How many amps will a low-mid range card actually require from the 12V rail?

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Marmotta

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I want to build an external graphics card for my laptop, but don't really want to have a large PSU and graphics card combination sitting on my desk, given that the cable from the PE4L adapter which connects to the laptop is pretty short. The most powerful cards which can take the required power from the PCIe connection are the GT 640 and HD 7750, but I wanted something a bit more powerful and am looking at this EVGA GTX 650 Ti and their "spec sheets" don't provide much detail. The maximum draw for the card is 110W, so I should be able to use a PicoPSU, but I was wondering what the amps on the 12V actually need to be, as the 20 amps quote would take into account additional hardware. By my quick estimate, it should be about 10 amps under load, but I'm not sure. Any help would be appreciated.
 
"Requirements
Minimum of a 400 Watt power supply."
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 20 Amps.)

20 amps.
 
I mention 20 amps in my post, but those are the minimum requirements in a standard PC environment, where the PSU is expected to be powering a lot of other components. Given the card alone uses max 110W on 12 volts that should work out as 9.166 amps, but I wasn't sure if that equates to what the card would require or not.
 
650 shouldn't require a terrible amount, I don't have the exact numbers but just about any psu you hook up to this will work.

Are you building an enclosure to house the psu and video card? I've seen people do that, my #1 fear with external gpu solutions is the video card getting tipped!
 
I was just reading up on using an Xbox 360 PSU, as the original models go up to 203W and supply 12V and 5V. Been keeping an eye open for suitable enclosures, but what I've found so far has either been too small/large or lacks suitable venting.
 
Interesting, check to see how much average the xenos in the 360 required, I'm sure it required a bit more then the 650 does.
 
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