Is this enough to power my system?

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krillz

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Jan 2, 2008
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Hi guys!

I recently discovered that my PSU was just too weak on the +12v rails to power my system + graphic card.

Here is the what the system is made up of.

motherboard
Asus P5K, P35, Socket-775, DDR2, ATX, GbLAN, PCI-Ex16

Memory:
Corsair TWIN2X 6400 DDR2, 2048MB CL5 Kit w/two matched CM2X1024A-6400 Dimm's

CPU
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.4GHz Socket LGA775, 8MB, BOXED m/fan

Graphic Card:
XFX GeForce 8800GTS 600M 640MB XT GDDR3, PCI-Express, 2xDVI/HDTV/HDCP, 112-SP

Hard drive:
Samsung SpinPoint T166 500GB SATA2 16MB 7200RPM


The PSU i was using now had only a maximum of 20 A on the +12v rail (single rail) which caused the entire system to fail a little into the gaming.

Read the guides and other suggested texts here on the forum, so I know that it's the +12v rail you should be looking for in a high end gaming system and not the total power wattage like I did before.

So I'm thinking in investing in a Antec TruePower Trio 650 - EC which costs aroud 200 USD here in Sweden. But the question I have is whether it has enough juice to power the system + 3 fans & 2 UV light tubes and the energy eating graphic card that requires a minimum of 26A on the +12V rail.


Thanks for your help!
 
Corsair 520HX or 550VX will be just fine. If you're really worried and want to exceed requirements, go with a PC Power & Cooling 610 or 750. The 750 has 61A on the +12v. Try to find something that will use all of that... 😀

*edit* That Antec TruePower should work and will give you some room to grow on.

The PSU i was using now had only a maximum of 20 A on the +12v rail (single rail) which caused the entire system to fail a little into the gaming.
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I'm surprised this didn't work. I just use the 6-pin to 2xMolex adapter and combined two rails on a 420W PSU (+12v @ 16A, +12v@18) and got my 8800GTS 640 to start up. Maybe you just need to combine rails? That or you're already exceeding the maximum output of the PSU.
 
well I just put in the 6 pin PCI-E into it, fired up put can't handle the game action as it just get too little power and shuts dow along with everything else.

Problem is I only have one of those + everything is on the same rail, so all the other parts are also eating from those 20 A max.
Talked about this in a graphic card forum, and was told that my PSU (apevia) and I have also confirmed this on other places, is not reliable.

So if I buy that antec Turepower trio, with 2 PCI-E plugs, I still would have to run them combined as 2x 18 A to meet the minimum requirements?
 
Yeah, Apevia isn't too great. 😛

So if I buy that antec Turepower trio, with 2 PCI-E plugs, I still would have to run them combined as 2x 18 A to meet the minimum requirements?
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If it has a dedicated 6-pin GPU plug straight from the PSU, use that. If it's not sufficient, use the bundled 6-pin splitter and use two +12v rails to meat the requirements.
 
rgeist, yeah I guess that would be the option to go with.
But on their site http://www.antec.com/ec/productDetails.php?ProdID=07665

they have specified the output table, so it has 18 A max on the +12v rails, so either I go with 2x +12v rails or just the PCI-E dedicated 6 pin plug. But I would like to see how many amps that one runs ( I doubt it runs at 26A, so it's for less power consuming GPUs right?).
 
The purepower 650 will do the job, even the 550 would. Your card will only need and can use only one pci-e 6 pin plug.

The 8800GTS recomendation of 26a is for the total system, not just the vga card.

Lower quality psu's fudge their specs to their advantage for marketing purposes. You get what you pay for in quality units. PC P & cooling, seasonic, corsair, and the newer Antec units are all good.
 
The purepower 650 will do the job, even the 550 would. Your card will only need and can use only one pci-e 6 pin plug.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think he got a little confused when I was mentioning the splitter. It takes a standard 6-pin PCI-E cable and splits it into two Molex connectors (the things you plug into your Fans, etc.). They allow you to combine two rails into a single 6-pin connection.

Lower quality psu's fudge their specs to their advantage for marketing purposes. You get what you pay for in quality units. PC P & cooling, seasonic, corsair, and the newer Antec units are all good.
Click to expand...
Exactly what you want to watch out for. Just as geofelt said, cheaper PSU's will indeed fudge their specs and often only mention their peak output rather than their continuous one. (If you check out PC Power & Cooling, you'll find they rate their PSU's on continuous power.)
 
Alrigth then guys, thanks for your help. I be buying the antec Turepower trio. Hopefully this won't overload or feed my GPU too little juice. As what happend now just sucks.

Also got a message from my retailer, saying and I translate:

"That wasn't good, getting other specs than what stated by apevia. That's something we'll have to contact apevia and deal with. Feel free to return the item."

Great 😀

also thanks for making it clear to me, the requirements stated 400 W minimum 26A on the +12V rail is for the entire system and not only for the graphic card.

So getting a 3 modular PSU I would be able to split up the system onto 3 seperate rails, +12v1 for the motherboard , v2 for graphicscard and v3 for the fans and all other ****. Or however the cables are put together.
 
Hmm there should be a big warning on the apevia PSUs, at least at this one, I put on some programs and made a iso from a cd . And checked the voltages in the tool that came with my Asus motherboard and it showed almost 11V (11.1V) on the +12v rail which sucks.

I know that what is shown there is somewhat less because of resistance etc but not 1 V that can't be healthy.
 
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