16A enough for a 8800GTS?

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Kaldskryke

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I want to power a 8800GTS off an Antec SU380 (380W) power supply. Review.
I know this isn't a heck of a lot of power, but I also know that the actual power requirements of most PCs is well below what the power supply manufacturers would like us to believe.

I'd be willing to say that the total output power would be sufficient for what I'm putting together. I'm just worried that 16A 'per rail' wouldn't be enough for a 8800GTS.

Other components in the system will be a E4300 on a DS3 with 2GB ram, one HD, one optical drive.
 
RussianHAXOR said:
I say absolutely not.
Click to expand...

that Xbit labs article says about 120 watts at peak load for an overclocked card. That's only 10A to worry about. I've tried a couple "PSU Calculators" and they seem to recommend 310 watts for the system, at stock speeds.

The case I'm interested in purchasing includes this PSU which is why I'd really like to keep it rather than purchasing a new PSU or, more likely, picking a different case. Computer hardware selection isn't exactly great where I live.

So unless more people agree with RussianHAXOR I might try this anyway.
 
Kaldskryke said:
I want to power a 8800GTS off an Antec SU380 (380W) power supply. Review.
I know this isn't a heck of a lot of power, but I also know that the actual power requirements of most PCs is well below what the power supply manufacturers would like us to believe.

I'd be willing to say that the total output power would be sufficient for what I'm putting together. I'm just worried that 16A 'per rail' wouldn't be enough for a 8800GTS.

Other components in the system will be a E4300 on a DS3 with 2GB ram, one HD, one optical drive.
Click to expand...


Are you planning on using te case in te review? If so, then the DS3 wont fit in it as the case is only for micro atx boards. I would recommend the GA-G33M-DS2R from gigabyte, its the best microatx board out now with great overclocking options.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813128053

Just giving you a heads up. I am currently facing the same dilemma as I have a system with a ds3 and a rosewell 600w psu but the psu is a little loud and I want to change my case n board to the nsk2400 and the board i posted above and want to know if the included psu can power my 8800gts till I can afford to get a better psu, so i'll be watching this thread closely to hear the outcome
 
Actually, no, I'm looking at the NSK4400 which is a little mini tower that fits full ATX, but has the same PSU. It's really cheap and has a soft mounting system for HDDs.

I'm building this for a friend and he just informed me that he doesn't plan on buying for another few months so I won't be able to inform you of any success or failure for a while.
 
That Antec PSU isn't sufficient for the setup. If you do the math Antec claims their psu is ~590W(sum of V*A) but it's labeled a 380W? You'll need at least 9 amps for the card. I adjusted their ratings based on the label of 380W and got:

3.3V @ 16.06A
5V @ 16.06A
12Va @ 10.28A
12Vb @ 10.28A

That makes roughly 380W @ 100% efficiency. Antec's numbers don't add up. You should shoot for a ~500+W.
 
i have a 550watt powering 8800gts 640mb sli, 4 hd, 2 opticals, an e6600 @ 1.5v vcore, a sound card, 2gb ram @ 2.3v vdimm, 5 120mm fans. all my motherboard voltages (nb, sb, etc) are dimed. according to the temp gauge that came with my psu, my psu temp barely goes up 4c over idle temps when at load. so it doesnt seem to be working really hard. my htpc has a 7900gt (volt-modded), 3600 brisbane @ 1.35v vcore, 2 gb ram, 2 hd's, 1 optical, 1 sound card, 1 dual tv tuner card, 1 x 120mm, 1 x 92mm, 1 x 80mm fans. the included power meter of the coolermaster realpower 550 (admittedly up to 20% off) shows 180watts at load, so i am drawing anywhere between 144 watts to 216watts. also, read the article linked to in the above post, and the thread linked to in the article. the perceived need for 1kw and/or $200 - $300 multiple rail psu's is amusing.
 
I wouldn't do it... Even if the PSU is able to supply the needed power initially, Antec PSU's are known for having VERY conservative fan speeds on their PSU's which often times leads to overheating and caps failing on even lightly loaded systems. You can be guaranteed that it will or won't work, but you can be pretty darn sure it won't last, especially when it is being loaded to capacity. Also keep in mind that when PSU's go, they often times take other components with them.
 
mcoleg said:
i am afraid it's plenty. see here: http://www.overclockers.com/articles1452/
Click to expand...

Nice find! Very encouraging.

RamonGTP said:
I wouldn't do it... Even if the PSU is able to supply the needed power initially, Antec PSU's are known for having VERY conservative fan speeds on their PSU's which often times leads to overheating and caps failing on even lightly loaded systems. You can be guaranteed that it will or won't work, but you can be pretty darn sure it won't last, especially when it is being loaded to capacity. Also keep in mind that when PSU's go, they often times take other components with them.
Click to expand...

