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Thread: Power Supply Units Explained.

  1. #11
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    thanks for the info Xeno, i learned alot, oh i also need a power supply, my specs are in my sig and my psu says 18A on the 12V rail, had a x1800 and thought it was deffective when it probably was my psu

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    Thumbs up

    I just glanced through and its an excellent read. I'll just add that paper specs is not the world, example the early antec neohe power supply's were "good" on paper but suffered from bad capacitors.
    Again another example with the "paper specs" corsair's CWT built units are supposedly split rails BUT in reality its single rail.

    As Max said alot of manufactures just throw up numbers to fool you.

    # Virtually every GPU produced since 2005 requires at least 22 amps to run.

    # GPUs which use 2 slots on your mother board and have their own on board cooling unit usually need 30 amps to run effectively. Many 8800GTX/S cards need 30 amps to run - standard.
    both statements are slightly misleading as the amp requirement is for total system requirement, your wording makes it seem that a single video card ALONE will draw that much amperage and anything short of a small nuclear reactor will power it.

    Also most people dont realise that corsair, ocz, antec, etc DONT make their power supply's but just rebadge them from oem's like CWT, Zippy, Wintact, Etasis, etc
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  3. #13
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    Wheres all the info coming from? All seems nice but if u are going that route u need sources. Can't give this kinda info without backup.

    http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/200...800_gtx_g80/18
    total system consumption.

    http://news.softpedia.com/news/8800G...is-40450.shtml

    And when u say 30amps on the 12v rail is what the gpu requires, make sure u specify that as the whole systems requirement

    http://www.jonnyguru.com
    some good psu reviews....just needs a whole lot more of em

    Why more than one +12V rail? Electrical isolation for noise and improved voltage regulation. Some devices, usually electromechanical ones having motors, produce noise spikes & voltage fluxuations, these can include pumps, compressors, fans, drives, lights (when turned on & off) and probably TEC’s & Peltiers. By putting these “noisy” devices, that often turn on & off, or at least often change their power (amperage) demands, on a separate rail we isolate them from the MoBo, CPU, Video Card(s) and the other electronic components that are sensitive to noise & sudden changes in voltage. This is a good thing!

    Are 2 rails better than 1? Short answer = Yes. It depends on your system as to weather or not dual rails would actually be of any benefit. If yours is a simple system, with no exotic cooling, large disk arrays or flashing lights, then you would probably not benefit from dual rails.

    Do I need 2 or more +12V rails? Short answer = No. It depends on your system as to weather or not dual rails would actually be of any benefit. If yours is a complex system, with exotic cooling, large disk arrays or flashing lights, then you would probably benefit from dual rails.

    What is the difference between dual rails and just using a splitter? In a dual rail design the PS has two transformer taps and control circuitry for two separate +12V rails. Using a splitter can be very helpful, especially if you split off your “noisy” loads very close to the PS, as this will lessen their effects on your more sensitive components, however the dual rail design would still be much better if you have a lot of “noisy” loads.

    Why do all of the newer PS’s from the big names have so much +12V amperage? The future is going to be much hotter! And I’m not talking about Global Warming, or at least not directly. Back in the P3 & before days, the +12V rail did not have all that many demands placed on it. Today, it is very stressed with lots of demands & in the future, at least until we go to +20V rails (or whatever voltage they finally decide upon), it will be even more stressed with more demands. With the Thermalright XP-90 we have just about reached the upper limits of normal air-cooling. Apple has already gone beyond air-cooling and historically Apple has often lead the way for the PC world. Overclocked Intel P4 Prescott’s can only be kept at reasonable temps with extreme effort. Both AMD & Intel are soon to bring to market “Dual Core” CPU’s, which will require more power to operate and cool than a similar design single core CPU. In the future for “High-End” and “Overclocked” systems we are going to need all of the +12V amperage we can get and it should be on more than one rail for “Electrical isolation for noise and improved voltage regulation.”

