Will my PSU support a 7800 ?

D

dagon11985

Gawd
Joined
Jul 21, 2005
Messages
562
Right now I have a " POWMAX " 400 watt powersupply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16811145017

( Thats my case and PSU. Before you guys flame on the case , it does have a side air ventalation , and I needed a decent case. I figured this one would do. I've not had any problems with it , my temps remain fairly cool with it. ( 30c idle , 41 c during gameplay ).



I am thinking of getting a 7800gt , but I need to know if I should go ahead and get another powersupply along with it. the 7800gt requires atleast a 400 watt powersupply , thats what mine is, but , I know this PSU is no antec. Should I go ahead and get another psu ?
 
I would recommend getting a better power supply. My experience with POWMAX power supplies has been horrible. I don't know if anyone has any good luck with them, but I think I remember reading that it was one of the brands to avoid using.

I wish I knew that when i had the blasted thing. It would keep kicking my computer into rebooting after playing CS or another full-screen game, And then one time it just flat out shut down on me. I took it back to the shop that sold it to me and according to the test results even though it was rated for 400W it was only operating at 200W at BEST. And somehow I powered a T-bird on that thing? :eek: :eek: :eek:

The shop guys did apologize to me for it and gave me a Sparkle one free of charge. That one was solid as far as I remember. I didn't have any problems with it that I can recall.

I don't know if that's been your experience or if you're experiencing similar, but based on my personal experience, I'd definitely go find something that is tried and true.
 
For one thing, Powmax is considered an unscrupulous power supply manufacturer. You may want to replace that with a better psu, simply because the PSU is the one component which, if you have a low quality one, has the potential to kill your whole rig. As far as the 7800GTX goes, the minimum power required on the 12V rail for that card is 26A, your only has 25. It might work with no case fans and only one hdd attached, but I wouldnt risk it with that PSU. Better to spend 80 bucks on a good PSU than let a crappy one kill the computer you invested, probably, well over a 1000 dollars into.
 
Only a Powmax 400W??

This is how well a 580W did:

http://www.slcentral.com/powmax-demon-580w-psu/

"I noticed is that it was lighter than any other power supply I had ever used before."

"The heat sinks also are about the size of the little CVS Pharmacy Extra Care card you would put on your key chain."

"The full load test consisted of loading the 12V to 16A, the 5V to 18A and the 3.3V to 3A. When I took the 5V up to only 20A, the 12V and 5V actually dropped to 9.34V and 3.85V respectively."

"Keep in mind that if Powmax was a little more honest about this power supply's capabilities and slapped a "300W" label on it, it probably would have scored twice as high."

Would only do 306W. Tops! :(
 
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