How can i find out the Wattage of my computers power supply?

Question

i want to buy a new graphics card ( ATI Radeon X1300 pro 256mb PCI-E) that requires a 350watt. power supply and i wanted to know if i would need to HAVE to buy a new one...if i dont have to buy one ill buy this graphics card, if not well i ll opt for a lesser card. my computer is a Compaq SR1720NX with an AMD semp. 3500+ proccessor, 1 gig of RAM and my current graphics card ( stock card from manufactures) ATI Radeon Xpress 200

i bought this computer about 6months ago if that helps and yes i know a decent amount about computers but ive never had to think about the power supply

Answer 1

The SR1710 and SR1720 came with 250watt power supplies. Most PCI Express cards require 300Watts plus.

More power is better anyway. The more output your power supply is capable of, the more stable it will tend to be at lower outputs. This link is to the one I use:

Answer 2

Wattage of my computers power supply is on the power box inside the pc take the cover off and look on the top of the power supply box ..
ATI Radeon X1300 pro 256mb PCI-E is a very good graphics card

this is my pc Processor - AMD Athlon 64 X2 3800+ Dual Core ProcessorMemory - 2024MB DDR-400 RAM
Hard Disk - 400 GB Serial ATA Hard Disk (2 x 200GB)
Graphics - ATI Radeon X1600 256MB PCI Express Graphics Card

tv out connection card for ps2/3 play staion to link up to your pc
Optical drive - Double Layer 16x Multiformat (+/-) DVD-Rewiter Drive
Monitor - 21" TFT Flat Panel Monitor
3 YEAR COVER AND SUPPORT REPLACE FOR NEW IF COMPUTER DIE


.

Answer 3

If you open the case and look at the power supply, there is a label that spells out the exact rating of the unit. Bear in mind though, the power available is the capacity of the power supply LESS all other components. If you loaded up your box with all kinds of cards and lots of hard drives, you may not have enough capacity left for a power hungry video cards.

It is rather silly for the manufacturer to specify the requirements as such....

Answer 4

http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/spi/main?sel_flg=partlist&model=EL435AA&HP_model=&modname=Compaq+Presario+SR1720NX+home+PC&template=main&plist_sval=Power+Supply&plist_styp=subcat&dealer_id=&callingsite=&strsrch=&keysel=Power+Supply&catsel=%3F

It's a long link I know but you will find that your power supply in that unit is only 250 Watts which is not too uncommon for an entry level system. There's still a chance that you'll be able to run the card but it's 50/50. I run a GeForce 6200 which also recommends 350 Watt rating but I run it on 250 Watt power supply as well and it hasn't been much of a problem so far.

ADDENDUM: I see other people are suggesting a new power supply but be warned. I believe your system is a mini-ATX style system and it may have a proprietary power supply. (I maybe wrong but I think it has a non-standard sized power supply.) Make sure the power supply in the machine is a standard ATX 2.0+ power supply and not a proprietary one.

Answer 5

It's on a label on the power supply in the computer. Besides, 350 is pretty much standard, - even at the low end for computers being sold today.

And besides, the wattage draw of the whole computer, -what with two hard drives, CD Rom(s) and PCI cards... it's pretty hard to max out the 350 or 400 wattage rating.

Answer 6

Your PC is a lot like my old one. You need to open up your tower and look at the power supply it will say on its side

a number then watts. "So like 300 watts max" or something like that. Not a bad PC at all. I am using a dual 4400 AMD core PC , with a dual 512MB video card , 2GB of ram , 300GB hard drive , Liquid cooling and an expensive mother board.

I built it my self you might want to make sure your Power supply is around 450+ because you may upgrade more later and when your card says it needs 350 you still might want to put more to that number.

Answer 7

In the case you should be able to see the power supply.
It should saw what size it is.
350 watt is a small supply and any newer computer will have 350 t0 400. 1995 on so you should be ok. but check just to be safe
a new power supply 350 + are about 50 bucks

Answer 8

350 Watts is pretty much standard these days. And yes as mentioned if you pop open your case it should say right on it. If you don’t have a 350 you might want to upgrade them both at the same time, power supplies are easy to swap and not very expensive.

Answer 9

Why would something as small as a power supply unit keep you from buying a new graphics card?

Answer 10

most computers today are built with a 3 to a 350 watt power supply so go ahead and check but i bet you will be ok with the one you have