Confused about my power supply needs

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Cards77

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Apr 25, 2008
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Hi, I'm new but I did read the Power Supply FAQ as much as I could understand it.

What I'm confused about is my particular rail needs for my board, CPU and new video card.

I understand the wattage, but I read that wattage doesn't mean crap.

What I'm not clear on is which rails go to what, and how much amprage I need on each rail.

What I'm trying to determine is whether or not I should upgrade my PSU when I upgrade my video card.

Specs:
Asus M2N-MX mobo (socket AM2, MicroATX)

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane Black edition 2.6g, overclocked to 3.0, stock core voltage (1.4v), and 65 watts thermal power, 65nm core

4 gigs (4 x 1gig) Crucial Ballistix PC6400 DDR2 (dual channel x 2 all slots populated)

MSI nVidia 8800GT 512 MB OC'd (670 core clock, 1900 RAM speed) PCI-E x 16

Western Digital 320g 7200 RPM SATA (sorry forgot that)

Is that all that's on the +12V rail?

I'm assuming the rest goes on the 24 pin connector???

EDIT: Forgot my PSU is Antech 430 watt, unknown +12V rail rating.

Asus DVD-ROM drive
Asus DVD-RW drive

Floppy
6 small case fans (80mm?)

This is getting confusing

This calculator says my total usage is 344 watts but won't tell me the 12V rail.

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine



Any help would be greatly appreciated thanks.
 
rgsaunders

rgsaunders

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Include all components in the system when asking power supply questions, and be more specific on your current power supply model, Antec has multiple 430W power supplies, they are not all the same.
 
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Cards77

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That was all components in the system.....

You need floppy drive model #? Lol Is there really that much difference between models of floppy, optical or SATA?




 
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Cards77

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Believe it or not: it doesn't read some DVD-ROMs. I had to buy a dedicated DVD-ROM yes I know it's fantastic. :bounce:

Also, nVidia reccomends a min of 26A for the PCI-E.
 
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Cards77

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So one reason why I'm confused is when they say they reccomend 26A for example, does that mean the TOTAL of ALL the 12V rails?

Or does that mean 26A MIN for ONE 12V JUST for the PCI-E?

So do I need a modular PSU with one rail 26A for the card? And another rail for my CPU?

This is part of why I'm not sure.

Thanks for the info so far. :)

 
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gow87

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It is the combined amperage... think of it this way, amperage multiplied by voltage gives you the wattage. If it was requesting 26A on a single rail for your graphics, that would mean youd be drawing 312Watts just on your graphics card!!! which obviously isnt right!

even then the rated minimum power supply is usually with a top of the line quad core machine and a few HDDs, so aslong as your close to that you shouldnt have any issues.
 
4745454b

4745454b

Titan
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Apr 29, 2006
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Multiple 12V rail PSUs are tricky, let me see if I can help you out.

First, to get the total 12V power, you CAN'T just add them together. Whats listed on the side of PSU is what the 12V rail can handle by itself, you need to take into consideration the part in the PSU that is generating the power. If you have a PSU that shows two 12V rails, and each is listed at 18A, that does not mean you have a total of 36A. Combined, you might have as much as 30A, or as few as 22A.

Second, most "multi" rail PSUs are actually single rail PSUs, with "tricks" inside the PSU to make it look like its a multi rail unit. I can assure you that the power is generated at the same time for all the rails.
 
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