Help if you can. Please

[luckenbill56]

Hello Everyone,

I am absolute novice with this. Thus, I apologize. I have a Falcon NW PC with a Nvidia Geforce 5950 Ultra Card installed with a 350 W power supply. I want to install and have purchased a GeForce 7600 GS AGP video card? The box lists the required power supply as 350W minimum. I have also purchased a 550 W power supply. Here are my questions. Can my PC handle this card and the power supply?

Intel 4 3.00 GHZ(2 CPUS)
2558 MB RAM.
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe chipset: Intel 875.

Any other information you may need? Please let me know and how I can obtain said requirements you may need to answer my questions? As I said I am a complete novice with this and I apologize for the problem and my ignorance. Just trying to keep my PC usable and alive a little longer. Thank you

 

[belial2k]

You should be fine...as long as the PSU can fit in the case, it should work. You might have to do a little rigging depending on the PSU, because not all legacy connections on MBs are the same as the newer ones. Is there a reason you didn't just stick with the 350w PSU you already had? It should run that card fine from the AGP slot.

 

[luckenbill56]

I don't alot about the inner workings of PCs. The card said minimum 350W.
That is what I have. I am just concerned if the thing will work correctly on minimum?

 

[belial2k]

Those rating are exaggerated because they have to take into account the worst case scenario. They don't know how many items your PSU is driving in addition to the graphics card, plus they have to have some room for safety. Since you have a FNW I'm sure they used a good PSU in the original build, so I think you are safe with the 350. If it is underpowered you will have problems booting, and when graphics get intense it might shutdown...if that happens replace the power supply, but I really don't see that happening with that card. According to the PSU calculator your system draw is under 250w peak with the new card, so you have lots of room there.

 

[luckenbill56]

Thank you so much for your time and information. I feel much better.