Newbie's questions about power supplies

I am planning to upgrade my video card for video editing (my old GeForce4 MX
420, 64MB just isn't cutting it). The card I am thinking of getting (XFX
GeForce 6200, 256 MB DDR2, AGP) "requires a minimum 350 watt power supply".
At the moment, my pre-installed PSU is only 250 watts. Does that mean that
the card will not function at all with the lesser power supply? Will I fry
it (or other internal components) if I try to use the 250W PSU? What will
actually happen if I use an underpowered PSU?

The reason I am concerned about replacing the PSU is that I have a Dell
Dimension 8250 and someone told me that Dell often uses proprietary PSUs so
that off-the-shelf PSUs won't fit. Does anyone know if this model can
accommodate another PSU (I've tried to research it, but have not been able
to find an answer which is why I am asking here). Short of taking the
computer apart to measure the PSU, is there a way to determine this? Has
anyone out there replaced the PSU on a Dim 8250?

And assuming my PC can accommodate another PSU, any recommendations for
brands to get or brands to stay away from? Would getting a higher power PSU
(like 400W or 450) offer any advantage over the 350 that the video card
wants? My video capture card and DVD burner are both external with their own
power.

Thank you very much for any information you can give me to help sort this
all out.

Laura

"Ahroo" wrote in message
.net...
I am planning to upgrade my video card for video editing (my old GeForce4
MX 420, 64MB just isn't cutting it). The card I am thinking of getting (XFX
GeForce 6200, 256 MB DDR2, AGP) "requires a minimum 350 watt power supply".
At the moment, my pre-installed PSU is only 250 watts. Does that mean that
the card will not function at all with the lesser power supply? Will I fry
it (or other internal components) if I try to use the 250W PSU? What will
actually happen if I use an underpowered PSU?

There's a 90% chance the new card will work just fine on the 250W PSU. The
6200 uses less than 25W at maximum load. The fact of the matter is, most
board venders heavily overstate a product's PSU requirements to get a good
safety margin, because there are a lot of cheap PSUs on the market that
cannot deliver their advertised power ratings. Dell PSUs are of decent
quality. 250W really is 250W.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

There's a 90% chance the new card will work just fine on the 250W PSU. The
6200 uses less than 25W at maximum load. The fact of the matter is, most
board venders heavily overstate a product's PSU requirements to get a good
safety margin, because there are a lot of cheap PSUs on the market that
cannot deliver their advertised power ratings. Dell PSUs are of decent
quality. 250W really is 250W.

Thanks for your reply. It's good to know that my current PSU might work
fine. But if it doesn't - what would happen? Can I harm anything by trying
to use it, or will the video card just not work to its fullest capacity or
at all? Thanks again!

Ahroo wrote:
I am planning to upgrade my video card for video editing (my old GeForce4 MX
420, 64MB just isn't cutting it). The card I am thinking of getting (XFX
GeForce 6200, 256 MB DDR2, AGP) "requires a minimum 350 watt power supply".
At the moment, my pre-installed PSU is only 250 watts. Does that mean that
the card will not function at all with the lesser power supply? Will I fry
it (or other internal components) if I try to use the 250W PSU? What will
actually happen if I use an underpowered PSU?

I think that requirement is rather bogus - no AGP card can use more than
20 watts without an extra power connector in any case, and I doubt a
6200 is even close to that..

The reason I am concerned about replacing the PSU is that I have a Dell
Dimension 8250 and someone told me that Dell often uses proprietary PSUs so
that off-the-shelf PSUs won't fit. Does anyone know if this model can
accommodate another PSU (I've tried to research it, but have not been able
to find an answer which is why I am asking here). Short of taking the
computer apart to measure the PSU, is there a way to determine this? Has
anyone out there replaced the PSU on a Dim 8250?

I'm pretty sure the 8200 and later Dell machines use standard power
supplies so you could replace it if you really wanted to. I don't think
you really need to however.

--
Robert Hancock Saskatoon, SK, Canada
To email, remove "nospam" from
Home Page: http://www.roberthancock.com/

There's no danger to the hardware. Modern PSUs have internal overcurrent
protection and will simply shut down if overloaded, or if there's a
short-circuit.

Some symptoms of an underpowered PSU:
- Difficulty doing "cold boot" first thing in the morning.
- Lockups, crashes (and occasionally even texture corruption) when the
system is heavily loaded, typically in a game.

In the extremely unlikely event you'll need a new PSU, examine the 20-pin
motherboard connector and make sure the wires conform to the standard ATX
arrangement (Google for it). Some PC OEMs have been known to use proprietary
wire layouts.

--
"War is the continuation of politics by other means.
It can therefore be said that politics is war without
bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed."

"Ahroo" wrote in message
...
Thanks for your reply. It's good to know that my current PSU might work
fine. But if it doesn't - what would happen? Can I harm anything by trying
to use it, or will the video card just not work to its fullest capacity or
at all? Thanks again!