I am gonna upgrade my gfx card. ATI Xpress200 card I have is simply not good enough.

NVidia's official website RECOMMENDS to me the Geforce 8500, since my computer has only a 300 w power supply. They say it gives me high quality graphics for games is good enough for me.


Right now, my computer system, which has two dvd+/- rw drives, and an ATI Xpress200 graphics card and two (currently unused) PCI 56k modem and one (currently in use) ethernet card, runs perfectly fine with the 300 w power supply.

I just want to know if my computer can handle the geforce 8500 as well as all the other hardware with the 300W power supply I got, as 300W is minimum required for Geforce 8500GT according to their website. I do not want to have to install the gfx card to my computer to find out I wrecked it.

THANKS!!   would you please post you motherboard model , I'll look at the psu issue and I think the most important  thing here is do you have an available  PCI-E slot on that mobo..cause I think you only have a integrated chip-  ATI 200  and probably don't have a pci-e  slot...Let us know*  thanksI have SR1630NX model computer preconfigured by Compaq.

I have a PCI Express x-16 slot, which is CONFIRMED by the specs listed by PC World.

Screenshots of Computer Specs according to CPU-Z:










The specs of my actual computer I believe is same as what PC World lists except that  I have added myself another 256 PC2700 DDR ram and another 512 PC3200 DDR RAM that did not come with original compaq factory configuration and I have upgraded from XP home to vista home premium and I have INSTALLED second DVD +/- RW drive which originally did not come with my computer when I bought it.

Thanks! 


                  Motherboard Name ASUS A8AE-LE (AmberineM-GL6E) (3 PCI, 1 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR DIMM, Audio, .... FireWire Controller Texas Instruments TSB43AB22 1394A-2000 OHCI ...
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The above tells me you have one...Make sure you have it  and yes,  your good to go...Check  psu  specks on that card but,  I would ALSO buy at least a  450  watt  psu.Yes, I have a PCI-E slot. PC World simply confirmed what I saw earlier when I opened my computer case to install the new rams.

According to specs listed by PNY,

Minimum System Requirements:

   Intel® or AMD® compatible motherboard
   At least 512MB system RAM
   A minimum 300W system power supply
   A PCI Express® compliant motherboard
   50MB of available hard disk space
   CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive
   Microsoft® Windows® 2000, XP
   VGA or DVI-I compatible monitor

That I believe should be the same for all Geforce 8500GT's regardless of whether it's the version manufactured by PNY, EVGA, XFX or some other manufaturer.

Given that information, I can simply install the gfx card with no worries and i'm good to go? Of course, if my PSU doesn't provide enough watts, I run the risk of burning out my motherboard. That's all I'm CONCERNED about.  That's a minimum requirement, remember.
If you have more powerful, or simply more, hardware than they expect, then you will not have enough power and could run into issues.
Basically I would say that if you're going for gaming, go for a new PSU, don't use the stock Compaq one.
And then go for a more powerful card, the 8500 isn't great for gaming but an 8600 is much better.