Question about PSU, for possible GPU upgrade.

Currently I have an old HP desktop with an nVidia 6200 GPU, but I get an abysmal ~15FPS when I play a medium settings at a resolution of 1440x900. I want to upgrade to an 8600, but I apparently only have a 240W PSU. Is that enough? I can't stand these low FPS anymore.

Perhaps you oughta check GameFAQs. There is a topic quite similar there.

http://boards.gamefaqs.com/gfaqs/gen...topic=41144030

You're welcome

Freaky... Oo

But that topic doesn't answer it either. :P

240W Probably isn't going to run that at all... Are you running with a prebuilt? If not what brand and model is the psu? If you're extremely lucky it could just be heavily underrated.

Its a prebuilt PC from HP. If it can't run a 8600, what are some other options so I can play at same resolution but without the terrible FPS...

I don't think an 8600 would be compatible with your computer. 8600 is a PCI express card while the 6200 line was AGP. If your comp does have PCI express slots, I would recommend upgrading your PSU to at least 600w to account for other hardware and possible future expansion.

240 psu sounds like they made the system to a strict budget so just added a power supply that would cover the system components as they were with little or no room for upgrade.

The current base minimum for a psu is 400 with 600 prefered and some top end systems having 1000 W psu

Also as has been said the new graphics cards tend to be pci express the older ones agp and the really ancient ones pci

Now you can probably get some good bargains on agp cards but if you can somehow move to pci express motherboard, or live with the lower framerate till you can it might benefit you.

Have you tried running GW in 1024 x 768 or even 800 x 600

I'd say 600 W is a bit high for most systems, even if you factor in how a PSU's max output tends to drop a little with age. A good 500 W PSU will easily handle anything except systems with very high end or otherwise power hungry CPU's (Core 2 Extreme, high-end Quads, Phenoms), high end GPUs, SLI/CrossFire and stuff like that. It mostly depends on the power capacity of the rail providing power to the GPU, as the average power consumption of the other stuff inside a computer hasn't been going anywhere too fast.

1000 W is for ridiculous quad GPU systems with 8 gigs of RAM, 4 Raptor HDD's and would probably still be massive overkill if it wasn't for the power drain of all those flashy cold cathode lights.

My current 2½-year old comp's (Athlon 64 3000+, 2 GB's of RAM, GF 7900GS, 3 HDD's, sound card, second network card and a DVD burner) been running just fine off a 350W Antec SmartPower, and it's been on almost constantly. While it's likely pretty close to its limit I've seen much worse systems with 500+ Watt power supplies, which just doesn't make sense.

Anyways, when looking to buy a new PSU, it's best not to buy anything too cheap - if the thing blows it could damage the rest of the computer. Some brands use better components than others, so it's worth paying attention to. See http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...d.php?t=108088 for a list of PSU manufacturers and their "ratings" as perceived by that forum.

note - high performance AGP cards tend to demand more power than a comparable pci-e card.

400-500W is most likely suitable for your needs.