Video Cards And Power Source

I wanted to buy a Radeon 9200 since it is relativly cheap, however I'm not sure about my powersource it is 250w and my other specs are AMD Athlon XP 2200+ and 256mb Ram.

I've read in many places about changing them due to the power needed by this cards. However, I am reluctant to change my power source because it is for the Micro ATX Form factor, which arent so common in my area plus I dont want to pay for an extra one.

I wanted to know if it is that necesssary and what might happen if I keep the 250 w one?

Thanks in advance.

#88075

check the power consumed by the card in relation to the peripherals you have attached to the computer. If all you have is the cd/dvd and floppy, then you might be okay.

#88080

All I have attached as PCI card is a not working/unconfigure Modem, which I will detach later. A CDRW Drive, a DVD Drive, Floppy. The Motherboard has 6 USB 2.0 ports, lan, sound, and a crappy S3 ProSavageDDR as graphics card. Plus the normal ports(printing, serial, etc.)

#88084

You should be fine, radeon 9200's probably won't need to much as far as power goes, besides, even if u can't get the needed power, it'll be such a slight downgrade in performance that u prolly won't even notice.

#88435

You'll be fine with what you have.....although if you plan on using any other pci slots for anything I would recommend upgrading the power supply.....they are relatively cheap.

#88453

The worst thing that will happen is that your computer wont start up. Its worth a shot, go for it.

#88457

ok i have worked a lot of systems that people have tryed to do what you are doing, get by with a weaker/smaller ps. if i rememeber the 9200 needs something like 300-350 watts. now you can get buy with the 250 but you will be replacing it in about a month from burning it out with the video card. not only this but i have seen when the power supply goes the sometimes it takes your chip and even your ram with it. now atx it designed in such a way that when something happens to it it "should" just kill the ps but when you are trying to run something that is takeing more power then ps has to give thats when i have seen chips and ram go down too.

before you go and try and get buy check pricewatch.com they have really cheap stuff. a cheaper 350 ps is better then a ps that doesnt have the juice needed. take it from an old pro dont risk it. you will have to replace the ps in a month anyway. just take care of it all now.

hope this helps

Sebek

#88697

Thanks for the answers, as I said my case is microATX, so I think that my power supply too, it should be smaller. I live in Mexico, so I cant really buy those parts from foreing stores, plus they dont send electronics/computer parts out of their country. I woudl really like to get this card, but I dont want to ruin my powersupply or even worst my computer. So Sebek, you recommend me to get something more potent?

I will try to see if I can find some microATX power supplyies arround here, but I really doubt it. Also, on ATI webpage it says for more powerfull models like 9600, 9800 to have atleast 300w, but for the others like the one im interested in(9200) dont mention a minimum in power supply. Im looking through ATI website, but I cant seem to find some useful installation, I think I'm gonna mail ATI support.

Thanks for the feedback.

#88763

mmr,

u could calculate your pc power requirement here:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Hope this could help you.

cheers

-enenius

#88792

I was looking for something like that, however it says that my actual needs are 220, which are acceptable for my current needs, but If I add the card I desire, it says I need 279, which exceeds waht my system can actually support. Im gonna look for more information, I emailed ATI support but they repleid me automated stuff which wont even help me. Im gonna try to look more specifcly to my current pontence needs.

Thanks for the link.

#88794

Originally posted by Sebek@Dec 13 2003, 08:26 PM

ok i have worked a lot of systems that people have tryed to do what you are doing, get by with a weaker/smaller ps.  if i rememeber the 9200 needs something like 300-350 watts.  now you can get buy with the 250 but you will be replacing it in about a month from burning it out with the video card.  not only this but i have seen when the power supply goes the sometimes it takes your chip and even your ram with it.  now atx it designed in such a way that when something happens to it it "should" just kill the ps but when you are trying to run something that is takeing more power then ps has to give thats when i have seen chips and ram go down too. 

before you go and try and get buy check pricewatch.com they have really cheap stuff.  a cheaper 350 ps is better then a ps that doesnt have the juice needed.  take it from an old pro dont risk it.  you will have to replace the ps in a month anyway.  just take care of it all now.

hope this helps

Sebek

uhh please dont listen to him :banging:

#88801

may I know what brand of PS you are using? is it mATX PS?

I am also using MicroATX PS, which come with my HTPC case, D.Vine 5 (www.ahanix.com). The brand of PS they gave me is SilenX 200W. My system is AMD Barton 2500+, Abit NF7-S, 512MB DDR, 1xDVD combo, ATI Radeon 9600Pro, 120GB SATA, but I have no problem what so ever until now. It is not the total wattage that matters, it is the continous power and the maximum power each rail can support.

#88826

Im alittle confused about the MicroATX or ATX power supply, since my case is MicroATX, I thought my PSU was also mATX, but I measured it and has this measures 14cm X 15cm X 8.5cm and according to a store who sells a ATX PSU have this measures. I havent measured the other of an old computer which as ATX. It is 250w, so you say that your system supports it having 200w PSU? That sounds great.

The brand of my current PSU is BESTEC model says ATX-250-12E Rev P6, I had no luck getting information about this PSU, ill try to look for more, but are you sure that having 200w is enough for your system? I was looking for an applicatino that could calculate my current wattage needs, but no luck at all.

Ill try to look for more information, but I wont buy the card unless it works with my current configuration. I dont want to buy something extra.

#88840

having a mATX case doesn't mean u have mATX PSU. I think normally it is called mATX case bcoz u need to install a mATX mobo. so, you better check whether u can have standard ATX PSU or not in your case. If you can, then it is a good news. there's a lot of brand for ATX PSU out there. and most important is you can go to the highest watt available like 400w or 500w.

for me, I'm stuck with mATX PSU only, 200w is the highest watt I can find. nevermind, it is for htpc uses only and still runs fine

#88876

it wont take effect, just plug ur radeon, ur comp will start normally, i used 250watt psu the cheap one, i used power hungry Athlon slot A version that time, with 2 harddrive, 2 usb peripheral, dvd-rom, its still boot, and works normal

#88910

Thanks people for the output I was really thinking in getting it, but I think it is too much money since for the exact cash I could replace my motherboard for a better one with an integrated nVidia gForce 4, and some clain it can share up to 128mb. I would really like to get it to play better, but I better keep saving cash for in 1 year or so, update the motherboard of my computer and the graphics card too. This thread helped me to see about this, so next time I will now how to choose. I had in my plans to upgrade all my computer in a year or so.

thanks a lot for the feedback and hope this thread can help others.

#88916