Please help with a PSU question - Urgent!

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d3lit3

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Sep 25, 2007
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Hi, I have a few questions about a power supply for you experts :)

I bought an 8800GT. Currently I have a 430w power supply and obviously it's not enough. So I'm planning on buying a 550w power supply, but I'm on a tight budget.

I found a 550w PSU that's REALLY cheap...I was about to buy it, until I read the specs on their official website.

Ok so now for the questions...

1. Does it have enough 'pins' or whatever that people say you need for an 8800gt. I heard somewhere that you need 28 pins, volts, whatever it is lol. This is how much the PSU I'm planning to buy has(some of it is in Russian):

Power Supply Gembird CCC-PSU7-14 550W, ATX 2.2, CE, PFC, low noise, 14см. Fan, 20+4+4+6 pin, 2xSATA

ATX 24+4 pin или 20+4 pin (разборный 24-pin коннектор. 4-pin могут отстегиваться в случае необходимости), 6-pin разъем доп. питания (for video cards with more than 75w)

2. This is what I'm afraid of. Why is it so cheap? It says it's low noise and all...maybe because it's made in China? Will it break early or what?

Thanks.



 
Full system specs, what psu

430 may be enough(My Q6600 @ 3.0, 6 hard drives and 8800 GTX takes under 300 watts to be honest...it all about the 12 volt rails)....

I would tend to watch out about PSU's that are too cheap. since they tend to cut on components.

As for what you need to run a 8800GT it just a PCI-E power connector....

Post back your specs and we will take it from there....
 
Ok here they are:

Case: Midtower Swing Silver 430w glass window
Motherboard: Gigabyte i945P/UDMA133/Sata 2/DDR 667
Processor: BOX Pentium D 3.2 Ghz 2mb Cache - 800mhz
RAM: Kingston DDR2 1Gb @ 667mhz
Hard Disc: SATA 250 Gb @ 7200rpm
Video Card: Gigabyte GF 7600GT 256MB
Monitor: Samsung Syncmaster 193+

I know it's fishy that it's too cheap, but TBH I don't have enough money for a more expensive one. So...should I risk it?
 
Take a peak inside your system and see if you can read the info off the psu. get as much as you can.....or get the model of PSU you have now...

I would not risk it on a PSU you can not even get specs of

Hell you can be a 550watt psu with tons on 5 and 3.3 volt power and little 12. This could make it worse then what you have now....I have seen lots of 500 watt psus with less 12 volt power then many 250 watt psus
 
Actually a good question, my 8800gt just came today and i currently have a scythe kamakiri 400watt psu. Will that run it with 20amps on both 12v lines or am i being overly ambitious. Sorry for the hijack.
 
I had just had a problem with not enough amps on my old PSU, even if it stated 500W on the +12v rail, it had problems holding those 12 v a long the single rail. The funny thing was that I didn't even have a lot of power eating components in my system.

This just shows how important it is to check after a PSU that has stable amps across the different rails and not just go blind on the total watts it puts out.

I got to borrow my friends 400W and this PSU keeps the amps very good across the rails and my problems of crashes etc are finally gone.

This just shows how important a good and reliable PSU is. Something I had to learn the hard way.
 
The side of the psu is saying 245 watts on the 12v lines with 20 amps on 12v1 and 20amps on 12v2. I honestly have no idea how to calculate the combined wattage even though i read the psu sticky in the forum. Plus my girl got me the bfg oc2 8800gt which is recommending a 425watt psu minimum.
 
245 is about 20 amps

The math is

Watts / volts = Amps
245 / 12 = 20.416666666666666666666666666666666666666666

I'd estimate your card even with a fair OC at about 8(Took the power of a 8800GTS 640 + a bit for good measure) amps
Your cpu should be around 65(if its an EE) to 89 watts(nonEE). Gonna say 7 amps(over doing it again)
So your still have some room for hard drives ect.

I'de run it, but keep an eye out for freezing and crashing....but also watch out as some crashing could be driver related...Keep an eye out for extra heat from the psu(They make heat, but if it gets real hot or loud it may be getting close to its limits...).
 
cool thanks alot, imma love this tonight. Was waitin for this card cuz crysis was ok on my old x1950pro but this way i can run it on high at least at 1024.
 
They should both run your system without a problem. But they are also both rather limiting in information.
There are some images on the net to lead me to believe that the thermaltake has 140 watts on the 5 and 3.3 combined, This puts it in the 34 amp range.
Acbel has NO info, but i suspect its about the same.

The number of rails does not aways mean better. in fact most PSUs on the market use one large rail and virtual rails for over current protection. Its a safely feature and little more.
 
Ok thanks nuke, one last question.

Turns out the 550w TT PSU isn't available. But there's a 500w one that IS available. Will the 500w version of the ThermalTake PSU be enough for the 8800gt? Or would I be pushing it?

Basically should I buy 500w now, or wait for the 550w?
 
They do not list good specs for it(no combined listing). but i estimate it to be about 30 amps on the 12 volt rails....should run you fine...

Hell i half bet your current cpu could run you fine :)

Just so you know i ran a Core2 E6600 X1900XT on a PSU with 18 amps on its 12 volt rails...

If you check my full system in more info under my name you will see it all draws under 350 watts....Its quality not quantity of power...
 
I'd rather not risk it :).

Yeah so I might get the TT 500w or the Acbel 550w...

Hm but the Acbel one seems fishy, might not have enough on the 12 volt rails. Got the info from the official site:

http://www.acbel.com/PDF/P_PC/ps2_550W_gold.pdf

Where it says 'output current capacity'.

Apparently it has 3 12v rails but neither of them have enough amps? Am I correct?
 
Thermaltake TR2 PSUs are low power units, and considering the 430W only supplies 18A (single rail), I doubt the 500W supplies more than 25A. They are better than many OEM PSUs in terms of component quality, but for a high end system they aren't a good choice. You'd be better off getting an Antec Earthwatts if possible, this PSU probably costs more than it's worth.

@Nukemaster: I ran the TR2 430W (with 18A) and it couldn't power my X1950 pro and 3700 sandy. What PSU were you using for that system?
 

It shows 12 22 and 14.....thats plenty, but they do not say how much it can put out at once....for sure you can not take 12 22 and 14 all at the same time.... because that would be 576watts and thats not even including the 3.3 and 5

Thats the pain with poor labels. It nice when they show the total 12 to make it easy to see.....

1737100604hw3.jpg

+ 12(1) , +12(2) MAX 360....perfect 360 / 12 = 30 amps
Perfect No guessing its labeled right....

1715102503wz2.jpg

Under +12(1) and + 12(2) you see the max of 432. 432 / 12 = 36 amps
Perfect No BS here

GameXstream_700W_chart.jpg

In the fine print 12 volt rail 50 amps... This is a example of not adding the rails...if the psu was 20c it COULD get more, but pc's do not tend to be 20c

1710495403gp4.jpg

+12 1 & +12 2 MAX 348. 348 / 12 = 29 amps

See a trend here.....Thermal take and Acbel do not say the total.....its clear the acble offering can not put out all its rails at full load....more like 25-30 combined....will that run you system.....I say yes....

You still did not list your 430watt one.... Just curious
 

Antec TP380s
Prime95 and Crysis looping its bench
 
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