Hey, I have a FX 5500 and it says it requires at least a 250 W PSU.
My comp has a max. 250 W PSU.
I want to overclock my 5500 and have been told that overclocking it will not require more power, and I have been told that it does require more power and it coulc fry my comp if I do it. Which is right? Thnks

GeForce FX 5500
PSU 250W

If you are running Xp3200 and aFx550 you should not be running a 250 Watt PSU. Minimum 350Watt but at least a 450Watt if you want to a void any nasty overloads and spikes.

Upgrade your PSU to a decent Thermalate or Enernamx PSU before you overclock

hmmmm.....
well my comp came stock 250W and I emailed Nvidia and they said it owuld be fine. The box for the 5500 says it needs min. 250W.

Anyway, would overclocking it take more power?

GeForce FX 5500
PSU 250W

You still can overclock the card, but it is not recommended, for the sake of the psu.

If you get something more along the lines of a 350 (which are cheap) then you would have no fears of doing it. I think 450 would be a little extra waste of money for you, even though you can get a good one for around 60$.

Here's what i would do. Order a new one, and then play around a little with the one you have. Not taking it too far, because if you were to blow the psu, you could take the motherboard with it.

You can be amused by the simplest of things.

The smartest people in the world, over-look the smallest objects.

War does not determine who is right, only who is left.

There are certain requirements when it comes to power supply selection. 250 watt PSUs are "old school"...they were designed for pre-Athlon/P4 systems, when the CPU & other components didn't rely so heavily on the +12v rail.

Check the label on the side of your PSU...see how many amps are listed for +12v. I'd be willing to bet it's less than 15A, maybe even less than 10A. A little simple math will tell you what you need. Here's some rough numbers:

CPU = 6-10A (depending on make/model)
motherboard = 0.5A
HDD = 2.0A each
optical drive = 1.0A each
cooling fans = 0.25A each

If you only have one HDD & CD, & 3 cooling fans (PSU fan must be included), your +12v requirement would be:

8 + 0.5 + 2 + 1 + 0.75 = 12A

So 12A would be the absolute minimum. But you want a buffer to handle the intial surge when you fire up your machine, plus you should have more amps in reserve in case you decide to upgrade in the future (add more drives, fans, higher end video card, etc). That's why the general recommendation is 18A minimum on the +12v.

Video card? Higher end cards requiring a +12v plug-in draw amps too. Unfortunately, I don't have an estimation on that. Your 5500 probably needs 65-75 watts. This site will help with wattage, but doesn't take amperage into consideration:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @8x210mhz
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

Definitely need to underclock that puppy - lower voltage
and longer life spans..mmmmm

So youa re saying i shouldnt overclock it.

it is stock 270/400 but I would like to get it to 320/450
How much more strain should that put on the PSU.

This is a brand new comp (2 months old) from HP. It is an HP Pavilion a620n. Anyway, I am pretty sure it is 250W but maybey and hopefully I misread it for 350W. Who knows? I will check when I get a minute.

GeForce FX 5500
PSU 250W

Oh man...HP's are crap! You better have a look inside your case before buying ANYTHING. You may not even have an AGP slot!

I'm not 100% sure, but the HP PSUs may be proprietary, meaning you can't just buy a new PSU from your local CompUSA or PC shop, have to buy an HP unit.

Asus A7N8X-X
1800+ @8x210mhz
512mb PC3200
Ti4200/8X 128mb
WDC 60GB

My hp does have an agp, i installed the card about a month ago!!

I just wanted to know if overclocking a card uses more power than a stock card! Thanks.

GeForce FX 5500
PSU 250W

yes overclocking uses a bit more power. you can overclock yiours vidio card but u could mess up your mobo if ur psu goes try 290\420 5 mhz at a time running for a coulpe houre's at a time

Anthlon xp 2400@2.0
2 sticks 512 kingston ddr ram
ati radion 9600 xt