What components of my computer would be damaged if a power supply is not powerful enough (its a 200W - it probably should be more like a 250W)? Any answer would be greatly appreciated.

The PSU itself for one and sometimes the mainboard and or cards installed on the board.

Saber is right... but if I were you I'd go ahead and jump up to about a 300 or higher.. should be about the same price depending on how you shop.. just watch the 12+ rail and try to get the amps 18a and up on your new one...

Shuttle AN35N-Ultra
AMD 2000+ 1gb 2100ddr
Gainward Gforce 5600 Ultra 128ddr
120GB of 7200 HD space
UV Clear Acrylic Blue case
AXIO Aluminum 600watt PSU
Leadtek Winfast Tv2000xp

My computer is worth about as much as a new power supply is, as its a Pentium 2. As its so old, i dont really care about the motherboard or processor, but would the HDD's or optical drives (the most expensive parts to replace) be damaged at all?

Hi i would just upgrade totally to a 500 watt psu, because that then save you from buying another one for along time, i mean personally i upgraded to a 650 watt psu but that is only because i will have loads of things in my pc that suck up lots of power.

Enterprise

I do not care about my motherboard, processor or power supply, and my video card is already going. My question is, would my optical drives or HDD's be damaged if my power supply is too weak?

In most cases no they just wont function properly until theres enough power, but in other rare cases it can cause short circiting

Enterprise

Thanks for the info. Eventually, i'll probably get a new comp, (once my mobo or video card fries from lack of power). But at least until then, i know that, probably, it wont cause much damage to the most vaulable parts of my comp - the optical drives and the HDD's. (It'll just fry a P2 mobo and 16mb video card, both worth less than a new power supply.)