PC Tidbits

[LeftEyeNine]

Nice tool that one, Toga-sama.

[A Nerd]

Will this tool tell me the wattage of my power supply or would I have to open the case to find that out?

[LeftEyeNine]

Your energy comsumption, may be, but I don't think PSU's capacity is possible to be looked at for that thing is only a hardware, not a single chip that could identify itself.

Opening the case can take 3 mins. at max. ^^

[A Nerd]

Yeah I know. I am just afraid to get something in it, I can be such a wimp at times! I looked up some graphics cards and the motherboard spec said there is one better than the one I have that will work. More than affordable too! Just that some require 300 or 400 watts. My motherboard has 250 I think. Though my graphics card was updated by the guys that build it, so I don't know if the power supply was updated too. Will have to check.

What would happen if I put a card in that required 300 watts and I only have 250?

[drone]

Bad things. System will generally get unstable if they don't have enough peak power, poor power supplies are the weak link in a lot of systems. You need to take everything into account, motherboard, hard/DVD drives, video cards, etc. to come up with a max power figure. Then get something even bigger. I haven't been keeping up with desktop hardware lately, so I can't recommend manufacturers, but some are notoriously "positive" about their peak outputs.

[A Nerd]

Ah, I see. I was just curious. My graphics card doesn't need an upgrade, it is just once I get an idea in my mind, it is hard to get it out! :/ I would like a sound card though. I have yet to research those well though.

[LeftEyeNine]

Oh and, btw, there is no such requirement as in your saying "What would happen if I put a card in that required 300 watts and I only have 250?"

Components consume different amounts of energy (no such component as "requires 500W PSU") and the cumulative amount is what should preferably be under the capacity of your PSU.

FYI.