Question about rails (power requirement)

[dmagro]

Trying to confirm my "Antec True Power Trio TP3-650 650W ATX12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready Active PFC Power Supply with Three 12V Rails - Retail" will support a "EVGA 896-P3-1264-AR GeForce GTX 260 SSC Edition 896MB 448-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail "

Only asking because of the requirements of the video card which state: Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 36 Amp Amps.)

Now obviously, the PSU is a 650 watt unit, but the rails are listed with the following outputs: +3.3@24A,+5V@24A,+12V1@19A,+12V2@19A,+12V3@19A,- 12V@0.8A,+5VSB@3.0A

None of the 12v are listed anywhere near 36 amps. How does this work? I'm *assuming* I would be fine if I chose to get this video card, but I'm confused by the 36 amps thing...

 

[lamboman]

Basically put, your power supply will not be able to power that card.

 

[next-Jin]

Stick with Single Rail power supplies. The whole concepts of multi rails erks me.

 

[Oklahoma Wolf]

The Truepower Trio is a single 12V unit. They took out the individual 12V rail OCP.

That unit should be able to handle a 260. Wouldn't be my first choice, but it's not that bad.

 

[JRS]

That video card needs ~182 watts per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_200_Series

That translates to about 18 amps if my math is right.

The 500 watt/36 amp spec is for the entire PC, not just the video card. A 3-rail PSU with 19 amps on each rail will be fine for that card, and would probably run two .

However, I agree with the above two posts - get a good single rail PSU, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, etc.

 

[dmagro]

That video card needs ~182 watts per http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeForce_200_Series

That translates to about 18 amps if my math is right.

The 500 watt/36 amp spec is for the entire PC, not just the video card. A 3-rail PSU with 19 amps on each rail will be fine for that card, and would probably run two .

However, I agree with the above two posts - get a good single rail PSU, Corsair, PC Power & Cooling, etc.

I already have the Trio, and upgrading it PLUS the video card doesn't fit in my budget currently

Since it appears it can run the card, contrary to one of the replies (and I'm going by majority here lol), I may just grab the card now, and perhaps upgrade the PSU later.

 

[BillR]

Basically put, your power supply will not be able to power that card.

That is a very difinitave statement. I'm curious how you came to your conclusion.

First, you don't need 36 AMPS on one rail to drive that video card. Second, even if you bought a full killawatt PSU about 24 AMPS is the average you will see per rail, so by that theory the card is undriveable.

The biggest fault found on that PSU was that it hit like 647 watts under stress and it blew it's protective fuse.

Last there are not seperate rails per se in that unit, it's basicly a one rail (12v) PSU that can provide close to 50A total 12v power.

All that said it will drive your sysem just fine.

Why would I not chose that PSU? As has been stated time and time again you want to keep your total load on your PSU in the 40 to 60% capacity range in order to allow head room for transient spikes and keep your PSU in a cooler running state.

As Oklahoma Wolf stated it would not be my first choice either but you can't just say it won't work with no justification.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=1

 

[JRS]

dmagro - I like your plan. If I had read your post more close I would have realized you already had that PSU - DUH! The Trio is hardly a bargain PSU, it will be fine.