Video Card Update

I want to update my video card for better gaming. I was told the PCI Express
X16 was the best way to go. I was also told that I needed to up my power
supply to 470 Watts. Is it safe to go up to 500W? I will also upgrade my
RAM to either 2 or 3 GB...I'm not sure yet. Here's my specs:

Compaq Presario SR1650NX w/ Windows XP Home Edition SP2
Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2 GHz
2000 MT/s (Mega Transfers/second)
Socket 939
Chipset : ATI Radeon XPress 200
Memory Installed 1 GB
Speed supported PC3200 MB/sec
Type 184 pin, DDR SDRAM
250 GB SATA
7200 rpm
16x DVD(+/-)R/RW DL LightScribe drive


Thanks for any help.

It's fine to go to 500w or higher... and to 2gb or 3gb, provided your
motherboard supports that much. Check with Compaq. Oh and yes, PCI-E is
the way to go... again, check you have a spare PCI-E slot with Compaq. Look
at the ATI HDxxxx cards, the higher the number the better.
--
Cari (MS-MVP) Printing & Imaging
www.coribright.com/windows

"NY Kappa Sig" <unlead54@aol.com.(donotspam)> wrote in message
news:4CA24616-C85E-42ED-B403-D3B1AAFCCBF5@microsoft.com...
>I want to update my video card for better gaming. I was told the PCI
>Express
> X16 was the best way to go. I was also told that I needed to up my power
> supply to 470 Watts. Is it safe to go up to 500W? I will also upgrade my
> RAM to either 2 or 3 GB...I'm not sure yet. Here's my specs:
>
> Compaq Presario SR1650NX w/ Windows XP Home Edition SP2
> Athlon 64 3500+ 2.2 GHz
> 2000 MT/s (Mega Transfers/second)
> Socket 939
> Chipset : ATI Radeon XPress 200
> Memory Installed 1 GB
> Speed supported PC3200 MB/sec
> Type 184 pin, DDR SDRAM
> 250 GB SATA
> 7200 rpm
> 16x DVD(+/-)R/RW DL LightScribe drive
>
>
> Thanks for any help.