7800GT power requirements

[zulander]

Hi, Could you tell me what size PSU the 256MB Leadtek WinFast PCI-E PX7800GT (256bit) ViVo 2xDVI needs? and do you know how much current is required on the 12v rail? Can you recomend a PSU to fit this as well cheers

[RIOT]

Ive just had to make a similar decision, but I wanted the option of being able to power two 7800GT's in SLi at a later date so I went for a "530w Tagan EasyCon - TG530-U15 - 2Force Silent Modular PSU" it comes with two PCI-e power connectors fitted

Its modular so you can disconnect the cables you dont need, its pretty beefy at 530w and it should be quiet with a 12cm fan in it (£59.99 + VAT)


If your not bothered about SLi then a good choice of PSU is the Hyper Type R 580w which is £6 cheaper than the tagan but only has one pci-e connector

[Lee H]

After searching on the interweb I've found various sites all stating the same thing.

A 350-Watt power supply or more is recommended and the total draw of the card is around 75-80 Watts, so it is very power friendly relatively speaking

Hope this helps

[zulander]

Cheers for checking WildMonkey its more the current rating on the 12v line i was after - its not listed on the leadtek site wich is pain, Ive looked on other sites and it seems anywhere from 22a to 26a is needed on the 12v line for a 7800gt.

Basically i want to buy the 7800gt and get a Seasonic s12 500 along with say a moby,1gv ram, some case fans, 3 hdd's and a dvd writer, Now in theory the 500w should be more than enough but i dont know weather it can handle enough current on the 12v line. I just done want to kill any new kit when i get it. Do you think the Seasonic should be OK? ta muchley for your help

[RIOT]

There are several power supplys with 2 seperate 12v rails so you can spread the load between the two, they might be worth looking at ?

[zulander]

Riot are u saying that if the PSU has 2 12v rails with 17a one rail and 16a on the other this would be OK?. Is it actually the combined total i should be looking at? so in this case both 12v lines would add up to 33a and this would be enuff?

[RIOT]

I dont pretend to know everything about PSU's, I just happened to notice a lot of them stating they have two seperate 12v rails.

Looking at the PSU that I purchased it shows that both 12v rails have 20A max output or combined 33A output.... or at least this is how im reading it ??

See the data sheet here:
http://www.tagan.com/pages/products/...an_UK_mini.pdf

I think what im going to do when I get my kit from scan is to have the graphics card on one 12v rail and use the other rail for 2x HDD's and a DVDRW to spread the load evenly

[Thorsson]

Two hefty 12V rails is the way to go with SLi. Most people recommend a minimum 18A on each.

[herulach]

18A is nothing if youre drawing 80 watts a card, thats 7A per card, leaving 4A for all your drives, fans lights etc.

[zulander]

Im not going to use SLI, just need to know if the seasonic (preferably) or something simelar will power the 7800gt OK all the PSU's i see dont seem to have the needed current on the 12v line but people are running them somehow! lol, cheers guys, keep the advice coming

[herulach]

Im not going to use SLI, just need to know if the seasonic (preferably) or something simelar will power the 7800gt OK all the PSU's i see dont seem to have the needed current on the 12v line but people are running them somehow! lol, cheers guys, keep the advice coming

Youll be fine since that has 17A on the one rail (presumably mobo) and 16 on the second. Assume hard drives draw about 0.5A during operation, (its considerably more at spin up, but your gpu isnt loaded then so you wont have an issue) so you could easily run a 80W gpu and 18 hdds off 1 16A rail. I wouldnt reccomend it, but you should still be in spec

[ati]

hi


i think you will be ok with a tagan 480 or seasonic 500

thanks