Video Card Upgrade

[youngflyer12]

Hey. Since my birthday is coming up, I decided to upgrade my video card to something a bit more powerful. Right now, I am looking at:
MSI NX8800GTS 512M OC GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 Newegg.com - MSI NX8800GTS 512M OC GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Desktop Graphics / Video Cards

It is just a couple bucks over my $150 budget. I am upgrading from a 7600GT, so I expect to very pleased from this card. I was thinking about getting two 8800GT 256MB OC cards for $70 each and arranging them in SLI mode. Decided against it.

So I just wanted some input about my choice. While I'm at it, does anyone have a link to a PSU calculator? I'm worried that this 8800GTS will be a power hog.

Thanks for all the help.
Tom
MCP

Specs:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+(65W) Windsor 2.2GHz Socket AM2 Processor
XCLIO GOODPOWER 500W ATX12V 500W Power Supply 115/230 V
GIGABYTE GA-M55SLI-S4 Socket AM2 NVIDIA nForce4 SLI ATX AMD Motherboard
eVGA GeForce 7600GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 Video Card
Western Digital Caviar 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
Western Digital Caviar 400GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
SONY Black DVD Burner
Corsair 2GB DDR2-675 XBS2-5400 Xtreme Performance Memory w/ Black Heat Spreader

 

[rkagin]

The card is fine in my opinion, but I don't know much about high end cards. Also, what do you mean by PSU calculator? Looking on google for how many watts a similar card takes, I found this:

"To its advantage, the 8800 GTS card requires less power than the GTX. Nvidia recommends at least a 450-watt power supply for a single GTX card and 400 watts for the GTS. Another potentially big difference between the two cards, depending on your current power supply: The GTS requires only a single connection to your power supply; the GTX needs two. Lastly, the GTS is also shorter than the rather lengthy GTX. "
- Nvidia GeForce 8800 GTS (640MB) Graphics Card reviews - CNET Reviews

Since you have a good 500W PSU, I assume you should be ok.

 

[veg1992]

Those PSU calculators are garbage, because there are many low-end 800w PSU's that can't even handle an 8800gts g92

The correct way to calculate if your PSU has enough power to use that Video Card is the Amps on the 12v Rails, looking at Newegg that Xclio is enough

But heres a better idea, get the 8800gt's 256mb SLI, sell them for a little more and use the money to buy a little better PSU, so that you're not cutting it close if you want to overclock that 4200+ (actually it won't go that far, Windsor's don't have much clocking power)