Hi Folks,I'd like to update my video card fom the original GForce 2 440mx 32 meg card installed in my computer. I'm mainly interested in upgrading for use with MS Flight Sim 2002. The problem I'm encountering is that my computers power supply is rated at 200 watts. I have a Dell PIII, 1 gig, 512 ram, GForce 2 440mx 32 meg video card.Most of the cards I've looked at recommend a power supply of 250 watts or better.If I were to use a card which recommends 250 watts (or more) with my system, which has a 200 watt power supply, is it possible the new card could damage my computer?Also, what other problems might I encounter with the new card due to my low power supply.Does anyone know of a good video card which would work well with my computers power supply?Thanks for your help,Howard

GF4 Ti4400 works with my 250W but I cannot say anything about 200w. My guess is most likely you will encouter problems.Your best bet is to upgrade your PS as well. Getting a new Case will most likely give you 300W or 350W which will be enough.You might wanna target 400W or higher so you won't have same problem in future again if consumprion of power continues to grow.So in one word, to be safe, spend $40 or so and by a new case.Don't go any buy after reading my post, wait for some other sugestions as well.

Howard - It's highly unlikely that the GF4 would work with the 200W supply. Either the box won't boot or it will boot with no video. On a non-proprietary machine I'd say you probably wouldn't damage anything by trying. But with the Dell and it's proprietary power supply all bets are off. If it were my system I wouldn't install the GF4. Just from a FS2002 framerate perspective you will get the same FPS from a 64MB GF2 Ultra as you would from a GF4. Some of the eyecandy will be missing (you'll still see everything you do now) but it's a good choice for your situation.Trip

"(...) from a FS2002 framerate perspective you will get the same FPS from a 64MB GF2 Ultra as you would from a GF4 (...)"That's what people often say, but it simply ain't true. I recently upgraded from a GeForce 3 TI200 to a GeForce 4 TI4400, and the improvement in framerates is quite spectacular! Right now I get the same framerates WITH (Quincunx) anti-aliasing as before the upgrade I got WITHOUT anti-aliasing. That's an increase of about 30 percent, like with my R4D that used to run at 14 fps with anti-aliasing on, and now it runs at about 21 fps with AA on. That's what I call a pretty serious increase in framerates, especially considering that my rig runs on a Celeron 1000...As for default aircraft like the Cessna 172: the upgrade from GF3 to GF4 nearly DOUBLED the framerates. Where does the self-perpetuating myth come from, that upgrading a videocard doesn't improve framerates? I hear it every time, and yet when I upgraded from GF2 to GF3 I experienced a nice rise, and now I've upgraded from GF3 to GF4 I got an even better rise. Can't image I'm the only one that profits from better framerates due to a better videocard...Jaap Verduijn.

Jaap - In the larger scheme of things, it's been my experience that very few people benefit much with FS200x by swapping one recent model of video card for another. If there has been anything true and constant over the last three years it been that the only real FPS factor is the CPU speed. Large FPS increases when changing cards can almost always be traced to something else besides the card pre se. The sim is simply too CPU-bound to allow for a significant gain. Particularly with any CPU running at less than 2.5Ghz. There are, of course, exceptions to everything and all mileage is variable. But in 99% of the cases there is really little, if anything, to be gained in FPS just by changing one model of GeForce for another.Trip

Well, I guess I'm the lucky exception then (happy grin)!Jaap Verduijn.

You're not the exception. I've always preached that the better video card you have the better the pic quality and the framerates. It's the so called experts that claim the sim is cpu bound. While that may be technically correct, what they fail to say is that the sim is also video card bound. You need both cpu and video card. It's like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It ain't, without both.

>You're not the exception. I've always preached that the >better video card you have the better the pic quality and >the framerates. It's the so called experts that claim the >sim is cpu bound.So called "experts" know what they are talking about.Try Changing CPU from Althon 1.33Ghz to Althon XP 1964+ and keep same video card.FPS Improvment in CPU bond FS2002 -->HUGEFPS Improvment in GPU bond Trainz -->Not muchThen switch back to 1.33Ghz, and put in GF4 Ti4400 instead of ATi 64MB DDR.FPS Improvment in CPU bond FS2002 -->Not much (but high quality AA)FPS Improvment in GPU bond Trainz -->Huge - can put sliders to Max and get 0 stutters.I actually did this and copmared average framerate and image quality.So is FS2002 more CPU bond than GPU bond? Yes.

Hi Folks,Many thanks for your information. You've given me a lot of points to think about. Concerning an increase in fps, I would naturally be very happy if that would happen. That's not really my main reason for upgrading as I'm hoping a faster card with more ram would help out with the blurry problem in FS2002. ALso, I'd like faster display of textures when changing views especially at graphics hungry airports. I'll post some results if I do upgrade to a faster card. I'm going to set up a test flight which I'll run with the old and new cards to see about fps and other differences.Thanks again,Howard

You're certainly right-on with that one Georgi. Anyone who has done that kind of comparison knows what works and what doesn't. It's amazing to me the number folks who think we just pull this stuff out of thin air. But, then again, who's really an "expert" (so-called or not) in this stuff anyway? I guess it's sufficient that we're able to know what works. At least most of the time :-) .Trip