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#1
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Power supply recommended for the 9800PRO?
I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in
some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So… the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that “230W at max load” ??? |
#2
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"Nissim Trifonov" wrote in message ... I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So. the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that "230W at max load" ??? There's no simple answer to this. Power supply manufacturers are notoriously inconsistent in how they rate their PSU's. A good 300 watter can be much better than a cheap-n-nasty 400w unit. And the emphasis on where to put the power has changed: CPU's used to be driven off the 5v rail, and now they are all driven off the 12v rail. So whether your PSU has a good 12v output is now much more important. You may well be OK if your PSU is a decent one. However, my advice to you would be that if you have any aspirations to overclock your setup, then you probably need a new PSU. 300w really is close to the limit and you will get much better overclocking with a nice stable power supply that's not overstretching itself. Since you don't want to keep changing PSU's all the time, in this case I would go for the best one I could afford and I'd get a 400w *minimum*, probably more. I'd go for a 500w unit, if I could afford it. Apart from anything else, they often run more quiet when they are not near their maximum output. Antec and Forton make very good affordable units. Personally, I don't rate Enermax very highly, but others do. "PC Power and Cooling" make imho the very best units, but they cost a fortune, and if you haven't heard of them, then you don't need one;-) If you are not bothered about overclocking then why not stick with your existing PSU and try it. If its a decent one, it might well work just fine. I have seen people running stable rigs with lower than 300w PSU's! And no, it isn't true that the 9800 draws 230 watts. If that number has any meaning at all (which I doubt), then that number would be a transient peak - which a decent PSU would be able to accommodate anyway. Cheers, Chip |
#3
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On Thu, 29 Apr 2004 09:04:25 GMT, "Nissim Trifonov"
wrote: I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So… the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that “230W at max load†??? I had a 300w psu before purchasing the ati 9800pro and, i did'nt knew at that time that it was so demanding in power. so i did try to use that 300w with the 9800pro and it did take long before smelling a toasted psu. by chance it did'nt blow up or did a shortcut in my system. So at that time i did'nt had much money so i purchase a nspire 450w psu rated at 430watts and till that time i dont get any bad smell or else. For te power consumsion of the card i've read that it was using as much as 300W... i dont say that it true but for shure that babe need a lot of milk... huh! |
#4
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"Nissim Trifonov" wrote in message
... I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So. the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that "230W at max load" ??? BTW, For the 980 Pro, ATI say "ATI recommends a 300-Watt power supply or greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal devices are installed." Chip. |
#5
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Nissim Trifonov wrote:
I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that 230W at max load ??? Well I use an Antec PS and can thoroughly recommend them. You may care to run this as well: http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/ regards @ndrew |
#6
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Hi,
I agree the *brand* of PSu is more important that the wattage. I was running a 9800 on an overclocked Barton system, all worked well with a 300w ANTEC PSU -- Wayne ][ |
#7
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Nissim Trifonov wrote:
I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So… the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that “230W at max load” ??? The card uses about 80-90 watts at full throttle. Which is quite alot, I think ;-) I have a 365 Watt PSU from Enermax, which is a good brand, so it works perfectly on my 9700 OC'd to 9800 speed. SO.... if you have a decent brand, and dont plan to do much overclocking, and dont have too many extra drives, you should really be okay. Thomas |
#8
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Thomas wrote:
Nissim Trifonov wrote: I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that 230W at max load ??? The card uses about 80-90 watts at full throttle. Which is quite alot, I think ;-) If you use the site I recommended it shows that the card uses 54 watts o) I have a 365 Watt PSU from Enermax, which is a good brand, so it works perfectly on my 9700 OC'd to 9800 speed. SO.... if you have a decent brand, and dont plan to do much overclocking, and dont have too many extra drives, you should really be okay. Probably not ... depending on the rest of the configuration ... 400 watts with modern graphics cards and chipsets is probably the minimum without overloading the system. Again look here and do your own calculations: http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/ regards @ndrew |
#9
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Ditto:
I have the same Enermax 365w, no problems. "Thomas" wrote in message news:nmnkc.220032$1q2.463901@zonnet-reader-1... Nissim Trifonov wrote: I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So. the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that "230W at max load" ??? The card uses about 80-90 watts at full throttle. Which is quite alot, I think ;-) I have a 365 Watt PSU from Enermax, which is a good brand, so it works perfectly on my 9700 OC'd to 9800 speed. SO.... if you have a decent brand, and dont plan to do much overclocking, and dont have too many extra drives, you should really be okay. Thomas |
#10
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These Enermax 365W are a real sob psu! They have more juice in 12V and 5V
rail than most 400W psu. My fully loaded system with 3-dimm sdrams, 2Hdd, 2 optical drives, 3pci cards, 1 9600SE, about 2 fans in system and a LOT of usb devices. It runs smoothly on Enermax. "Sept1967" sept1967@highstream.(Erase)net wrote in message ... Ditto: I have the same Enermax 365w, no problems. "Thomas" wrote in message news:nmnkc.220032$1q2.463901@zonnet-reader-1... Nissim Trifonov wrote: I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So. the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that "230W at max load" ??? The card uses about 80-90 watts at full throttle. Which is quite alot, I think ;-) I have a 365 Watt PSU from Enermax, which is a good brand, so it works perfectly on my 9700 OC'd to 9800 speed. SO.... if you have a decent brand, and dont plan to do much overclocking, and dont have too many extra drives, you should really be okay. Thomas |
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