Nvidia gtx 260 PSU +12V Amp requirement

[shening]

I have a question related to the PSU required by nvidia gtx 260. Reading multiple websites shows that the gtx 260 uses 270 W. Calculating the amps required 270/12 = 22.5 A. If the card only uses 22.5 A when under load why does it say on the manual that it needs a psu with 36 A on the +12 ? 1 HDD usually uses 1A.

If I am correct, a good psu with 38A on the 12V should be plenty for 2 HDD, 1 DVDRW and a gtx 260, right?

 

[delluser1]

The card uses nowhere near that amount of power on it's own, look around for posts by invisik , he's running 2 of them in SLI and an oc'ed Quad on a 34 amp psu.

 

[invisik]

the gtx 260 uses i believe around 182w at peak. u would be fine using a good quality 400-450w psu with about 27-30amp to be safe. im pushing my psu to its limit so if u do sli gtx 260 later on i would recommend a really good psu 550-600w with about 36-40amp.
(btw ppl telling u need like 800-1000w r just simply retards)

 

[jaguarskx]

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce-gtx200-theory_12.html#sect0

 

[joneb]

I have a case with a built in unbranded 600 watt psu which i was told was probably not powerful enough for even an 8800gt, the reason being just because it was a relatively high wattage the rails may not have the necessary current and it could damage my pc. In this case would it not be powerful enough for a 260? ALso if I were to try it could it serioulsy damage my pc?

 

[invisik]

depends how many amps u have on the rails.
i believe there is a slight chance it can damage it but i would try it, usually it just shuts down if the psu cant run it.

 

[vikingsfan19]

I have a Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750w with 4 12V rails each at 19A. Would that be enough to power a GTX 260? I'm basing my thinking on being able to connect the 2 6-pin connectors from different rails, then the total amps would be 38A, more than enough right?

 

[invisik]

yes it will work. the card just says 38amps it really doesnt need that much.
=]

 

[mew905]

Look up any power comparison chart that lists an 8800GT or 9800GT. Take that chart's idle consumption and subtract 2.5A x 12v (30 watts), that is the PC's overall power consumption without the graphics card.

Now that you know what the rest of the system consumes at idle, take the load reading they had and subtract 6A (the max I've ever seen my 8800GT go) x 12v (72w), that is the PC's overall power consumption at load without the graphics card.

Now assuming the hardware is identical except for the video cards, you can figure out how much that GTX 260 uses. If you cant find a benchmark featuring both an 8800GT AND your chosen card, then things get a bit more complicated. Find some common ground, the 260 is almost always compared to a 9800GTX, so compare the 8800GT to that 9800GTX, then the 9800GTX to the GTX 260. Toms hardware claims ~15A for the 260, but then again somehow their 1GB 8800GT draws less power than the 512MB version... significantly less. My 8800GT 512MB uses slightly lower power at stock clocks than their tested 1GB model.

Overclocking is a different story though, at 740/1840/980 (core/shad/mem) my Zotac (non-amp edition) 8800 runs around 3.2A idle and 7.6A under load. Thats at stock voltage too, so I'm curious as to what the 1.1v mod will do or 1.15v

That xbitlabs image looks pretty close though as the 9800GTX is just an 8800GT(S) with higher clocks and extra voltage. The GTX+ would likely come pretty close to the GT.

 

[mew905]

sorry about reviving a dead thread, honestly the date and time stamps are a little difficult for me to notice until after I've posted...

 

[Milos-stancene]

Is it ENERMAX 500watt ... http://www.cluboverclocker.com/reviews/power/enermax/ELT500AWT/index.htm
enough for one GTX260-280 ?

 

[invisik]

yup should work fine with the gtx260 but the gtx280 i believe needs an 1 6pin and 1 8pin if you can get an adapter your good to go.
=]

 

[Milos-stancene]

Thank you..
Do I only have to change a cards 7900GTX to GTX 260 or to pluge some extra cables in it?

 

[Khyron686]

I just bought a GTX 260, and after dremeling the case a bit to make it fit (Antec Solo), I'm getting instant power offs after a few mins of GTA4.

PS is an Antec Phantom 500 with

5v 12v 12v 3.3v
Max.
Load 30A 17A 18A 30A .5A 2A
Min.
Load .3A .3A .3A .3A 0A 0A

Everything I read says it's power but that surely should be more than enough? I had no issues with the GTS 8800 320.

 

[amviewer]

I have the same issue with my Seasonic ss-500ht.

Core i7 920
Sparkle Geforce GTX 260 216
Asus P6T Deluxe v2
Kingston 6GB (forgot the type of mem)


In windows mode (2D) erverything works fine.
But when I start Crysis the game wil run for 30sec. and the game crashes.
Tested serveral games but they all seem to do the same thing.

I think the psu is not sufficient but i'm nont realy sure.

The sticker says 12v 17A 12v2 16A zo that leaves me with 32A which is probably not enough for the card when it is in full load.

Can anyone tell me if this power supply is good enough for theses spec?

Amviewer

 

[guile32]

Definately the power supply is the culprit.

I've googled your psu and found that the max combined Amp
for 12v rails is 33A. This suppose to be enough. But, there are
2 things you need to keep in mind:

a. power consumption by other parts - some parts already connected to the rail!
b. capasitor aging - at 1 year psu will loose 10-20% of its initial wattage

Taking these into account, the available Amp for your graphic card is
far less than the 33A on the sticker. Also, the max Amp for each rails
are too low...

