power supply/video card issue and p3 500 powerful enough??

[kpassman]

I just got a PNY geforce4 ti4200 128mb that everyone in fatwallet and anandtech is talking about.... anyway currently I have a 250w power supply but the recommended power supply is said to be 350w. All i got hooked up to my comp is a soundcard, modem, 3 cd-drives, floppy, hd and this videocard. Do I have to upgrade my powersupply??

Also, I have a p3 500 that i've had for a few years now. Up until now I thought that it would continue to suit me but since I got this videocard, Is it out of date?? would a p4 in the gigahertz range really help me??

thanks guys!!

[BuddhaTB]

Yes you need a bigger power supply. Get something with atleast 400 watts from a quality company like Antec, Enermax, and etc. As for your CPU, I'm not too sure what speed your motherboard can handle up to. If you get a Pentium 4, you'll certainly have to change the motherboard and ram. With all that in mind, do some research and see what you can find out. A new CPU and mobo will cost you $100-$200.

[blakerwry]

I'm kinda thinkng that if you own a pIII 500 (slot 1 with pc100 SDRAM) and think it would last you that you'd be better off getting an Athlon CPU and motherboard.

Athlon has considerably better price vs performance in the sub 2gHz range... once you hit 2.5 ghz things start to blur and after that it's a messy debate with no winners.

if you only update your PC once every 3-4 years (as it seems) then I think you'd be fine with a "bargain" board and an athlonXP 1700+

The 1700+ will run you under $60, while a good bargain board will run you under $70 as well.. You'll also want DDR RAM, (something you'd need whether you get P4 or AMD) a 256MB stick of Crucial pc2100 will run you just under $50.

I'd buy from newegg.com and I'd check out this thread for recomendatinos on good "bargain" boards. Most of the mobo's in this thread are limited to an AthlonXP 2600+, some will run higher. Most of these boards include audio and LAN as well, so if it's built into your current board don't worry about buying a 3rd party card.