my psu has 300 watts atm do i need higher really badly?

Answer:
All those guys telling you to get 500W PSUs don't know WTF they are speaking about.

The 8600GT is a “budget” card that draws a MEASLY 50 watts under full load. It draws so little power, it doesn't even have a 6-pin PCIe PSU connector. Only some non-reference 8600GTs such as the ones from Zotac do.

Your present 300W PSU will be more than enough for it. A more massive PSU is NOT better– Gross excess unused PSU capacity generates extra waste heat.

Don't waste your money on a new PSU.

Answer:
hi richard

your 300watt psu should be fine,i have a geforce 7600gt and even with 2 x sata hard drives and 2 x optical drives(dvdrw,dvd-rom) my total p.c power consumption is only 225watts

however dont just take my word,go to http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalcul… and use the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator Lite v2.5,all you need to do is enter your p.c hardware and peripherals and you’ll be given a total wattage that you use

it covers all the latest graphic cards and hardware and is quite accurate

also check out the geforce 8600gt specifications(especially the max draw spec), : http://www.gpureview.com/GeForce-8600-GT… states the 8600gt draws just 43w so this isnt much compared to some geforce cards,and if you are only using a single hard drive and a single optical drive then i think you shouldnt have any problems

however if you do let me know

good luck richard !

Answer:
probably do good getting a 600-650watt psu if you want to put it in sli mode later in the future.

And make sure the psu has the power connector for the graphics card.

Answer:
You should probably get a least 500W but no more than 700W power supply.

8800Gt with 400W thats crazy you may be damaging your system because the power supply is too low.

Answer:
yes the minimum is 400 check newegg.com they have really good prices you can get a new one for under $50 look at Rosewill they’re good quality and usually low price.
Answer:
It might just do.

I know a friend who runs an 8800gt on about 400w.