psu for compaq presario sr1650nx

[theycallmespooky]

hey just joined and have a question about putting new PSU in my pc.
it only has a 325 watt PSU and i'm looking to buy a graphics card but need to upgrade this first. any suggestions on what would help up. want at least 500 watt.

some specs
Athon 64 3500+
1 gig ram
ati 200p integrated video chip
250 gig hdd
dvd burner
cd burner
soundcard

but video cards need more power

and a side note. since it has an ati gpu in it should i stick with an ati card or will nvidia work with it?

any way thanks for the help.

 

[imported_Kiwi]

1. I've never heard of any particular IGP causing more or less trouble with a separate discrete VGA card just because the two are based on competing GPU's.

2. The reputation of almost all branded PC's is very poor among performance PC fans. One reason is because of "Proprietary Parts". What that means is that a power supply for a Dell or HP or whatever is to often purposely different from the ATX standard. You would need to restrict your psu shopping search to only those aftermarket items that guarantee compability with your OEM brand.

3. A very large majority of branded PC's do not include the separate slot for a discrete VGA card (AGP until a year ago, and PCI-e now). If your computer is one of those, your choices from the VGA marketplace are minimal.

 

[Tom]

This pc has a standard power supply and a PCIE slot for graphics cards. I wouldn't be too sure you really need another power supply, oems like Compaq/ HP and Dell are often conservative in their power supply ratings.

It also has a socket939, dual channel memory capability, and the motherboard is made by Asus.

About the only thing it can't do that enthusiasts like to do is overclock.

 

[theycallmespooky]

hey thanks to the both of you.
it does have a PCI-E slot for a video card, but right now it runs Farcry, FEAR, and HL2. not at highest setting but they still look good with FPS from 28-43 depending on which game. i was concerned more with the motherboard maybe not being very good than the PSU. but hopefully when the price of the 6 month old video cards come down a bit i'll get one of those.

thanks again