    The future of ATX PS's is dual rails, as the "ATX 12 v2.0" spec requires them.
    http://forums.extremeoverclocking.co....php?p=1371562

    http://www.bjorn3d.com/forum/archive...hp/t-7457.html

    other thoughts.
    Last edited by semitop; Nov 19, 2007 at 12:44 AM.
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  4. #14
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    single rail ftw!

    btw does that muskin "rail fusion" work?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Xenocrates View Post
    Enthusiast configurations rarely see a noticeable performance gains that justify going overboard. Most people don't need resolutions higher than 1280x1024. Most games don't use it. So don't tax your system (or your pocket) unnecessarily.
    [fin]
    Not really true anymore, bear in mind 90% of all benchmarking is done at 1600x1200 minimum nowadays! with some going to 2560x1600.

    Game textures are not being created at lower resolutions anymore, so 1024x768 looking like swirled mud.
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    Semitop

    Thanks for the additional info. Let's continue to build this thread for reference purposes.

    Quote Originally Posted by DavidJa View Post
    both statements are slightly misleading as the amp requirement is for total system requirement, your wording makes it seem that a single video card ALONE will draw that much amperage and anything short of a small nuclear reactor will power it.
    - Don't take my word for it. Check the box your video card came in. The amperage requirements are very explicitly stated on the side of the box. My card requires 30 amps. If you have a high end card, you'll see the requirements there. Manufacturers are required to stipulate the power requirements on their high end GPUs, since they are the obvious exception to the rule where standard power supplies are concerned. Again, check the side panel on your GPU's box. I hope you didn't throw it away.

    Quote Originally Posted by Nestersan View Post
    Game textures are not being created at lower resolutions anymore, so 1024x768 looking like swirled mud.
    - Actually, 1280x1024 should be sufficient for most games. The swirling mud apparition is most prominent on LCD monitors with slow response times; usually > 5 ms.
    Last edited by Xenocrates; Nov 19, 2007 at 09:19 AM.

  7. #17
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    30 amps would mean the card draws 30 x 12 watts.

    i think that is the estimated current you need to have given an average system

  8. #18
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    interesting thread Xeno. I've pretty much researched a lot of these things before getting my last PSU. The biggest question my and others have had is regarding highend GPU's that say you need X amount of Amps on 12V rail, compared to what your PSU has or the one your planning to get. Some ppl say, that number eg, 22A is the minimum you need for your whole system + gpu to run adequately. Others say its the GPU alone. I think this just needs to be cleared up with hard evidence. I'm leaning towards the answer that 30A is needed by the full system.

    Why you may ask? (As it may seem silly that GPU makers can specify how much their card + your system components they know nothing about requires a certain Amps minimum)

    Well I think that number they tack on the box and in their specifications is a generic number given a relatively average component setup + the amps their card needs.
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  9. #19
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    GPU power consumption.

    PCI-e gives 75W max, 1 6 pin plug is another 75W max = 150W Max for all the current PCI-e 1.0 GPUs with one 6 pin PCI-e plug. Thats 12.5 amps max on the 12V rail from the GPU. I think they just assume that u have a beefy rig and to be safe they give a high number.

    Guess some of those high end GPUs havemore than 1 6pin plug taking it up to ~19amps. But keep in mind that with GPUs like the hd3000 series none of them require more than 105W power according to ATI.
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  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Xenocrates View Post
    Semitop

    Thanks for the additional info. Let's continue to build this thread for reference purposes.

    - Don't take my word for it. Check the box your video card came in. The amperage requirements are very explicitly stated on the side of the box. My card requires 30 amps. If you have a high end card, you'll see the requirements there. Manufacturers are required to stipulate the power requirements on their high end GPUs, since they are the obvious exception to the rule where standard power supplies are concerned. Again, check the side panel on your GPU's box. I hope you didn't throw it away.

    - Actually, 1280x1024 should be sufficient for most games. The swirling mud apparition is most prominent on LCD monitors with slow response times; usually > 5 ms.
    thats what im trying to say it says it needs 30amps as the TOTAL system requirement AND for SLI it's NOT for a SINGLE 8800gtx.
    And again i will say that no single card will draw 22amps by itself.
    Mysnomia: Why are electronics so expensive in JA?
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