Power Requirements and Specs For Popular Graphic Cards Guide

[saaiello]

This is a reference to help guide you in the right direction for a power supply based on you graphics card.

Tom's did a really good review sometime back on Graphic's cards and Total System power consumption its a little old but still a good read.
Tom's Hardware Power Usage Review

Power Supplies
Guide to buying PSUs
A list of PSUs (a bit out of date but most recommendations still apply)

■Suggested Brands
Corsair, Antec, SilverStone, Seasonic, and OCZ. Read the reveiws for the OCZ's some arent as good as others so be careful when choosing a power supply.

■350 watt This will be enough for any processor and an entry level GPU

■400 watt This will be enough for any processor with a low to mid range GPU

■500 watt This will be enough for any processor and just about any mid range GPU

■550 to 650 watt This will be more then enough to run just about any single GPU, except for the HD 5970,HD 4870 x2, GTX 480, and GTX 295.

For Dual GPU setups add another 75 to 100 watts for low to mid range GPUS for the upper midrange to the high end add a 150 watts on average per GPU. See my list for more info on some popular GPUs and what I suggest for them.

To figure out how many amps you need on the 12 volt rail use this formula (watts / 12 = amps) so if the card requires 650 watts simply divide 650 by 12. This formula only works for 12 volt for different voltages there are different dividers.
■650/12=54.16 so if it requires 650 watt PSU it will need 54 amps on the 12 volt rail, for PSU with multiple 12 volt rails you will need to find the max combined output for it. Now this number may be a bit higher then it actually needs but it will give you a rough estimate since AMD and Nvidia dont give the amperage requirements for all their cards.

High End ATI Cards

Radeon HD 6970

Core Engine Clock: 880 MHz
Stream Processors: 1536
Memory Size: 2GB GDDR5
Memory Clock: 1375 MHz
Interface: 256-bit
Max Power Consumption: 287 Watts
Average Consumption: 157 Watts
Idle: 22 Watts

■A 550 Watt unit with one 8 pin PCI-E connector is recommended. Power supply should have at the very least 38 Amps on the 12 volt rails combined.
■For Crossfire I would recommend getting a 750 watt unit with a minimum of 56 Amps combined on the 12 volt rail.

Radeon HD 6870

Core Engine Clock: 900 MHz
Stream Processors: 1120
Memory Size: 1GB GDDR5
Memory Clock: 1050 MHz
Max Power Consumption: 163 Watts
Average Consumption: 108 Watts
Idle: 17 Watts

■A 500 Watt unit with two 6-pin PCI Express® power connectors is recommended.
■For Crossfire I would recommend nothing less than 600 watts.


Radeon HD 5970 (Hemlock) 2GB 512 (256 x 2)-bit GDDR5

Core Clock: 2x725 MHz
Stream Processors: 3200 (1600 x 2)
Effective Memory clock: 4000 MHz
Power consumption on Idle: 51 watts
Power consumption full load: 300+watts

■This is a sick graphics card will give great performance for years to come will need at least 650 watt PSU with one 6 pin PCI Express connector and 2 150 watt 8 pin connectors but this will definitely test any 650 watt PSU to its max. If you plan on overclocking it I would recommend a 750 watt PSU to allow some head room. 850 watt PSU is recommended for crossfire but I would suggest going with a 1000watt PSU for this beast to allow for overclocking.
■ Recommended 54 Amps on the 12 volt rail for a single card and 70 Amps for Crossfire.

Radeon HD 4870x2 2GB 512-bit(256-bitx2) GDDR5 N/A not manufactured anymore

Core Clock: 750mhz x2
Stream Processors: 3200(1600x2)
Effective Memory Clock: 3600Mhz
Power Consumption at Idle: 49 watts
Power Consumption at Full Load: 300+watts

■Recommended is a 650 watt PSU with one 6 pin PCI Express connector and one 8pin connector. 1000 watt PSU with two 6 pin and two 8 pin connectors is recommended for crossfire.
■Recommended 54 Amps on the 12 volt rail for single card and 70 Amps for Crossfire.

Radeon HD 5870 2GB 256-bit GDDR5 Eyefinity 6 Edition

Core Clock: 850MHz
Stream Processors: 1600
Effective Memory Clock: 4800 MHz
Power consumption on Idle: 34watts
Power consumption at full load: 228watts

■600 Watt or greater power supply is recommended with one 75W 6-pin and one 150W 8-pin PCI Express power connector required 900 Watt and 2 6-pin and 2 8-pin connectors for CrossFireX
■Recommended 50 Amps pn 12 volt rail for single card 75 Amps for crossfire.

