around $30-60.
it depends on what you have in your existing computer. I did a quick check regards power consumption on a couple of different set ups and you could well get by with out having to change your PSU at all if you chose the right video card. I checked an Athlon II 250 with 2 sticks of DDR2 a single hard drive and a single burner with your card and then changed to a Radeon 4670 and a 5670. Both the Radeons did not need to have a PSU bigger than 350W. I next checked a Pentium D at 2.8GHz (yup a P4 roaster) with a similar set up and video cards and was quite surprised that it would make do with a 400W unit. I have been quite impressed with the performance and low power usage of the recent Radeon cards, especially the mid and low end ones. As a 300W unit was mostly used in low end boxes, you may indeed want to consider a new machine. I find that the current crop has some real interesting low and middle range offerings starting at about $400. YMMV. BTW a 500W unit is a decent choice if you intend on keeping your box and upgrading it. Good luck.
It is actually cheaper to buy a new pc than upgrade a lot of parts. One problem is that a lot of new pcs come with only 300 or 350w power supplies. You can order a good pc at Cyberpower, Inc. and choose your parts, then they will build it. I have 2 of their pcs and like them both a lot.
