PSU Question

[t0rek]

My current 350 watts PSU, the one of the system I'm re-building has a 12V rail of only 12A. I didn't have any problems with old my AMD64 config, using a Geforce 6600 (vanilla), one SATA hard disk, and one DVDRW drive. However I'm planning to buy a 7600GS, and no plans for SLI. I googled about how much the 7600GS drains up but I didn't find any useful results. Do you think it would handle it?

 

[WhiteX]

go 400 to be safe.

 

[TerraPhantm]

I would go with something that has a minimum of 20A on the 12v rail, I'm suprised your system was able to run on 12A. If price is an issue, I'd recommend a Fortron PSU, as they usually perform well beyond their rated specs and are pretty cheap.

 

[Stezo2k]

Also consider Hiper PSUs too (I use one myself). They are a good price, silent and you get a 3 year warrenty with them. Just as good as antec

 

[ScottJC]

PSU units are usually cheap and if you can - pick up as high a wattage on one as possible because you can't lose if you have say a 550watt psu.

 

[Stezo2k]

Well you can lose with a cheap high wattage PSU, with a more demanding system it wont have enough amps on the voltage rails. Plus the thing will break after a few months causing damage to the system if it's on

 

[TerraPhantm]

The off-brand PSUs usually don't provide what they claim to. If you open them up, you can see that they have much lower quality components.

 

[ScottJC]

Look, All i'm saying is there is absolutely no point buying 400 watt power supplys and being unsure when you can buy 550watt power supplys that will usually cover any situation for about the same price and this includes branded ones.

 

[t0rek]

Well, thanks for the info guys. Does anyone find how much power the 7600GS will drain? It will be the only difference between the old system and the new one, I'm sure it doesn't need a molex connector and it will be passive cooled. I need to find info on that please.

EDIT: Just found some info. Dunno if that's right, please tell me what do you think, or please search for more info guys.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/gpu-consumption2006_8.html
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/power-noise_6.html