Radeon HD 5870 (Cypress XT) 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 $399.99 to $499.99

Core Clock: 850MHz
Stream Processors: 1600
Effective Memory Clock: 4800 MHz
Power consumption on Idle: 27 watts
Power consumption at full load: 190 watts

■Recommended is a 500 watt PSU with two 6 pin 75watt PCI Express connectors. If you plan to crossfire you will need a 750 watt PSU.
■Recommended 42 Amps on the 12 volt rail for single card and 63 Amps for Crossfire.

Radeon HD 5850 (Cypress Pro) 1GB 256-bit DDR5 $299.99 to $369.99

Core Clock: 725 MHz
Stream Processors: 1440
Effective Memory Clock: 4000mhz
Power Consumption on Idle: 27 watts
Power Consumption on Full Load: 150 watts

■Recommended is a 500watt PSU with two 75 watt 6 pin PCI express connectors. 600 watt PSU with four 6 pin connectors to run crossfire is recommended but I suggest a 650 watt for some head room.
■Recommended 36 Amps on the 12 volt rail for single card and 50 Amps for Crossfire.

Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 $229.99 to $279.99

Core Clock: 800 MHz
Stream Processors: 1120
Effective Memory Clock: 4000 MHz
Power Consumption at Idle: 25 watts
Power Consumption at Full Load: 175 watts

■Recommended is a 500 watt PSU with two 75 watt PCI Express connectors. 600watt with four 6 pin connectors is recommended to run crossfire I would suggest 650 watt for some head room.
■Recommended 36 Amps on the 12 volt rail for single card and 50 Amps for Crossfire.

For all the above Cards you should have atleast 40 amps on the 12 volt rail.

Mid Range ATI Cards

Radeon HD 5770 (Juniper XT) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 $134.99 to $179.99

Core Clock: 850 MHz
Stream Processors: 800
Effective Memory Clock: 4800 MHz
Power Consumption at Idle: 18 watts
Power Consumption at Full Load: 108 watts

■Recommended is a 450 watt PSU with one 75 watt 6 pin PCI Express connector, but could be run on a quality 400 watt PSU. 600 watt with two 6 pin connectors will be needed for crossfire.
■Recommended 37 Amps on 12 volt rail for single card and 50 Amps for crossfire. This card can run on lesser this is just recommended and will be able to run with at least 30 Amps on 12 volt rail.

Radeon HD 4850 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 $97.99 to $129.99

Core Clock: 625mhz
Stream Processors: 800
Effective Memory Clock: 1900mhz
Power Consumption at Idle: 58 watts
Power Consumption at Full Load: 187 watts

■Recommended is a 450 watt PSU with one 75 watt PCI Express connector. A 550 watt PSU is recommended for crossfire I suggest 600 watt for some head room.
■Recommended 36 Amps on 12 volt rail for single card and 46 Amps for Crossfire. This card can run on lesser this is just recommended and will be able to run with at least 30 Amps on 12 volt rail.

Entry Level Gaming cards

Radeon HD 5670 (Redwood) 1GB 128-bit GDDR5 $79.99 to $129.99

Core Clock: 775mhz
Stream Processors: 400
Effective Memory Clock: 4000 MHz
Power Consumption at Idle: 15 watts
Power Consumption at Full Load: 64 watts

■Recommended is a 400 watt PSU to run this card no 6 pin connectors required this card. You will have no problems running on a 300 to 350watt PSU. 500 watt PSU is reccommended to crossfire this card you could get away with using 450 watt no problem.
■Recommended 30 Amps on the 12 volt rail for single card and 41 Amps for crossfire but this card will run on units with as little as 25 Amps on 12 volt rail.

Radeon HD 4670 1GB 128-bit DDR3 $62.99 to $122.99

Core Clock: 600mhz - 750mhz
Stream Processors: 320
Effective Memory Clock:1600mhz
Power Consumption at Idle: 14 watts
Power Consumption at Full Load: 64 watts
■It is recommended to have a 400 watt PSU but you will be able to run this with a 350 watt PSU no problem on most systems and 300 watt if its a good PSU. The 4670 does not require any additional power connectors. For Crossfire 550 watt is recommended but you will have no problem running this on 400 to 450 watt PSU.
■Recommended 30 Amps on the 12 volt rail for single card and 41 Amps for crossfire but this card will run on units with as little as 25 Amps on 12 volt rail.

