psu to support palit GTX 260

GGINS SG

hi guys. I’m having trouble deciding on wad psu to get. Friend of mine got me a gtx260 haha but i dun have enuf power to run it. Says need 550W and must deliver 40a on your 12v rail… Looked at the extreme power 650w but it delivers 36a only… Will it matter if it doesn’t deliver 40a on the 12v rail? Pls recommend a psu too Smile Thanks!

MyPillowTalks SG

DC 12v giving out 40 amperes is very strong!

According to the nvidia's website, the gtx 260's maximum power consumption will be 182 watts.

From the 12 volt rail, there will be components like the motherboard draws power using 12volts, the fans draws power from the 12 volts. Therefore because you are running a few components on the 12volt rail, and when gaming, power is used, and when you need more power, more current is required to produce the power.

Furthermore, the components are connected in parallel, the amount of resistance will drop, and when resistance drop, more current will be drawn, according to the formula Current = Voltage/Resistance, lower resistance = more current.

Therefore, he says that your power supply needs to be able to handle 40 Amperes.

You must also note that 40 amps will only be drawn at peak power.

If you really want something that will handle 40 amperes, you can take the Seasonic M12D-850. It's a 850watts, lets you draw 40amps on the 12v rail

Actually, it doesnt really matter if it only supports 36amps, unless you are very sure u will use until the peak power comes in(not sure though)

GGINS SG

oh… Thanks!

GGINS SG

hmmm so if i only have a 500w tat has 36a on the 12v, would it be risky to run a gtx 260?

MyPillowTalks SG

Actually it all boils down to which graphics card manufacturer you bought from, because different graphics card manufacturer have different versions of the same card. By right, the best thing to do is to look at the side of the box to see what is their recommendation, then buy a powersupply that has a little more power than it.

I don't remember gtx260 needing 40amp on the 12v rail(or i rmbed wrongly)

If you don't have a powersupply yet, the best thing to do is to go with a powersupply that is abit higher than the recommended one, even if it does exist your budget, as you can still use the powersupply next time.

Back to your question, i dont think it's too risky to run a gtx260 on a 36a rail.

On palit's webpage about their palit gtx260, it says:"This graphics card requires a power supply unit: A minimum 500W power supply unit (with a minimum 36A current rate for 12V) and two 6-pin PCI-E supplementary power connector."

Therefore if you already have a 500watts, there is no harm running the graphics card first, anyway i don't really think that your system will really draw until it's maximum allowable current.

If you really really want, maybe your powersupply crashed, i would say minimumly get the Seasonic M12II-520-Bronze, it is a 520watts modulus powersupply that has two 12V rails which is capable of drawing 20 Amps per rail, or a total combined load of 40 amps, so you may consider this powersupply.

It is priced at approx $120 at simlim square

I must also warn you that if the powersupply does not supply enough current, or any load draws more current than the maximum allowable amount from the source/rail, that may trigger the over current protection to kick in and shut down the powersupply, that is, only if at that point in time the overcurrent protection is working properly(electronics may fail too!)

SBS7484P SG

What are your other components?

Especially the CPU.

If the CPU is not overclocked and he doesn't have a ton of HDD's, even a solid 400W will run that system nicely.

eXtreme Power Plus series from CoolerMaster is rubbish. Please throw that piece of junk away. 36A on the 12V rail is not excuseable. Good 500W PSU's put out at least 40A on the 12V.

Pillow's recommendation on the S12 II 520 is spot-on. Seasonic makes excellent PSU's. Also, 520W is ample to give you headroom for upgrading.

On the downside though, Seasonic is expensive. You may want to look for an Antec TruePower New 550 as an alternative, if the Seasonic turns out to be too expensive for your liking. The Antec TruePower New series is no pushover. It isn't as awesome as a Seasonic, but one of the reasons why I recommend the Antec brand is because they produce good, reliable stuff. I believe the TPN series is OEM'd by Delta, a well-known quality company.

Check out my Power Supply guideline thread for more information.

GGINS SG

oh… Then how about the GX650W? It delivers 52A on the 12v rail… Price around the same as a seasonic M12i 650w Smile

Raraken SG

oh… Then how about the GX650W? It delivers 52A on the 12v rail… Price around the same as a seasonic M12i 650w Smile

The Seasonic M12I 650W has server grade quality to back itself up. The GX650 is a bit overrated, IMO. Overrated as in, " It won't do 650W".

I would suggest that if you were going to get a new PSU, the SeaSonic M12II 520W/620W power supplies are some of the most stable PSUs you can get right now. Andyson power supplies are no joke, either. They don't have the quality of Seasonic, but not everyone needs server-grade power supplies, right?

The Extreme Power Plus 650W is seriously rubbish. 36A on 12V? My 500W Vantec/Andyson has 32A on the 12V, and is rated for 150W less. The Vantec is powerful enough to run an overclocked Phenom II X4 CPU and an overclocked HD4850 with 4 HDDs.

GGINS SG

okay… Thanks! Btw just to sidetrack a bit, wad are some of the bass(thumping bass) heavy in ear noise cancelling headphones available out there that doesn’t compromise clarity?