A good brand 400/500 Watt PSU should handle this system with ease. Look out for a power supply that can deliver at least 20 Amps on +5V.

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-17, 15:17:

... will modern PSU handle that hardware?

Without a flinch. Provided the modern one you get has independent regulation, not group regulation. Have a look at this Vogons thread on the subject.

Your PIII system draws relatively little juice, less than 100W DC in total, all rails included.

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-17, 15:17:

... Are disc errors, data corruptions just as PSU issue or can IDE controller actually be faulty? Were MX440 artifact failure just random problem from age (cooling fan on it was working by the way) or were they caused by PSU? ...

Hard to tell, but after installing a good PSU you should have a clearer picture of the situation.

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-17, 15:17:

... Should I be paranoid for my passive cooled Radeon 9200 failing either from overheating because I don't trust small radiator?

Regarding electronics, it's impossible to be "too paranoid" about cooling 😀 . I'd place a small fan on that thing for peace of mind.

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-17, 15:17:

Should I be paranoid for my passive cooled Radeon 9200 failing either from overheating because I don't trust small radiator?

I wouldn't worry about it. I've had (and have) a bunch of 9200 with passive cooling, none of them died.

Thanks to everyone for help. I have found suitable replacement PSU(spare Frontier from my relatives) with 5v powerline of 24A. Disc drives seem to work stable as for now.

UPD. PSU replacement has no issues.

But my Radeon 9200 managed to fail

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-25, 16:26:

UPD. PSU replacement has no issues.

But my Radeon 9200 managed to fail

In what sense?

tehsiggi wrote on 2026-07-25, 17:45:

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-25, 16:26:

UPD. PSU replacement has no issues.

But my Radeon 9200 managed to fail

In what sense?

It got artifacts, everywhere - BIOS, Windows, etc. But whole thing is very odd I guess. Before that there were no artifacts at all.

As I said in original post, I had MX440 that failed, with artifacts too. But it had fan. I am not sure if it's just my bad luck or motherboard or something else having some even worse failure that I don't know.

Radeon 9200 has no fan. But it gets very hot with just desktop, non-3D loads, heatsink like cup of tea. Artifacts appeared today, with new PSU that definitely works without problems(voltages are perfect 12v is 12.43 due to old Pentium III power load, 5v is perfectly 5.00v, checked with multimeter on Molex). They appeared while I left PC on for 40 minutes to install software.

In panic I did repaste, though it didn't looked like previous paste was bad - it transfered heat, hasn't turned into rock which I guess because seller repasted it too. It didn't help as artifacts were still there - in BIOS, Bootloader, Windows ME after cold boot. I decided to put force with my finger on heatsink of chip and four memory chips. Somehow screen got clean after I touched one of chips but I feel like it's coincidence. But it started working

Right now I out small fan near GPU heatsink on top of network card below jt and started 3DMark2000. No artifacts. Heatsink got much colder, chips too. Then I removed fan and left for few minutes, and artifacts appeared again. Stretched poligons during helicopter scene, stray pixels, etc. But not that critical. Then put fan again and they dissapeared once benchmark flushed prevous scene and loaded new. I am running it for more than 40 minutes at 1024x768 and picture looks good.

I could've just put a fan and call it a day, but I fear that artifacts don't just appear because of bad cooling and go away when you put good cooling forever. I think there has to be some catch in its sudden stability, some permanent damage done or something.

Sorry if my writing got unorganized.

That's how it currently looks like. Fan is put on network card and blows into GPU heatsink.

(Unrelated: I also did little bit more electric tape cable management, replaced Pentium III fan with Gelid Silent 5 FDB-type fan and put MOLEX splitter because PSU was made when everyone moved to SATA power and it had only two MOLEX connectors)

Don't solve artifacts with a little fan on GPU. Replace the GPU. That case can have better airflow by adding 2 fans to it. P4 era cases also have openings for a side fan. I use it in my P3 build.

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-25, 20:32:

... I put small fan near GPU heatsink on top of network card below jt and started 3DMark2000. No artifacts. Heatsink got much colder, chips too. Then I removed fan and left for few minutes, and artifacts appeared again. Stretched poligons during helicopter scene, stray pixels, etc. But not that critical. Then put fan again and they dissapeared ...

^ Well, that really sounds like this GPU needs extra cooling.

I'd attach some slim 40~60mm fan to the GPU:

^ (Fan is pulling just to show its label, should be pushing)

Then I'd attach tiny heatsinks on the memory chips at the back of the GPU's PCB:

Then I'd install case fans to improve case ventilation:

Heat murders electronics. Let the air flow!

Should you upgrade your retro graphic cards to active cooling?

TELVM wrote on 2026-07-26, 17:17:

^ Well, that really sounds like this GPU needs extra cooling. […]
Show full quote

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-25, 20:32:

... I put small fan near GPU heatsink on top of network card below jt and started 3DMark2000. No artifacts. Heatsink got much colder, chips too. Then I removed fan and left for few minutes, and artifacts appeared again. Stretched poligons during helicopter scene, stray pixels, etc. But not that critical. Then put fan again and they dissapeared ...

^ Well, that really sounds like this GPU needs extra cooling.

I'd attach some slim 40~60mm fan to the GPU:

^ (Fan is pulling just to show its label, should be pushing)

Then I'd attach tiny heatsinks on the memory chips at the back of the GPU's PCB:

Then I'd install case fans to improve case ventilation:

Heat murders electronics. Let the air flow!

I have made modifications to GPU cooling. I have bought thermal pads and 4 heatsinks(it was hard because only one radio parts store sold them in my city, they were little bit mismatched and as cashier said "they were lying there in drawer for 20 years") . They are installed safely and shouldn't shift or short anything even if you flip whole PC upside down.

I have left that fan, but have made some hot glue legs(they are not glued to network cards and I have made sure they won't damage anything). Later I will try to do something more about it.

For additional test, I've played Half-Life on it for 3 hours with OpenGL rendering. Nothing crashed, no artifacts appeared.

I will put intake and exhaust fans later when I will get them. My other plan is to do some visual cleanup, so it won't look weird and buy more computer screws.

^ Ghetto-mod award of the week 😀 , but if it works, it works. 👍

TELVM wrote on 2026-07-26, 17:17:

^ Well, that really sounds like this GPU needs extra cooling. […]
Show full quote

doctorwhatag wrote on 2026-07-25, 20:32:

... I put small fan near GPU heatsink on top of network card below jt and started 3DMark2000. No artifacts. Heatsink got much colder, chips too. Then I removed fan and left for few minutes, and artifacts appeared again. Stretched poligons during helicopter scene, stray pixels, etc. But not that critical. Then put fan again and they dissapeared ...

^ Well, that really sounds like this GPU needs extra cooling.

I'd attach some slim 40~60mm fan to the GPU:

^ (Fan is pulling just to show its label, should be pushing)

Then I'd attach tiny heatsinks on the memory chips at the back of the GPU's PCB:

Then I'd install case fans to improve case ventilation:

Heat murders electronics. Let the air flow!

I made some reworks, I have installed intake and exhaust fans and redid cable management without tape. I hope I didn't miss anything important

Miles better, good job 👍 . Now the rear upper extractor fan + PSU fan will move extra cooling air around RAM, CPU, and heat sensitive CPU VRM components (transistors, chokes, capacitors), while the front lower intake fan supplies fresh air for much improved case ventilation.