Hi looking for some advice from the video gamers. I recently got a 22 inch monitor that the max resolution is 1920x1080. My current 128 mb PCI-E video card can't push it that high and I'd like to get the full resolution. I don't play a lot of video games but I do use my computer for DVDs and sites like Hulu. I'd like to get a Blue ray drive at some point

I've looked at some cards with 512 mb and up and they're saying I need a 400 watt or larger power supply which I don't have. The system I'm using is an IBM 2.8 Ghz tower with nothing real fancy under the hood but I doubt replacing the power supply with a non OEM would be easy.

How stringent is the power supply requirement? Any particular cards in the $100 range that you can recommend?

Thanks for any information you can offer!

Dave H

for the most part if a video card manufacturer says you need a certain wattage on your PSU, you really do need that.
more basic video cards get their power from the motherboard slot (PCI, AGP, PCI-E) that they are plugged into, but some require additional power from a cable plugged directly into the power supply unit
most 'upgrade' cards are going to require at least a 375/380 watt PSU
regardless of what other devices are installed in your machine
you say you want to get a BD drive in the future - is that in addition to, or as a replacement for your existing drive
you gotta think about all those USB devices you have plugged in as well, not to the mention the sometimes USB devices like cameras that you 'add' to you system periodically.

you didn't give a lot of info about your system but it sounds like you've got an off the shelf type like Dell/Gateway/HP, right? a lot of times those are 'non-standard' cases and you're right, there's a good chance you can't just stick a new PSU in because it won't fit.

as for recommending cards in the $100 range, nope - not without knowing what kind of slot you've got. $100 PCI-E cards will blow away $100 AGP cards, it's apples and oranges.
I just bought a new AGP 8X for my aging HTPC because I wanted HDMI. $100 was actually on sale and after rebates, the exact same card for PCI-E is $65 regular price... If you're talking old school mother board and all you have is PCI slots it's time for a new PC because nobody still makes PCI graphics cards.

I go with at least the recommended power requirements. Several things can happen if you don'; your computer could bluescreen, as you play the game the graphics could just turn to a bunch of multicolored pixels, or your computer might just turn off.

I have two Nvidia 8800 GT's in my computer with a 1000 watt power supply. They give me good performance and you could probably get away with just half what I have and still be very, very happy.

a 1000 watt power supply, wow that's more than half the capacity of a 15 amp house plug! You must have a heck of an electric bill

Thanks for the comments, I guess I'll limp along with my current setup and maybe Santa will leave a nice big box under the tree come Christmas

Dave H

yes its true. I pay out the nose for electricity but at least my games are pretty!