"Paul" wrote in message
Larry Stone wrote:
I have an 8800GTX and plan to add another. How critical is the power
supply. What happens if the PS is insufficient? The certified PS's
at slizone all cost at least $150.

Well, the question would be, how well behaved is your brand of power
supply, when it overheats ? Does it just cleanly shut off ?

That's a very good question. A couple of years ago THG tested thirty or
forty PSUs, including many big brand names, and about one third failed to
meet their own rated specs. Some just melted under the "torture" tests
(meaning they were expected to run at their own spec'd maximum rating).
PSUs are the most under-rated component of any PC.