i have to get a new psu. im getting one around 400w(i dont know much about them but probably a thermaltake is what im lookin at). mine is only 250w. i have ati 9800 pro and it says to install to power supply and hard drive. i was told that u shouldnt install it into the hard drive? if i unplug the connector from the hard drive then my floppy disk wont have any connection.

unless the new psu comes with an extra connector left after everything is plugged in like mine does now, can i just plug the video card into that and be ok?

i have
emachines
windows xp home
Pentium4 2.5ghz
1gig ram

ADDITIONAL POWER CONNECTION REQUIREMENTS

The Radeon 9800 Pro must be connected to the computer? power supply to meet its performance and high-speed memory requirements.
In order to supply the ATI Graphics Accelerator card with the necessary power, we have included the Power Extension Cable.
Use the Power Extension Cable to connect the Radeon 9800Pro to the computer? hard Drive power connector.

1. Remove the power cable from the hard drive.
2. Connect the 4-pin connector of the Power Extension Cable to the Radeon 9800 Pro power connector.
3. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the power supply connector.
4. Connect the Power Extension Cable to the Hard Drive connector.

from

www.sapphiretech.com/vga/9800proatl.asp may answer a few questions

hope this helps

so then the video card has to be connected to the hard drive right?

No what it means is you remove the power supply to the hard drive, and with the extra connector they supply you can connect hard drive and graphic card to the psu.


Hope that explains it a bit if not I'm here

o i get it now. i just needed to visualize it. so the extra connector would have like 3 connectors on it. one that goes into the 4 pin that came out the hard drive. and one that goes into the hard drive then another that goes into the video card

are all power supplies basically the same size and bolt configuration?

They may alter slightly in dimesions, but they should all fit in the same place as your present one.