PSU requirement

[vinay_venturas]

Hi guys. I want to build a new gaming rig. I want to buy the following hardware for my PC.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550,
Biostar G41D-M7 Motherboard,
4 GB RAM,
500 GB Hard disk,
Nvidia Zotac 9800 GT 512 MB GDDR3 Graphics card,
22X Dvd writer &
A PC case with 400 W PSU.

My questions are,
1. Will a 400W PSU be enough for my hardware? (Or should I go for 500W or higher?)
2. Can my old 17" CRT monitor work with the Graphics card?
3. Can I play all the new games for next 4 years at 1280x1024 resolution with this hardware?
4. If I buy a 1 GB GDDR3 card instead of 512 MB, will there be a good performance boost?

If you have to offer me any other suggestions about my hardware, I'd be very happy, Thank you...

 

[jimishtar]

500W should be enough. The monitor should be fine, u dont need 1 GB card for that resolution. About the games, who knows

 

[hefox]

1. Yes, it will be enough but I wouldn't risk with the psu that came with the case. I would buy a proper psu (Corsair, Antec, OCZ,etc).
2. Yes.
3. Not so sure. Now depends if you like everything on high quality, no you will not be able to.
4. It will help at higher resolutions but sometimes the videocard that come with bigger memory, run at lower speed so you should check the memory speed.

 

[Onus]

1. Yes and no. If it were truly a 400W PSU, then yes. If it came with a case and isn't an Antec Earthwatts, it is probably a $10 special that is best described as an overrated piece of junk. The Antec Earthwatts 380W PSU that comes in some of their cases would be able to handle your rig easily. I'm not sure of any other good PSUs that come with cases, but besides Antec, other good brands include Corsair, Seasonic, PC Power & Cooling, and Enermax. Look for full range active PFC (no little voltage switch) and 80+ certification.
2. Yes.
3. Some on lower settings, but probably. Read the Tom's article on mainstream graphics cards to get an idea of the performance you may expect, possibly with lower settings.
4. At your resolution, probably not. At 1680x1050 or higher, probably so; but you'd likely want an all around more powerful card.

What is your budget? There's a sticky at the top of the new builds forum with a good template you can use if you want to get a lot more suggestions about a new build.

 

[vinay_venturas]

Thank you for your reply guys.
If i buy a zotac gts 250 instead of 9800 gt, would the extra money spent be of any use? I.e, will the gts 250 offer an extra performance at that resolution?
Should i buy 9800 gt or gts 250?

 

[obsidian86]

the 250gts = overclocked 9800gtx+ how much are you spending on the card

 

[vinay_venturas]

For my budget, the maximum money i can spend is the cost of gts 250 amp edition.