card for 300watt power supply

Hey guys, I'm looking for a card for a friend's PC, low end, as its just a Pentium 4 530 so it won't really be able to take advantage of much else, but just a little something to give it a boost.

I went over to tomshardware and they seemed to recommend the 4650 as the best buy for under 100 bucks, so I went and checked a few out but the power requirements for them are all 350-400w.

So my question is, since this system only has a 300watt power supply, what can I get that would be similar to the 4650's performance, or will the power supply be fine?

The system is an HP m1170n Media center PC.

Thanks for your input

Nick

Looks like the hd4550 and the 9400gt will both run with a minimum 300 watt psu. According to http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1377&pageID=5535 the 4550 outperforms the 9400 and uses less power.

Sources:
http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_9400gt_us.html

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814102819

9800 GT to a GTS 250 will run fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130467

wingman99 said:

9800 GT to a GTS 250 will run fine.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130467

Click to expand...

for a 300w psu?lol

gian84 said:

for a 300w psu?lol

Click to expand...

laugh all you want I'm having the last laugh becase I have a 300w psu with a 8800 my next upgrade will be a GTX 260 216

Here are the fact's GTS 250 PC system full load at the wall is 248 watts -20% =198 watts at the PSU

LINK: http://www.techreport.com/articles.x/16504/10

LINK: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gts-250,2172-10.html

yeah i suppose they can run on that provided its a very good psu with enough amps in the 12v rail. Still risky though, better to stick with the recommended psu The OP might do what you suggested and can end up damaging his psu and his system. Yup, definitely not a laughing matter...

OEM PSU from HP are vary reliable and will shut down if you overload them end of story.

Being a bit pushy are we? Seem to be forgetting that the p4 is such a bottleneck.

I vote for either the 4650 or 4670. They don't use that much power and it's not worth spending anymore on such a old system. The psu should be able to handle those, especially if it can handle a 8800gts 9800gt 9800gt+ gts 250.

well seing as we both got a point, its all in the OPs discretion. cheers

Well it also depends what else he is running as well.