Can a SFF power the new video cards?

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malice8691

Weaksauce
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I have been wanting to build a SFF system for a long time but the one thing stopping me from using a sff case is the power supply. I have heard that the new video cards, particularly the 6800 card needs to have something like a 400 w ps. Now i'm confused because I saw an article on [H] a couple of weeks ago and they built a sff shuttle using a 6800 card. So my question is how will I know what I will be able to get away with? I havent seen a SFF with anything more than a 250W ps. I want to build one based as a gaming pc using a 6800 card.
 
6800gt running a in a soltek 3801m-300, no problems power wise. and its only a 300w psu.
Many of the new shuttles come with a 350w psu. So its not only possible to run power hungry cards there are lots of people doing it.

psu's in SFF systems are usually built to higher standards. so that 250-300w psu puts out as much or more power than an average 400-450w psu
 
The real issue is with the 6800ultra cards. Those appear to use much more power than even the GTs.
 
350-400 is the power needed for ultras
new shuttles with 350 psu are the same as 500+ so u will be fine
 
Like Raku said the SFF power supplies are built with higher quality in mind. They put out more power than you think, and can easily power 3 IDE devices, and PCI, and AGP card even the higher end models like the 6800GT. The problem with the 6800 Ultra does not come from the amount of power it requires but rather it's double slot cooling does not allow for it to fit within most SFF without some form of modification to the SFF, or the card itself.
 
I have a 6800U running in a Shuttle with 250w PSU in it right now and I have to say I would not suggest this combination if stability was something you value. :p
 
I'm getting really sick of people not knowing how to use the search option.
 
I have a Soltek EQ-3701, 45W Mobile Barton @ 2GHz, and a 6600GT. 250W PSU that delivers 17A on +12. Works fine with the video card at stock 500MHz core frequency, but OC'ing the video card causes reboots, as heat build up in the PSU causes available current to drop, in turn causing a drop in current for the CPU, and a reboot.
 
With power supplies the rated power consumption will always be higher than the power output and therefore most manufacturers tend to quote the higher of the two figures since it makes their product seem more powerful and is the legitimate maximum they can say in marketing terms!

Depending on the efficiency of the power supply (which in turn depends on build quality...) the output may be close to the power consumption - or dragging its heels a good way behind, and it is my thinking that Shuttle PS units are rated in terms of output and NOT simply the power they consume.

So with your Shuttle 250w PS you get a true 20a~12volts output for instance.

With a third party PS unit rated, for arguments sake, at 300w (assuming 75% efficiency) the output is therefore 225w (thus 18a~12volts) and is thus weaker than the Shuttle PS even though the power consumed figure is greater!
 
DougLite said:
I have a Soltek EQ-3701, 45W Mobile Barton @ 2GHz, and a 6600GT. 250W PSU that delivers 17A on +12. Works fine with the video card at stock 500MHz core frequency, but OC'ing the video card causes reboots, as heat build up in the PSU causes available current to drop, in turn causing a drop in current for the CPU, and a reboot.
Click to expand...

Looks like Shuttle uses better PSUs
 
Teukka76 said:
Looks like Shuttle uses better PSUs
Click to expand...

Quite correct. I still am pleased with my Soltek though. It's not the PSU that's weak, it the overall ventilation of the system. The hot air from the CPU that runs in the 50s is what the PSU 'breathes' easily allowing the PSU to get into the 60s. The ventilation is just not good enough to keep a PSU in optimal thermal territory.

All PSU have output that decrease as the temperature in the unit increases. That's a fact of life for them.
 
i put a 6800gt in my shuttle sn45g, which came with a 200 watt power supply. no problems so far, even when playing games for long periods of time.
 
The power supplies in the Shuttle SFFs have more than enough to power a high-end system. The problem, as stated earlier is two things:

In SFFs, heat is a major issue. And while SFFs usually run just fine and stable, some people may feel uncomfortable with the heat. As for high-end cards, I have a 6800 in my Shuttle SN95G5. It works fine on a 240w PSU.

Dual slot video cards can actually fit in a few SFF systems. The most notable would be the "P" series from shuttle. They not only allow for dual-slot vid cards, the "P" series is the only shuttle line with up to a 350W PSU. So no trouble there. Keep in mind, though, that the adjacent PCI slot will not be available. The "P" series are slightly bigger than the others, but not by much, and a BTX style layout is used. :)
 
So you have X800Xt, isn't X850XT about the same in heat dissipation and power consumption? I've already got X850XT card and I only have to modify it to single slot... ;)
 
The X850 XT runs at the same clockspeed as the X800XT-PE (which does work in Shuttles) if I remember correctly, so the PSU should be enough.

Heat may be an issue though. My X800XT reaches a temp of 84C in the ATITool stress test wih the case cover on so you'll want to make sure you have good cooling. The G chassis design does suffocate GPU fans somewhat, so the P design is better in this regard, if, a tad larger. You can actually buy mesh sides for the case cover but apparently those cause the other temperatures such as chipset and mosfet as well as noise levels to rise.

Otherwise heat isn't a big issue. Harddrives and chipset also run a bit hotter, but CPU cooling is excellent, much better than my old AthlonXP setup with the SLK800+4800 RPM 80mm fan and much less noisy :eek:
 
I might test ST20G5 with X850XT but I can swap the card to X800XL with my friend. I think I'll manage with it and I would also get 130$ cash with the X800XL...
 
I'm about to purchase a Shuttle but are you sure a 350W from Shuttle can be as 500W normal PSU's?
 
Don't worry - people run Opterons, dual Raptors and X800XT-PE's off the 240W PSU in G5 designs ;)
 
Pepsin said:
Don't worry - people run Opterons, dual Raptors and X800XT-PE's off the 240W PSU in G5 designs ;)
Click to expand...

so you think ST20G5 with 240w PSU would be fine with following:
3500+ winchester
X850XT
2x512MB
DVD-RW
1xSATA Drive
 
I would think so. My system is quite similar except I have one 7200 RPM PATA drive and one 10,000 RPM SATA drive but only a X800XT. Of course the ATI chipset could consume a lot more power than the NForce but I doubt it. Just make sure you get some seriously good (=loud) cooling for the videocard. If possible, I'd settle for the X800XL or similar - my X800XT is a tad loud as the fan almost always ramps up to the fastest setting when running games.
 
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