For all the above Cards you should have atleast 30 amps on the 12 volt rail.

Low Powered Cards

Radeon HD 5450 (cedar) 1GB 64-bit DDR3 & 512MB DDR2 Low Profile $42.99 to $69.99

Core Clock: 650mhz
Stream Processors: 80
Effective Memory Clock: DDR2 800mhz DDR3 1600mhz
Power Consumption at Idle: 6.4 watts
Power Consumption at Full Load: 19.1 watts

■They suggest 400 watt PSU but I have no doubts that you can run this with a 300 to watt PSU no 6 pin connector needed. No crossfire for this card.

Radeon HD 4350 512MB 64-bit DDR2 Low Profile card $39.99 to $124.99

Core Clock: 600 MHz
Stream Processors: 80
Effective Memory Clock: 1600 MHz
Power Consumption at Idle: 5 watts
Power consumption at Full Load: 25 watts
■300 watt PSU will be more than enough for this card. 350 watt for crossfire. The more expensive ones for this model are the ones that support crossfire.

Note: Radeon HD 4550's are the same as the 4350's just with 1GB memory instead of 512MB Power draw is Identical between the two. They would make great low powered HTPC video cards.

 

[saaiello]

what about the geforce 6800 ultra pcie 512mb. i feel left out

LOL geforce 6800 left out you should feel left behind too with that card. :lol:

 

[shovenose]

HAHAHA NOT FUNNY!
sorry i have the worst graphics card in the toms hadrware community.
lets just hope i win the graphics card giveaway!
1 thing: is that card (if i win it) bigger than mine? cuz if it is it wont fit in my case!

 

[saaiello]

What giveaway I missed that.

 

[shovenose]

ur kidding right? lol

 

[saaiello]

Updated HD 5870 Eyefinity 6 Edition power requirements and also added to Nvidias GTX 480 that they suggest a single 12v rail PSU although there is some controversy going on about this right now will update more on this when more testing and research is done.

 

[Guest]

Anybody got any idea of where I can buy computer parts wholesale for the mac book?

 

[saaiello]

Anybody got any idea of where I can buy computer parts wholesale for the mac book?

You are in the wrong forum to be asking about macs most people on this forum do not use macs also you are asking this question which is way off topic of this thread.


Please keep any questions on this thread on topic with power requirements and power supplies thanks..

 

[vimal992]

in ati4xxx series which would give a excellent performance when crossfired and in a good budget also??

 

[saaiello]

in ati4xxx series which would give a excellent performance when crossfired and in a good budget also??

4850's in crossfire will give you the best performance on a budget, but I would really suggest saving a little more and go for at least the 5770's.

 

[smile9999]

I need advice on this, I am getting a ATI 5850 and I want to buy a PSU that supports it and later on crossfire, I am stuck between this two http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/power_management/ocz_fatal1ty_series_power_supply_700w and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017&cm_re=OCZ-_-17-341-017-_-Product because they are like the best ones in my country and I dont have access to newegg there either,

my question here is neither ones have four 6 pin connectors only 2 6+2 PCI connectors so can they support crossfire or should I just wait till other good PSUs come around?

 

[Guest]

I need a wep key real bad and you people not tyring to help me.

 

[shovenose]

a 6+2 connector can act like a 6 pin cnnector.
go with the ocz fatal1ty over the modxstream

 

[shovenose]

I need a wep key real bad and you people not tyring to help me.

we love to help!
but being rude isnt going to help.
make your own thread about this.
have a nice day

 

[saaiello]

I need advice on this, I am getting a ATI 5850 and I want to buy a PSU that supports it and later on crossfire, I am stuck between this two http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/power_management/ocz_fatal1ty_series_power_supply_700w and http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341017&cm_re=OCZ-_-17-341-017-_-Product because they are like the best ones in my country and I dont have access to newegg there either,

my question here is neither ones have four 6 pin connectors only 2 6+2 PCI connectors so can they support crossfire or should I just wait till other good PSUs come around?

The OCZ Fatalty is the better of the 2 I would say get that one especially if you plan on doing crossfire in the future it will have plenty of power and some.

