Chris; Another reason to think twice on upgrading is that it's likely your motherboard does not support PCIe v2.0, so a lot of the increased bandwidth capability of the new cards would never be realized. w/r/t the power supply p*ssing contest here, there's a lot missing from the discussion. There's more to a power supply than the 12v rails, and if it's rated at, say, 375W, one has to know if that's input power (and if so, is it RMS or peak?), combined output power or some other measure. Voltage regulation & droop under load, continuous vs peak loading considerations, airflow, cooling...they all enter in, but suffice it to say that approaching the max rated wattage OR current capacity on any of the 12v rails is a generally bad idea for sustained high power ops, like a 3D app running for hours on end. Personally, if you go with a new video card, I'd strongly recommend a new PS as well...one that'll give you at least 20% headroom between the calculated load and the rated capacity of the PS. And I like good quality single rail power supplies, like the PC Power and Cooling Silencers...they use good quality high-power devices, rather than the cheaper low capacity stuff found in some of the multi-rail supplies. An overcurrent in a PS can lead to catastrophic failure modes that can smoke the mobo and/or CPU and/or video card. It's not worth the risk to push it.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Chris I think Bob is right and he understands too :(. This was what I was trying to say the whole time, reaching the load on a PSU is not good for it, and may damage the PSU and the components its connected to (motherboard for example). The voltage on all PSUs will not be the same when you compare load with idle, and they voltage can get very low with your current PSU if there aren't enough watts. Even though his PSU is rated at 375W even if its peak is 400W (not sure what it is, just an estimate), he should still get a new one, because if you don't upgrade it now, when will you upgrade it, and why not buy it now so you can save money later for a better upgrade or save it towards something else in life. You still want some headroom at load with a power supply, and I'm talking about 25-50W headroom at least at maximum load. Good luck with your computer :(BTW ChrisE, if you want to check the peak power, look for the "shall not exceed ___ watts" or "Peak Load" or something similar, but again the best option is to upgrade the PSU.

Loud and repetitive does not = right.+12V rail amperage is the only relevant factor WRT the ability to run high power draw devices such as high-end graphics cards."increased bandwidth capability"? Please. Single GPU graphics cards can get by with a mere 8 PCI-e 1.x lanes, let alone a full 16 PCI-e 2.0 lanes. Capability does not = necessity.

Loud and repetitive does not = right.+12V rail amperage is the only relevant factor WRT the ability to run high power draw devices such as high-end graphics cards."increased bandwidth capability"? Please. Single GPU graphics cards can get by with a mere 8 PCI-e 1.x lanes, let alone a full 16 PCI-e 2.0 lanes. Capability does not = necessity.

Keep believing that, and in my last post, I was just trying to justify what I was saying, and I did it in a very calm way. My oh my do you have it wrong, I am just trying to teach you that you will not good results with a GTX 260 on that computer but you do not want to listen, after someone else has stated it AND I posted numerous other sources even the MANUFACTURERS of the card saying that a 500W PSU is the minimum. With cards like the 4870 with high bandwidth GDDR5 and the GTX260 with its high clocks and big buses (still 512 bits like the 4870 and 4890) a PCIE2.0 motherboard is a good investment for today and will keep your PC futureproof. While it may not be necessary right now, if he can get it without hurting his wallet and he wants it, why not? The GTX260 has a lot of bandwidth but it will not be too bottlenecked by PCIE 1.0 unless you are planning on getting a GTX 295 or something.You have a severely flawed logic with what you think about power supplies, maybe you should read on how they operate or maybe you should look at the voltages your own PSU reduces to while it is under load to get a basic understanding... Again, by what you are saying, you are implying that you can run a 400W system on a 100W PSU because it has 36A. Maybe you should look up the definition of amps. 1 Watt = 1 amp x 1 volt, so voltage and WATTS play a factor in this. 350W is inadequate... That's FINAL. Or maybe you should go to NVIDIA and see why they said 500W PSU as the minimum baseline for the GTX260. They did not just say "Well, lets make the requirement 500W for the heck of it."

Loud and repetitive does not = right.

Pot, meet kettle.

+12V rail amperage is the only relevant factor WRT the ability to run high power draw devices such as high-end graphics cards.

Another absolutely false platitude with no basis in fact. If loading the 12v rail(s) results in overloading the front end of the power supply (switching transformer, rectification, filtering etc) it can lead to failure of the PS. As an example, I've seen power supplies rated at 500W that have two 25A (300W each) rails. The intention is to support a high current device on one side or the other...but running them both at the full 25A together exceeds the capacity of the front end. Not to mention that the PS also has to feed the other (5v, 3.3v etc) taps.

"increased bandwidth capability"? Please. Single GPU graphics cards can get by with a mere 8 PCI-e 1.x lanes, let alone a full 16 PCI-e 2.0 lanes. Capability does not = necessity.

FSX is one of the few apps that actually can use the additional bandwidth of PCIe v2. No it's not a necessity, but I wouldn't spend money on a capability that sits on the machine unused.RegardsBob ScottColonel, USAF (ret)ATP IMEL Gulfstream II-III-IV-VColorado Springs, CO

Thanks everyone. I have ordered a new cooler as I said above. I am just hoping that it is the cooler which has failed & that it is not the card that isn't telling the cooler to work. If it is then the VGA cooler will be connected to a case cooler plug on the m/b.I did not intend this to be so contraversial! Chris

Thanks everyone. I have ordered a new cooler as I said above. I am just hoping that it is the cooler which has failed & that it is not the card that isn't telling the cooler to work. If it is then the VGA cooler will be connected to a case cooler plug on the m/b.I did not intend this to be so contraversial! Chris

Sounds great. Good luck, and I hope it works so you can enjoy your sim. Also forgot to ask you if you checked that the software is not turning the fan off, but I doubt it if it is not spinning at all. Sorry about the contreversy, but for one of those GPUs (4770, 4830, 4850, 4870, 260, 275, 280, 295) anyone would need a hefty PSU as recommended by the manufacturer! :(

For the sake of completeness I thought that I would post the outcome for other nonexperts.Earthed myself.The old cooler came off the card much more easily that I had expected although the instruction to clean off the old transfer paste & memory chips with isopropyl alchohol - not supplied - caused a little flush of excitement. I finally remembered that this is the active ingredient of car windscreen defroster so having checked the can for ingredients I used it. Fingers crossed & worked fine.New heat sink fitted very easily. Had a nasty moment when I discovered that the old fan had a 4pin connector & the new one had a completely different 3 pin connector. In one of my first posts I mentioned a large unknown 4 pin connector from my power supply. I was please to find an adaptor in the cooler box that let me connect my new cooler to this plug. It runs constantly which I regard as a good thing & really doesn't make much noise at all.When I stared the computer it made a horrible noise - about middle C. Switched off quickly & looked for where fan was hitting something but it wasn't. Noticed that I had failed to reconnect 6pin power plug - idiot!Now all works just fine. I have heat soaked it for 4 hours & nothing feels to be above tepid.Best UK price for the cooler that I could find was this delivered price: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-Vortexx-Neo-...1782&sr=8-1Thanks for the help everyone.Chris :(