Question Computer power requirements

[Bj]

My dads computer is about 4 years old, and is very slow. I think it is hardware because a clean install of XP did nothing. I have this old PC that was sitting around in my room and I was thinking about doing a few upgrades before I give it to my dad.

I wanted to give the computer a graphics card, unfortunately the motherboard only supports PCI cards and the best card I could find is this EVGA e-Gforce 6200. The requirements on the website says that the cards minimum watage is 250. It just so happens that the powersupply that I have is a 250.

The problem is that I also will upgrade the CPU because the included CPU is a Pentium 4 1.5 GHz, compared to the Pentium 4 2.8 which he has currently. The 2.8 CPU requires a peek of about 70 watts. I went to this site and the site suggested that I have a 350 watt powersupply.

I am wondering if the 250 watt powersupply will work, or is it adviseable to also 'upgrade' the supply to a 3-400 watt.

 

[dbeachy1]

250 watts in a modern PC is quite marginal, particularly if the power supply is a generic brand (i.e., mediocre quality). 350 watts would be best for that PC, and given how inexpensive a good 350-watt power supply is now, replacing the power supply is a good idea. You can get a new 350-watt Antec power supply at NewEgg.com (Antec Basiq BP-350B) for 20 bucks.

 

[n122vu]

Agreed. 350 watts would be perfect for that machine. 400 would work, but in my opinion would be overkill.

I believe this is the one dbeachy1 was referring to (hope posting this link is ok)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371013

I have the 500W version of the Antec Basiq. Works great, quiet, no complaints.

 

[Quick_Nick]

I have this graphics card: http://www.bfgtech.com/bfgr62256ocp.aspx
(BFG nVidia GeForce 6200 Over-Clocked 256MB PCI)
I think it's very similar to the one you're looking at, and it also requires 250W. I'm pretty sure I have only the minimum wattage and everything runs fine. (I'm not completely sure though)

 

[garyw]

What they said.... as an example I upgraded a machine and replaced the 300w power supply with a 600w supply. The applications were a lot faster and some of the video rendering tools actually showed a reduction in time of 50%.... Just from upgrading the power.

 

[Quick_Nick]

What they said.... as an example I upgraded a machine and replaced the 300w power supply with a 600w supply. The applications were a lot faster and some of the video rendering tools actually showed a reduction in time of 50%.... Just from upgrading the power.

Awesome!... I should probably do that some time then.

 

[RisingFury]

Definitely upgrade the power supply. After a few years, the max power the supply can provide will drop a bit, so even if you're running the numbers just on edge, it won't be enough for the comp and you can experience stuff like BSoDs, shut-offs and reboots or even problems booting...