7600GS

Not all 250w PSU's are equal so it's hard to say. What PSU? What are the rail ratings on the side (12v rail)? What about the mobo and system specs. Most modern mobos would say they need higher than that. The 7600GS is a super low consumption card, so if anyhting is goign to work ....it would have a good shot.

which PSU? and what cpu and mobo do you have? i wouldnt say that geforce 7600gs has extremely low power consumption so maybe you will have problems in 3D games cause my 400W Mercury PSU couldnt handle my system when i inserted 7600GS  

socket A 2600+ athlon XP, 2 sticks = 256+512 ddr, 1 dvd+cd RW 1 Hdd thats all, 14a on the 12v rail, 25a for the +5v rail, 18a on the 3.3v, the PSU is a HIPRO, it is a compaq system

I just installed a 7600GS with a +2500 Barton, GA-7N400 Pro2, 1 GB 2700 RAM, 2 HDD's, 1 DVD/CDRW, and the power supply below

V- : VOLTAGE : CURRENT
INPUT : 115V- : 10A
: 230V- : 6A
----------------------------------:--------------------------
V : +3.3V : +5V : +12V :-5V -12V +5VSB
:------------------------ :--------------------------
OUTPUT : 28A : 40A : 17A : 0.3A 0.8A 2A
----------------------------------:--------------------------
MAX ; 220W : 240W : 1.5W 9.6W 10W
: 380W

So far no problems

just make sure you have the extra power connector. but i think you're its a little dangerous putting that thing on 250w... i ran mine on a 350w

It's always dangerous to use a borderline PSU. It probably wont just blow up but will fail in some time if it's pushed really hard.
7600GS is really low on power consumption and I think you will be fine. For how long I cant really say (no one can).
If you really dont want ot lose the PC then buy a fortron with 350W. You can get one of these for cheap and they are realy high quality.

I currently have a 7600gs on a 300W powersupply and have not had any problems, yet. However you are cutting it close with a 250W though as mentioned above. Problems you may have may be distorted video with games usually artifacting, computer lockups, and rebooting (computer just reboots itsself.) You can use a tool called a power supply calculator where you enter all your hardware and it gives you the reccommended power requirements. Just do a search on toms hardware for it.

It should run fine. I had an X850XT, 1 gig memory, an athlon 3400+, a harddrive, and dual drives on a 300 WATT PSU. So my guess is that it will run fine.

Bsods or lock ups noo dont think so but who knows maybe.My 7600 GS just showed a warning That video cart don't get enough power and that it has turned slow mode in wich i had terrible fps in some games   but system work 100% stable. It depends on qualtiy of your PSU my mercury 400W worked as 280W power supply aproximetely but from the other hand it cost about 20$  

i did the calcutator and ended up at 229watts with 40% capacitor aging with my system does this sound kosher?
i calculated based on what i have hooked up right now and i have 2 hdd a cd/dvd rw combo and a dvd rom and a 9600 SE Video card OC'd, and it is working flawlessly. 266watts recommended. i get the above 229watts recommended if i unhook 1 hdd which i really don't need and the DVD Rom drive. so i am above rated right now and will be using less power if i switch to the 7600GS and a single optical and single Hdd. i listed just a single of each, hdd and optical, because i intended to unhook them if i get a more power hungry card. comments??

If you want my opinion then I am gonna say this.

You have a PSU that has 14A on the 12V rail that's 14*12=168W.
Your PC probably would consume about 100-130W (150W tops) on the 12V rail. The difference between your 9600pro and the 7600gs is that the 7600 probably consumes less or about equal power.

What I am trying to say your PSU was not good to begin with.
I dont trust those power calculators one bit it's all crap.

Your 14A on the 12V rail isn't inspiering. My fortron 350W has 2x12V rails about 16-18A. Plug in the 7600GS your PSU wont burn out because of it. If it burns it would have probably burnt anyway with the 9600pro.

The problem with cheap PSUs is that when they burn out they take a lot of things with them. I have an old PC here with me that recently died of a cheap PSU. It took out the mobo, cpu and the graphic card.

Quality PSUs have failsafes to prevent this. I dont know how good your HIPRO is. How much did it cost when you bought it? Does it have short circuit protection? Any protection written on it? Do you get the picture ?

i have the 9600 SE and 2 hdd and 2 opticals on right now, i will get the 7600 GS and unhook 1 optical and 1 hdd and be using less total power in the end anyway, the above setup has been going for 4 yrs with the exception of 1 hdd, which i added recently. this does sound promising for me but what do you think?

