Video card watts requirements question

[Atomic Rooster]

oops.

 

[DPtheGod]

So, I bought a video card from newegg.com and I saw that it required a minimum of 250 watts. Well, it was a typo on newegg. The box says it requires a minimum of 350 watts or greater.

Does this mean I have to return it? I read on another board through research that it can still support it, it's just the PSU can't support the high-end cards. Apparently, this card isn't high-end according to newegg reviews and feedback from here.

What can / should I do? I DESPERATELY need to change my video card... my current one takes up a crapload of memory, as it uses shared.

 

[Atomic Rooster]

What video card is it and what system is it going into? Do you know the specs of your current power supply?

 

[Prodigy146]

trust me man you dont need to match specs. i ran a Jaton 8600GT (Minimum of 450 Watts) on my 300 watt dell psu.. turns out my whole system only used 180watts under load w/8600GT (Played COD4 for 2 hours before test)

So depending on the video card you should be fine

 

[DPtheGod]

Ehh, not sure about the specs of the power supply. The PC build itself is a HP Pavilion a6120n. I haven't changed anything in it, except for adding another 2GB of ram. It's this model right here:

http://h10010.www1.hp.com/wwpc/ca/e...3158-12133158-12133158-80230663-80443888.html

I currently have a NVIDIA GeForce 7100 GS installed. It's brutal to my machine

The video card I ordered is:

XFX PVT86JYAHG GeForce 8500 GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

 

[Atomic Rooster]

You'll be fine with a 8500GT. They only require a 300W PSU and really aren't that power hungry. They have been known to run on lower rated power supplies.

 

[Prodigy146]

i cant find psu specs for your model, but i've never seen an OEM supply less than a 300watt to a intel core 2 duo.

So yeah your good

 

[DPtheGod]

Ahh sweet, thanks guys! I heard from a friend in class that there's a chance it will not provide the best graphics it can. Is that true?

Also, am I supposed to install the drivers before or after slapping it into my motherboard?

 

[Prodigy146]

I just checked the 8500GT. And the guys whole comp with the 8500GT under load used 160watts.. and the guy a had a core 2 duo oc'ed at 3.2ghz

So youll have full performance but your processor might cause bottlenecking

 

[DPtheGod]

Would I face that issue if I don't overclock my CPU? I've kept it where it's at ever since I bought it. I probably should OC it, though, huh? Problem is I've never really looked up how to. haha