wrote:
I'd like to thank everyone who replied to my first question. I just opened
the case for the information on the sticker and here it is:
Power Supply

Model ATX 300 - 12z

300w MAX

12,19A, 0.8A
5 30A, +5vsb 2A
33 28A

+5v + 3.3V 180W MAX
5v & +12v 28w Max

Like I said I'd like a decent nvidia video card. Not much on gaming,
however. My current card is a nvidia 7500LE w/256 memory.

Thanks again!

To answer the question, we still need to see a hardware inventory.

HP model number
Processor speed, amount of cache, socket - i.e. P4 3.06GHz FSB533 512KB L2 S478
# of hard drives
# of optical drives

The HP model number, is so I can look up the motherboard and do some
background checks (like what cards might be usable). The rest of it,
is trying to identify the major consumers of power. You've already
told me you had a 7500LE, so I can look up what kind of power that
used, just for reference. (Not all cards have power numbers, and some
sources of info have disappeared from the web.)

Also, I'm missing the point on the video card upgrade. You say you are
"not much on gaming". What aspect of the card would you like to improve ?
If you are not looking for a "barn burner" of a 3D card, there is quite
a good chance that a low end upgrade will work with your supply.

For example, an X1950Pro is a recent ATI card (a barn burner) that was made
available in AGP form. It uses 65W-70W of power, and would require doing the
calculations to check whether there is enough +12V or not. There are also cards
that might be down at the 16W level, but it is unclear to me how that would be
better than your current card. The new card might support a later version
of DirectX. It might have DVI and VGA connectors. Maybe the fan on your
old card was loud, and you're hoping the new card will be quiet. But
there has to be something in particular you were hoping to get from this.

Also, in the above label info you've copied:

+12V @ 19A, -12V @ 0.8A,
+5V @ 30A, +5VSB @ 2A
+3.3V @ 28A

+5v + 3.3V 180W MAX (this seems reasonable)
5v & +12v 28w Max (this one must be a typo - do you mean 280W ?)

You can look at this for some background info. I assume the 7500LE is AGP
and this discusses AGP upgrading. The second link is some benchmarks, so
you can compare potential gaming performance (3D performance). On 2D
performance, people don't benchmark that anymore, on the assumption that
all cards are relatively the same. (Which is why I'm asking what you hope
to get from the upgrade. The 2D might be a little faster, but I have no
way to compare and tell you by how much.) The third link is missing a few
cards, but gives parameters for the various cards.

http://www.playtool.com/pages/agpcompat/agp.html
http://www23.tomshardware.com/graphics.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/gpudb/

Something like this won't use too much power. I would think a swap of
this for the 7500LE would be about equal on power. The only gotcha
with cards like this one, is they have a Molex 1x4 connector (same as
is used on a disk drive) on the end of the video card. You have to plug
in a disk drive power connector, to get the video card to work. For a
card like this, not a lot of amperes will be drawn. You can get a "Y"
cable from Radio Shack, to turn a single disk drive cable, into two
connectors. The wires aren't that long though.

CHAINTECH GSA73GT GeForce 7300GT 256MB 128-bit GDDR2 AGP 4X/8X $100
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814145139

Also, video cards like this, sometimes use an undersized cooler, and
then the fan has to run faster and louder to do its job. With the
HSI bridge chip (small heatsink near the AGP connector), that chip can
make it hard to find a quieter aftermarket replacement cooler. In the
reviews, nobody mentioned the fan as being loud, so maybe that card
is OK, and you won't have to search for a replacement cooler soon
after you get the card.

Paul