$399 Computer + 9500GT card = PSU problems?

I would replace the powersupply in almost any Bigbox brand. The reason they are so cheap is cause they get mass amounts of gray market product of the lowest quality. The failure rate for an Emachine PSU is around 60%. Gateway used to make Emachines. Now i believe Acer owns the 2 companies. Maybe they stepped it up on quality. Still i would replace the PSU, if u can and the case or PSU is not proprietary.

yeah i agree with MGDJoker. Even if the new psu u get isnt from a top brand, it will still be tons more reliable.

and if you do it careful, don't touch what you don't know, you will be fine. removing the psu just requires the removal of some screws in the back of ur pc, unplugging the cables, putting the new one in.

Thanks for your help guys. I think I'll be picking up a new PSU.

No a 9500gt barely uses any power. The psu you have is fine. Whats the need for a 9500gt? Planning to game? hd movies?

Maybe if this was 2002 and you were running a Radeon 9200. Its always safe to have more power than u think you would need. Plus the overall quality of the stock PSU is just trash.

It would most likely run with the 300watt for sure. In contrast that 300watt PSU under load will not stay consistent. Even my PC Power and Cooling 750 drops in power when under full load. If u strain the 300watt it will take a dump and you will risk smoking your motherboad.

Im just talking from experience. I've provided computer customer service for several years now and seen just about every possible scenario happen to a computer with hundreds of different hardware configs.

One of the best way to protect your infestment is by starting first with decent PSU.

You'll be fine with that PSU, just don't try to run any games.

MGD, you make some compelling points, and there's a nice looking 430w power supply from Thermaltake on Amazon for $36, so I'm going to scoop that up.

@invisik: I'll be watching movies and playing noncutting-edge games (WoW and Civ4 mostly)

And I think I'm going to pick up a 4670 w/ 512mb made by MSI, looks like better value than the 9500GT...

w00t

I'd pick up the 4670, it's almost twice as fast as the 9500GT, and IIRC they cost about the same.