I have had my present computer now for about two years,and in that time it has performed perfectly no mysterious crashes etc.My setup only has a 250 watt PSU but it seems to be fine as i say.On this setup i have a soundblaster external,cordless mouse and joystick plus the usual assortment of drives DVD Cdrewriter etc.Now the other day i installed a GForce 6600 card to replace my Radeon 9200,the 6600 is a mid range card not a super stonker but it does draw more power than the 9200.Now after getting some help from the simflight forum people to get it installed correctly after many hours of mucking about i finally got it to work.I posted my thanks to the simflight boys and explained that it was up and running and mentioned to them that my computer did only have the 250 watt power unit(which as i said has performed flawlessly for two years now)and there was much gnashing of teeth and warnings of computer parts being burnt out etc so what i did was to unplug my floppy drive which i never use and also my DVD and CD drives temporally of course just to cut down the power.My question am i being overly cautious?does anybody here have a 250 watt unit running without problems.I can get a new one but this week has been very expensive ie FSX,Graphics card etc .By the way my power unit is ATX so will any ATX type replacement work with my setup?Cheers and thanks Andy

Usually you will see lockups or random reboots if there is a problem. If you do decide to buy a more powerful one, check your motherboard manual to see what the specs are. There have been some changes in the connectors recently. Some of the currectly available PSUs will work with older boards, some will not work with the newer boards, and some will work with both.

>I have had my present computer now for about two years,and in>that time it has performed perfectly no mysterious crashes>etc.My setup only has a 250 watt PSU but it seems to be fine>as i say.On this setup i have a soundblaster external,cordless>mouse and joystick plus the usual assortment of drives DVD>Cdrewriter etc.Now the other day i installed a GForce 6600>card to replace my Radeon 9200,the 6600 is a mid range card>not a super stonker but it does draw more power than the>9200.Now after getting some help from the simflight forum>people to get it installed correctly after many hours of>mucking about i finally got it to work.I posted my thanks to>the simflight boys and explained that it was up and running>and mentioned to them that my computer did only have the 250>watt power unit(which as i said has performed flawlessly for>two years now)and there was much gnashing of teeth and>warnings of computer parts being burnt out etc so what i did>was to unplug my floppy drive which i never use and also my>DVD and CD drives temporally of course just to cut down the>power.My question am i being overly cautious?does anybody here>have a 250 watt unit running without problems.I can get a new>one but this week has been very expensive ie FSX,Graphics card>etc >.By the way my power unit is ATX so will any ATX type>replacement work with my setup?>Cheers and thanks >AndySounds remarkably like my Sony VAIO upgrade scenario. First I upgraded to an ATI X850 awhile back; there was this suspicion that I had about power (266W in VAIO), but I never had any symptoms that I knew to associate with inadequate power. After FSX, I upgraded to an ATI X1600 Pro looking for some FPS. Still I had suspicions about power, but everything appeared to be in order. After browsing forums across the internet and getting the begeezes scared out of me about power supplies, I found a good compromise in a forum post. I went to my local computer shop and picked out a nice new case that came with a good 500W ATX power supply, 4 fans (3 more than I had in Sony case), digital hardware temp monitor panel, etc. The case that I picked out cost $89.00 U.S. (about mid-range)and has lots of room to grow in the future. I know what you mean about FSX expenses, I wish I had gotten the case BEFORE getting the X1600...but who am I kidding? I would have still gotten it sooner or later! Aside from just plugging ram and boards, I had never completely built a computer. I'm very glad I did this still though, because now I know where my next rig is coming from..."Rosey Palmer!" I learned a lot. The jury is still out on FSX FPS impacts, I have much more to do by way of tweaks. But all in all, I can definitely see a noticeable impact on my overall system feel. Everything is just crisp, the case remains cool inside, and my PC got a facelift.

Thanks guys for your thoughts.I also did the same and scared myself checking out power supply problems on google.Anyway touch wood everything seems okay at the moment(no random shut downs lock ups etc)but i will keep my various drives disconnected till i decide to upgrade my power supply.PS when i actually touched my power supply unit(earthed myself of course)after a fairly long session including a flight ,a surf ,a fiddle and a diddle and downright twiddle it didn't feel boiling hot and the same for the new card as well anyway will keep monitoring and soon as finances allow will invest in a new power unit anyway.cheers Andy

>Thanks guys for your thoughts.I also did the same and scared>myself checking out power supply problems on google.Anyway>touch wood everything seems okay at the moment(no random shut>downs lock ups etc)but i will keep my various drives>disconnected till i decide to upgrade my power supply.>PS when i actually touched my power supply unit(earthed myself>of course)after a fairly long session including a flight ,a>surf ,a fiddle and a diddle and downright twiddle it didn't>feel boiling hot and the same for the new card as well anyway>will keep monitoring and soon as finances allow will invest in>a new power unit anyway.>cheers AndyDo it sooner rather than later. Powerful PSU's are about to see a huge uptake in demand when the power requirements of the new generation of graphic cards hit for Vista. Prices will probably escalate 25% or more.I have a nice new 650w unit tucked away in a draw for a rainy day. :)Also bear in mind if you are planning on installing Vista that a new PSU may be enough to trigger a reactivation. Allcott