update....was chatting to the bloke in my local computer shop, and he says shuttle pc have higher quality psu than the ave system.
he also recomended zotac gfx cards as pretty power efficient, compared to how powerful they are.
something along the lines of :
http://acousticpc.com/zotac_geforce_...ideo_card.html
worth a try even in a system with a 250w power supply.
Only thing worries me is if the psu goes POP it surges throught he mother board too. Kinda hoping that a psu failure, is the worst that can happen....