 

[saaiello]

I need a wep key real bad and you people not tyring to help me.

LOL posting here with that is not gonna get you help make a thread and wait for reply it can sometimes take a little bit for someone to come on that knows the answer.

 

[manewalis]

thanks for this post . now i know i have enough power for my gtx285 . thanks

 

[ionut19]

I run my current system with this power supply: http://www.thermaltake.com/product_info.aspx?PARENT_CID=C_00000903&id=C_00000904&name=TR2+550W&ovid=n

It has 14 and 15 amps on two rails. It can power an 5770 with no problems and i used one of the 6 pin from the power supply, no adapter.
I know this one it is not the best, but is goes way lower then the specks listed above. I do not know of any problems in games and it never shut down my PC wile doing anything.
For more info on the PC click on the member configuration link .

Does that mean it draws the power(meaning the amps required) from one rail through the motherboard and the other through the 6 pin cable?

 

[saaiello]

I run my current system with this power supply: http://www.thermaltake.com/product_info.aspx?PARENT_CID=C_00000903&id=C_00000904&name=TR2+550W&ovid=n

It has 14 and 15 amps on two rails. It can power an 5770 with no problems and i used one of the 6 pin from the power supply, no adapter.
I know this one it is not the best, but is goes way lower then the specks listed above. I do not know of any problems in games and it never shut down my PC wile doing anything.
For more info on the PC click on the member configuration link .

Does that mean it draws the power(meaning the amps required) from one rail through the motherboard and the other through the 6 pin cable?

Well in reality the 5770 only draws about 9 or 10 Amps max so its a relatively low powered card and will run fine with what you got. Your PSU is 29 amps total between the 2 rails which is verl low for a 550 watt unit but if you have no troubles with it as is I wouldn't worry about it. On a heavily overclocked system it could cause a problem since your PSU is not very powerful on the 12volt side which is what more modern system uses. Your PSU is built on the older specs when computers used to draw more off the 3.3 and 5volt rails.

 

[ionut19]

I know that is is not a powerful power supply. I bought it almost 2 and a half years ago and it wasn't one of the top models back then. I figured that it can keep up to 5850(just about) .

Thank's for the answer .

 

[saaiello]

I don't think it would power a 5850. The 5770 is about the max I would go with that unit.

 

[tzagasdog]

I have this psu http://www.tagan.com.tw/page/datasheet/U33II/TG500_U33II_en.pdf
with an amd phenom II x4 955 be, overclocked to 4.0 and a hd5770 card.
Will it support another hd5770 card?

 

[saaiello]

I have this psu http://www.tagan.com.tw/page/datasheet/U33II/TG500_U33II_en.pdf
with an amd phenom II x4 955 be, overclocked to 4.0 and a hd5770 card.
Will it support another hd5770 card?

That PSU is not enough to power another 5770. As it is now you are maxing out your unit pretty good if you look at your spec sheet it only puts out a total of 30 amps on the 12 volt rail which is fairly weak for a 500 watt unit. I would recommend looking at least at 550 watt unit with 40 Amps on the 12 volt rail. 600 watt with 50 Amps on 12 volt rail is recommended for crossfire with those cards.

 

[tzagasdog]

That PSU is not enough to power another 5770. As it is now you are maxing out your unit pretty good if you look at your spec sheet it only puts out a total of 30 amps on the 12 volt rail which is fairly weak for a 500 watt unit. I would recommend looking at least at 550 watt unit with 40 Amps on the 12 volt rail. 600 watt with 50 Amps on 12 volt rail is recommended for crossfire with those cards.

it provides 40(2x20)Amps in 2 12volt rails. You are right, this psu is not enough to power 2 5770 but its fine for one plus overclocking

 

[saaiello]

it provides 40(2x20)Amps in 2 12volt rails. You are right, this psu is not enough to power 2 5770 but its fine for one plus overclocking

Yes but read the combined output for it which is 360 watts convert that to amps and its only 30 amps.

 

[tzagasdog]

Yes but read the combined output for it which is 360 watts convert that to amps and its only 30 amps.

is this one ok for two 5770?

http://www.thermaltake.com/product_info.aspx?PARENT_CID=C_00001409&id=C_00001410&name=Toughpower+700W+80+Plus+Silver+Series+&ov=n&ovid=