Spend $40 for a 30amp psu or be held hostage to having the feeling how long will it hold out, what will it take with it when it goes, etc, etc.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

Well by this link:
Power consumption
http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354

If I was assuming you had a 9600pro level (your 9600se OC'd) you'd be consuming about 18w. If you compare that the the 7600gs it's consuming about 27w. That difference would be about 9w. This might not make much difference, but that is what I'm getting out of this comparison. You migh be okay, but I'd recommend getting a newer PSU that you can transfer over to a newer rig later. I'm with kpo6969 on the PSU that he selected for $40 after MIR. That would hold you for another 4-5 years, if you stick with 1 GPU setup.

thankyou for the replies, can someone recommend a lower cost power supply that will get the job done with a 7600GT or X1650 Pro or GT ICQ turbo, without a MIR or at least a small one (bad experiences). i am leaning to a better GPU if i have to get a new PSU, which it looks like i can't get around. but i don't need it to be transferable to a new system so don't need a high wattage, i don't think anyway. Correct me if i'm wrong. i will get a new high wattage PSU when i do the new system in the future.

FSP Group ATX350-PA: This is the lowest I would go. FSP makes solid basic units that get the job done.

SILVERSTONE ST350: This may be a little better. Silverstone is a top-end PSU manufacturer.

SeaSonic SS-300ES: SeaSonic is legendary in the PSU business.

Any of these three units will provide sufficient power for your needs. Good luck with your upgrade  

I have done more Antec rebates than I could count and have always received them back without needing to call. Hard to beat an earthwatts 380W for $20 AR. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I would go with any of homerdog's or the one the pauldh suggested. You won't be disappointed with any of them. The Antec 380w PSU will power any single GPU out there now, so would be the best buy, if you can afford it. It's only $28 shipped after the $30 MIR, so you can decide if you can afford it or not.

what in the world are you doing with a 250 watt psu anyway? you need at least 500 watt psu's these days.

i just love my new antec 850 watt truepower qauttro.  

http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=534311

Nice link kpo6969, here's my link on the Antec 380w PSU:
8800gtx on 380w PSU, also e6600 OC'd!!!!
http://www.overclockers.com/articles1452/

I read that previously, good piece.
I run my 8800GT on a 26A.
I don't know if I'd run a 8800GTX on a 27A though (just my opinion). I'd probably go to a 30A.

Check my sign for setup. It's running on a Delta 365W PSU which is dying because of the load I've put on it. I've disconnected one of my ODDs to put less load on it and everytime I boot my computer I get the nVidia box saying the card is not receiving enough power. I would not do it on such a small PSU. Learn from my experience. Note: my 7600GS is AGP and therefore requires a little more power than the PCIe (which I think is the same interface you're using).

The link is just an example, not the bible. It just goes to show that you don't need a 1kw PSU to run a 8800gtx or a 8800gt that alot of people on this forum like to recommend. In this situation a quality 350w psu would be fine, so that is why I put my link in.

How many amps do you have?
Is it an oem or came with the case?
All 365w psu's are not created equal.
My old 305w psu @ 22amps probably has more than the 365w.
some info:
http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showthread.php?t=...

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=10...

it has 14a on the 12v rail

I'm running a 7900gs on a 17.5A on the 12V rail so 14A on the 12V rail I would think would be okay. I would be worried though, since you have a 4 yr. old PSU and capacitor degredation might be a major factor. Like stated before, I think your better off getting a new PSU for $28 shipped after $30 MIR and than you'd be set for quite some time. I'm talking about the Antec 380w Earthwatts PSU that has 27A on the 12V rail. This will allow you any single GPU that you want to run.
Linkage for PSU:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

In my case it is 2-12V rails 12A+12A. It is an OEM included with Sony RA series computers (proprietary). It has held strong for about 3 years now, and due to capacitor aging, I think the total power output has diminished. Delta is a highly regarded PSU manufacturer, and therefore powered my 7600GS (with a rather high OC) for ~3 months (not that I think the OC - without Vmod - actually increased the power draw significantly).

Edit: The Outvision Lite calculator says my power draw is 294W with no cap. aging, 353W at 20% aging.

okay i will probably be getting the new PSU then. thanks.

You won't regret getting it and won't need to worry about that part of the computer.