chatman2222

Distinguished
Aug 15, 2008
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Hi, I am currently thinking about upgrading to a GTX280 and and worried if my PSU is beefy enough.

I currently have an antec 650W psu.

My build is:

Asus striker extreme
Intel e4400 OC'ed to 3Ghz
320mb 8800gts
2GB 6400 corsair ram
x-fi
500gb HDD

Ask if i've missed something..

So i'm worried that my psu might not be enough for an upgrade from 8800gts to GTX 280.

Thanks in advance!
 

shening

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Jul 1, 2008
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18,690
You should be good, you might have to use the power cable adapter ( from 4 pin HDD to 6 pin) so you dont overload one +12v rail.
 

Malk

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May 2, 2009
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18,510
Allways remember that the wattage written on the box is not worth alot.
You need to find out how many Amp´s the PSU is yielding on the 12V rail.
For example:

PSU 1 :12V rail with 18 Amp = 216 Watt

PSU 2 :12V rail with 30 Amps = 360 Watt

If you then have a GTX 280 which eats up close to 300 Watt under load, then PSU 1 isnt powerfull enough.
And if the PSU doesnt have 2 x 12V rails, then the one it does have is powering both GPU, and on ATX boards also the CPU.
 

wildgene789

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Dec 24, 2008
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get a gtx285 because then it will only use 2 6 pin pci express cables rather then that weard 8 pin one that needs 2 6 pins just to convert it. Also the 285 is a little less power hungry