Is 50°C too hot? The SPCR review I linked to indicated the exhaust temperature got to 47°C at 380W load (which probably won't happen to often anyways). Ambient temp will be cool where he lives.

Silent PC Review said:
Thermally, the SU380 has nothing to worry about. The largest temperature rise between the intake and the exhaust was a measly 4°C, reached just before the fan began to speed up. If anything, the SU380 is overcooled — Antec could probably have gone with a quieter medium or low speed fan without worrying about the internal temperature.
Click to expand...
 
Well I'm just giving you my opinion based on my experiences. You are of course free to use any PSU you want, but I personally am not going to tell you everything will be AOK even though that's what you want to hear. Will it work? Probably. But how long will it last?
 
Kaldskryke said:
Nice find! Very encouraging.
Click to expand...

i am actually the one who wrote it :p

the system in question is pretty low-powered. the longevity of the caps is affected by temps, not load per say. working 90% of the time way bellow 50% load won't heat psu insides too much. that system should last a good long time.
 
Dunan said:
+5846359

Absolutely not also.

ONE of my x1900xt's require 28 amps, 38 for crossfire.
i'd say an 8800 anything takes more power than one of my cards.
Click to expand...

How'd you arrive at the 28amp figure? That seems extremely high for that card.

That said, no, I don't believe the OP's PSU will be sufficient. At least, not for any considerable period of time. Don't skimp on your PSU.
 
Dunan said:
+5846359

Absolutely not also.

ONE of my x1900xt's require 28 amps, 38 for crossfire.
i'd say an 8800 anything takes more power than one of my cards.
Click to expand...

336 (28A*12V) watts for one card? Not likely. That information you're quoting is probably a recommendation on total PSU 12V amperage for the whole system, not just the one card. Based on the '38A for crossfire' that tells me they are assuming 10A per card, which is reasonable, but the 18A for the rest of the system is very generous. 'They' (the source of your info) want to be able to account for cheap quality PSUs rated at 25°C hooked up to power hungry processors and lots of peripherals etc etc so that 'they' don't get sued.

The 8800GTS does not use more than 10A when overclocked or so the xbit labs article says, which leaves 260W out of 380W for the rest of the system, which I think will be plenty even at full load.

It looks like I won't be building anything for quite a while now, though, so the point is moot. Oh well.
 
I'm running OC'd 8800gts (648/1053) and heavily OC'd cpu CPU in an NSK2400. The xbit labs report lists power draws, which are nowhere near the limits of this PSU. It's rated for 32A on +12; nvidia recommends 26A (overkill) for a single GTS.

I was previously using a 300w uatx supply review which also ran my system just fine, but was a bit too loud for me. Anyone who claims that you need a 500W+ supply for a single card system has been swayed by marketing. I would believe in actual power draws instead. It's doubtful the antec will fail within its warranty period, but there are higher quality supplies out there for a given output (seasonic)
 
When I recommend a high quality 500 watt PSU for a single card (8800GTS/GTX -- and more the GTX) system, I'm not being 'swayed by marketing', I'm trying to extend the life of the system.

Owning a system like this, I see draws of 320-340 watts at the wall in game on occasion, so actual draw by components is at or just below 300 watts. My system is far from 'fully loaded'. 500 watts allows for more drives, fans, cold cathodes or whatever, while keeping the PSU in what is likely the highest efficiency portion of its efficiency bell curve, allowing it to run cooler, under less stress, and prolonging its life.

Given you can get a proven budget PSU like the XClio Goodpower 500 watt for $50 or something a little 'nicer' like the Corsair 520watt for not that much more, I don't feel 'bad' at all making these recommendations. In the end, it seems best to buy with headroom in mind if you don't plan to buy again soon, anyway, as power draw (unfortunately) looks to be going anywhere but down, save with regard to CPUs, which were never that bad comparatively anyway.
 
This isn't aimed at the OP but at people being cheap when it comes to picking a power supply for their computers.

I want this 8800 GTS, Nvidia says it needs 24 amps on the 12 volt rail, will this cheap 5 dollar 500 watt PSU work with it? :rolleyes:

I can't believe that people spend thousands of dollars on their computer parts and whine about paying for a Quality Power supply. I'm guessing Nvidias engineers knew what they were doing when they said for a 640 MB 8800 GTS needing 24 amps on the 12v rail that's what they meant, not 18 amps or 19 amps, but 24 amps. I'm sure they didn't just pick that number out of the sky.

