Member Avatar for VivaDaWolf

This sounds like such a silly question, but is there a way for me to tell how many watts my current power supply is?
I'm interested in getting a new video card but I don't know if I meet the requirements for that :\

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Member Avatar for goldeagle2005

Not too sure if theres a way of finding out using any software, but you could take a look at the power supply. It will have a sticker on it which states the complete specs of the unit, including the total wattage and the wattage on each rail.

Member Avatar for VivaDaWolf

Not too sure if theres a way of finding out using any software, but you could take a look at the power supply. It will have a sticker on it which states the complete specs of the unit, including the total wattage and the wattage on each rail.

Just took a look, theres one sticker on it, I took a photo. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v445/VivaDaWolf/ps.jpg

Does this mean I have a 500w ps? Not sure what all the other numbers mean :eek:.

Member Avatar for goldeagle2005

Yes, your PSU is a 500W one. The rest of the numbers tell you how much current is available on the different rails. it's38Amps on +5V, 17Amps on +12V...etc etc etc.

So, I'd say you're good to go for a new video card. Which one did you intend to get, by the way?

Member Avatar for blud

Unless you are planning to buy an 8800 GTX, you should be ok. From personal experience the GTX takes about 175 watts of my 750 Watt power supply, with my other accessories, this pretty much drains about 600 watts :(

Member Avatar for VivaDaWolf

"BFG GeForce 6800 GS OC / 256MB GDDR3 / AGP 8x" which Im hoping..is okay >_< It's not so costly and I don't have a pci-e slot.

"

  • CPU with processor speed of 700MHz or higher
  • 128MB of RAM
  • CD or DVD-ROM drive
  • An available AGP 2.0 slot or higher
  • 35MB available hard disk space (50MB for full installation)
  • Microsoft® Windows® 98, ME, 2000, XP, NT4.0 with service pack 5 or 6
  • A minimum 350W system power supply (with 12V current rating of 18A or more)
  • An AGP compliant motherboard. Some motherboards violate the AGP specification and therefore this card may not physically fit in some systems
  • An available hard disk drive power dongle (smaller floppy disk drive connector is not sufficient)"

I dont know what the last part means :X And... looking at it again, it needs 18a... when mine is 17a? ... :-|

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