hi all,
i'm upgrading to 1g thunderbird from 600,
256m ram to 512m
32m tnt agp to 128m radeon 9200
i have 250w supply ,i think i'll need more
300,350,400or more?
would anyone recommend any makes or models?

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k7 pro (ms-6195)
amd athlon 600 (k7600mtr51b)
2x128mg sdram pc100 3.3v (samsung)
3d power 32mb tnt2 m64 agp card
soundblaster pci 128
20gb 7200rpm h.d.
win 98se
250w psu

Depends on how good your PSU is(amperage on each rail) and what devices you're running(like HDDs, optical drives, fans, etc).

I think you should do the upgrade and then check whether your system is running 100% stable and whether your rails are within specs(+/- 5%).

Generally, about 300W should be sufficient for your setup, but if you're getting a new PSU anyways, you might want to get a 350-400W model from a good brand(e.g. Antec, Enermax) to have some headroom for future upgrades.

Btw, i'm running my 'VCR'-box off a 250W PSU - specs:

Athlon XP 1700+@1.83GHz(166x11.0), 1.5V Vcore
Chaintech 7NIF2 NForce2 IGP µ-ATX Motherboard(using integrated video)
2x256MB Infineon PC3200 DDR-SDRAM
40GB IBM Deskstar 7.2K rpm
Leadtek Winfast PCTV XP Expert(PCI-card)
Gigabit-Ethernet PCI-NIC

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The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.

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<center><font color=red>MODERATOR</center></font>

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AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 89W :: Asus M2N32SLI Deluxe :: 2x1024MB Muskin XP2-6400 DDR2-800 :: BeQuiet! Darkpower Pro 530W :: 2x WD Raptor 74GB/10k rpm, RAID 0 :: ATI Radeon X1950XTX

hi greyhound and all out there,
i have a 20g 7200 hd,
dvd rom,
cd-rw,
the regular fans,
how do i check system is running stable?
and what the [content edited] are my rails?

thanks in advance, chippy16

ps i didnt say anything really rude in the brackets-sounds like bell!

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k7 pro (ms-6195)
amd athlon 600 (k7600mtr51b)
2x128mg sdram pc100 3.3v (samsung)
3d power 32mb tnt2 m64 agp card
soundblaster pci 128
20gb 7200rpm h.d.
win 98se
250w psu

When I bought an Ati 9600xt, the box states that I needed at least a 250watt power supply, but 300watt was recommended. I had a 350watt Antec which the Ati tech I called said was more than adaquet(had to Ati and find out why my system wasn't booting with the card. Ended up being chipset/bios/mobo combination incompatability. Go figure). But back to the topic. Even the Ati tech stated that 250watts would have worked with my configuration, as long as I had a respectible name brand power supply. I asked him what the difference would be from a generic 300w supply to hear his reaction/response. He told me that cheap power supplies usually can't take a peak, or close to peak, load or spike such as with games or movie editting since these things demand a lot from cd drive,hard drive, cpu, and graphics cards, expecially if the program in question hits all of said hardware continously. He told me if I had 250w from a top namebrand that this would be ok. He also said that sometimes hes seen a really cheap 350w generic can't even handle a load of a good name brand at 250w. To bad I had to take back the Ati 9600xt, got it for $150 new (built by Ati).

My system has a Duron Applebred 1.8@1.944, 2 cd drives, floppy, 1gig ram, internal case fan to blow across the card, 3 intakes(one that blows on the hsf, and one to blow across the hard drive(last drive froze so got paranoid)), and to exhaust fans in back.

Ati tech laughed at me and said maybe if I had one more fan, I might need a bigger power supply but having a name brand psu is more important than the extra 50watts of a cheap one.

Besides, if you have the money for a bigger power supply, it's not a bad investment. If you can get by with the one you have now after upgrading cpu and card, then maybe the bigger psu name brands will be cheaper in a few months.

As for what was in the brackets, was it smell?

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AMD 64 3200+
2*512 GeIL Golden Dragon cas2 3-3-5 T1, NV6600GT@600*1050(I'll upgrade cards when you can get a graphics card that will out perform without having to spend 500 @&$%^# dollars for a new mobo and graphics card to see a notible difference in doom 3 and hl2......... or maybe I'm being budget picky).

QUOTE how do i check system is running stable?
Run Prime95' ">http://www.mersenne.org for atleast half an hour or better yet, run it overnight - if you don't get any errors your system is pretty stable.
Additionally, i recommend you run 3DMark 2K1/2K3 or play your favorite 3D game for an hour or two - videocards can eat lots of power...
QUOTE and what the [content edited] are my rails?
Your powersupply provides power in 'rails' of +/-12V, +/-5V and +/-3.3V as well as 5VSB(Stand-by power) to your motherboard...each voltage (like +12V for example) is called a rail and each rail has a +/-5% tolerance, so your +12V rail should be within 11.4-12.6V. If it is below 11.4V, your powersupply is most likely too weak.

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The opinions expressed above do not represent those of Advanced Micro Devices or any of their affiliates.

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<center><font color=red>MODERATOR</center></font>

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AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ 89W :: Asus M2N32SLI Deluxe :: 2x1024MB Muskin XP2-6400 DDR2-800 :: BeQuiet! Darkpower Pro 530W :: 2x WD Raptor 74GB/10k rpm, RAID 0 :: ATI Radeon X1950XTX