Do i need a new power supply?

[Nasai]

i am looking to upgrade from my nvidia 7800GT to a 9800GX2, and was wondering if i needed to upgrade from my 430W power supply as well.

the rest of my system specs (other than graphics card) are as follows:
CPU: AMD athlon 64 X2 dual core 4200+ 2.1 GHz
RAM: 2GB (4x 512) DDR2 800
sound card: creative sound blaster x-fi platinum fatality series with front panel
1 250Gb sata hard drive
1 sata CD-ROM/DVD-ROM
3 high performance 80mm case fans (only operating at like half speed)

 

[night_wolf_in]

i think yes. ull need to. coz that is like two gpu. n im not sure if your 430w will handle it.

 

[leo2kp]

In this case, I would. The wattage might be on the edge of OK but the amperage might lack a bit. Get something with decent watts and good amps for something like the GX2. I suggest a PC Power and Cooling 610watt at least.

 

[outlw6669]

Yes, you will need a new PSU.

I would, however, recommend against the 9800GX2 for your rig for 3 reasons.

First, you do not have a powerful enough system to make it worth while. Your system would be better paired with a 3870, 8800GT 512 or 8800GTS 512.

Second, nVidia dose not offer the level of support they should for their dual GPU single card solutions. They are only offerd as a stopgap to maintain the top position relative to ATI.

Which brings us to the third point. In less than a month, ATI and nVidia will be releasing their next generation cards. The nVidia GTX 280 is supposed to replace the GX2 price/performance wise with only a single GPU on the card. This equates to better performance under all games, not just SLI supported games.

In either case, you should upgrade your PSU to a nice quality unit.

 

[smalltime0]

Your case may also not be physically big enough to support the PCB (I heard its quite big)

 

[jsc]

i am looking to upgrade from my nvidia 7800GT to a 9800GX2, and was wondering if i needed to upgrade from my 430W power supply as well.

Speaking solely on the power requirements, a 7800GT needs about 5 amps @ 12 volts (about 60 watts). A 9800GX2, under full load, will need about 15 amps (180 watts). So, YES.

You didn't specify your PSU, but there's a good chance that your PSU will not have the necessary power connectors for the graphics card anyway.