You also have to take into consideration things like summer heat, overclocking, how many optical drives, hard drives etc etc.. that your system has in it. These things together can and often do cause voltage rails to drop then you're left wondering how come my game crashes? why my does my machine reboot? etc etc .... :rolleyes:

Bite the bullet and save up for a good power supply, it really does pay for itself in the long run. I rant because I fix and build PC's for a living and where I work we don't skimp on PSU's, why? We don't want them coming back with problems because they're underpowered. We don't want to rma them because Joe has a cousin that has a friend that's a pc guru and he added this upgrade to my system and now it quit working, or... has become unstable.... Your computer components are only as good as the stable, clean power that runs through em.

I can't tell you how many times over the years that someone thought they could build themselves a computer or have a friend or family member build them a computer that constantly crashes, reboots, or locks up in games, that bring their machine to me to fix to only find out they're running a 250 or 350 watt PSU leftover from their old Dell Dimension yadda yadda..... anyway .... sorry for the rant it's over now lol. Be good to yourself and your PC, purchase a quality power supply. Yes, I have PC Power & Cooling PSU, it's 2 years old and still as good as the day I bought it. Do I need a 400 dollar 1 killowat PSU ? hell no. There are some very nice 100 dollarish (real word ?) or so PSU's in the 500 to 600 watt or so range that are pretty damn good. Just don't go cheap.
:D
 
Kaldskryke said:
336 (28A*12V) watts for one card? Not likely. That information you're quoting is probably a recommendation on total PSU 12V amperage for the whole system, not just the one card.
Click to expand...
yes, i was talking about full system load.
Like i said, the 600W enermax handled just one card, and it was a virtual blow dryer.
 
Kaldskryke said:
Actually, no, I'm looking at the NSK4400 which is a little mini tower that fits full ATX, but has the same PSU. It's really cheap and has a soft mounting system for HDDs.

I'm building this for a friend and he just informed me that he doesn't plan on buying for another few months so I won't be able to inform you of any success or failure for a while.
Click to expand...

8800 nice card.....
almost any PSU that comes included in a case purchase...in reality a crap shoot....
not so nice!!

Why scrimp on th PSU?
 
Kangg said:
This isn't aimed at the OP but at people being cheap when it comes to picking a power supply for their computers.

I want this 8800 GTS, Nvidia says it needs 24 amps on the 12 volt rail, will this cheap 5 dollar 500 watt PSU work with it? :rolleyes:

I can't believe that people spend thousands of dollars on their computer parts and whine about paying for a Quality Power supply. I'm guessing Nvidias engineers knew what they were doing when they said for a 640 MB 8800 GTS needing 24 amps on the 12v rail that's what they meant, not 18 amps or 19 amps, but 24 amps. I'm sure they didn't just pick that number out of the sky.

You also have to take into consideration things like summer heat, overclocking, how many optical drives, hard drives etc etc.. that your system has in it. These things together can and often do cause voltage rails to drop then you're left wondering how come my game crashes? why my does my machine reboot? etc etc .... :rolleyes:

Bite the bullet and save up for a good power supply, it really does pay for itself in the long run. I rant because I fix and build PC's for a living and where I work we don't skimp on PSU's, why? We don't want them coming back with problems because they're underpowered. We don't want to rma them because Joe has a cousin that has a friend that's a pc guru and he added this upgrade to my system and now it quit working, or... has become unstable.... Your computer components are only as good as the stable, clean power that runs through em.

I can't tell you how many times over the years that someone thought they could build themselves a computer or have a friend or family member build them a computer that constantly crashes, reboots, or locks up in games, that bring their machine to me to fix to only find out they're running a 250 or 350 watt PSU leftover from their old Dell Dimension yadda yadda..... anyway .... sorry for the rant it's over now lol. Be good to yourself and your PC, purchase a quality power supply. Yes, I have PC Power & Cooling PSU, it's 2 years old and still as good as the day I bought it. Do I need a 400 dollar 1 killowat PSU ? hell no. There are some very nice 100 dollarish (real word ?) or so PSU's in the 500 to 600 watt or so range that are pretty damn good. Just don't go cheap.
:D
Click to expand...

my thoughts exactly:cool:
people seem to think that if they have a system that you added up to take 430W of power, they can get away with using a 450 or even 500W PSU. it wouldnt be enough because you'll always be pushing that psu to the upper end of its power.
You need a little headroom to keep the heat and load down:D
 
I heard a great analogy from one of the reviewers at PC Perspective.

You can run your car's engine in the red here and there and it should be fine. However, it's going to wear out a lot faster if you run it there all the time. Same thing with PSU's.

I also agree with the comments about the whining over spending money on a PSU. Guys, that's like buying a Ferrari and then saying you'll put regular in it because premium is too expensive. WTF?
 
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