I have 625W power supply with 3 12v rails with max 25A each but
the combined max Amp for the 3 rails is 50A (not 75A). I have two
GTX260@sli without any single problem.

>My setup (it's old..):
>- CPU Toledo 4800x2@2.94GHz
>- Mobo DFI Venus SLI
>- 2sticks DDR500@245Mhz
>- GTX260 (216) @SLI
>- 4HDD
>- 1 DVD-Multi drive
>- PCI sound card
>- 5 120mm fan
>- PSU Enermax MODU82+ EMD625AWT

Changed the setup but still using the same PSU:
CPU i7 920 OC@3.4GHz@1.2v
Cooler Zalman9700LED
Mobo BIOSTAR TPower X58
RAM TR3X6G1600C9 (2GBx3sticks)
GTX260+ (216) OC@SLI (625/1350/1050)
6HDDs
>- 1 DVD-Multi drive
>- 5 120mm fan
>- PSU Enermax MODU82+ EMD625AWT
*Running Windows7 RC

As invisik said before, the Amp on the 12v rails is very important these
days instead of the total wattage.

(btw ppl telling u need like 800-1000w r just simply retards) - 100% agree! lol

 

[lexmarkx8]

um invisik my cooler master power supply says it has 29 amps over the two 12 volt rails it also says that maximum wattage over the 12v and 12v2 rail shall not exceed 384 watts which equals 29 amps, sorta redundant but just felt i need to say it, 7 month old power supply will i be able to run a gtx260?

 

[Kenjiro]

ok here is the problem I am having. I keep getting crashes when tring to run 2X GTX 260 in SLI mode. If i does not crash when i enable it, it crashes later when runing a game. The error message says basically the Nvidia driver kernal has stop responding. I am using the 185.85 drivers on Windows 7 RC (64 bit)

other Specs:
CPU: Phenom II 940 @ 3000
8 gigs kingston hyper z @ 1066
2 BFG GTX 260

ASUS crosshair Formula II 780a Motherboard

I know there has been a lot confusion about what the power requirements are for running these cards but here is what i have
Coolmax CUD 950
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817159072
I am fairly sure that is not what is causing the error. Any way if anyone has a suggestions please post.

 

[invisik]

What are your temps?

 

[Kenjiro]

well in doing further research and I found that the PSU I am using is on Nvidia's reccomnded list for these card. What i have also learned is that the Nvidia drivers are real bad... I ve found hundreds of post on dozens of different forums about the 185 and now the 186 version drivers; all with the same odd display drivers crashing. I have also seen a lot of solutions ranging from removing memory to tweaking clock setting on both mem, and CPU.

 

[invisik]

um invisik my cooler master power supply says it has 29 amps over the two 12 volt rails it also says that maximum wattage over the 12v and 12v2 rail shall not exceed 384 watts which equals 29 amps, sorta redundant but just felt i need to say it, 7 month old power supply will i be able to run a gtx260?

I apologize for the late response i must of missed your post. To answer your question yes it will work.

 

[xenzon]

** Jeantech Absolute 1000w PSU **

I have got that PSU. Cost me £105 11 months ago, gotta be cheaper now-a-days. Off it I am running:

2 x GTX 280's
ASRock K10N780SLIX3-WiFi
AMD Phenom II 940-BE @ 3.18Ghz
4GB Geil Black Dragon 1066
2 x 1TB Sata drives & 1 x 320GB 10K rpm raptor.
Razer Lycosa & Diamondback 3G
2 Case mod strip lights (2 x 12" blue neon's).

Never had a single fault. Used to have same spec but 3 8800GTX's off same PSU, perfect.

Have had Thermaltake/CoolMaster/Hyper. All died on me after 6months.

This Jeantech 1000w has been the cheapest (£105) PSU I have bought in a few years. Easily the best tho.

 

[yukss]

Antec true power 550w sli. 3 riels of 18amp each, total amp 42amp for my slt of gtx260 192 sp..

other components:

2 HDD
12 fans (12mm)
cold cathodes (not always on)
1 pump
corsair dominator for the rams

everything was ok untill this week, im getting ramdom crash when i play.. i decided to remove 1 of my babys..

should i put it back ? i will be dangerous to burn all my system ?

btw, my psu is almost 1 year old..

ps. before my gtx i have two 9600gt in sli without problems..

 

[xenzon]

if im honest, doesn't 2 x 260's in SLi need 50Amp's on the +12 rails ? Or is it more then 50A? like 52A ? not quite sure. That PSU i mentioned above, jeantech one, has 4 x 20A 12v Rails, so 80Amps on tap which is more then enuff for even tri-sli systems.

but not sure about the Amp's needed by the 260's - think one 260 is about 30Amps or 32Amps and 2 x 260's is early 50Amp's

there are people out there who say you can run a 260 of such, off 29Amp's - or 2 x 260's in SLi off under 50amp psu's - but just tell them to stfu if im honest. obviously it isnt true or u wouldnt be posting here =-]

look out for a Hiper HPU-4M780 they very good an seen a few on ebay over last 2-3 weeks going for £60-£70 (GBP) which isnt bad.

or just get a good make one with atleast 70-75 AMP's on the 12v Rails, that way your more then covered for future upgrades.

 

[Guest]

I have mailed the Inno3d guys about this issue for a Freezer x2. My PSU has 16amp on each rail and their site just says 25amps required? The card takes 2 x 6 pins so is that 25 amp per socket or combined?

Awaiting their response

Chris