How much more can my Antec TPII 550W PSU handle?

[keeleysam]

I have an Antec True Power 2.0 550W PSU that's been running strong for the past three years, and it handles everything fine, I'm wondering how much more it can take as I'd like one more DVI output on this computer by adding an additional nVIDIA card. It doesn't have to be powerful, but if it had CUDA that'd be great.

Here's what's contained in my P182
Q6600 G0 @ 3.0GHz
P5B Deluxe @ 333MHz FSB
8GB Crucial Ballistix @ 1000MHz
EVGA GTX260 Core 216 Superclocked
3 x 500GB Seagate 7200.10
2 x 1.5TB Seagate 7200.11
2 x Samsung SATA DVDRW
DVICO FusionHDTV5-Gold PCI ATSC tuner

 

[Painman]

That's a decent 550W, but still, I'd replace it. My box has a similar PSU and power draw profile, and I wouldn't trust my 3 year old 550W to power everything it currently does plus another GPU. Not so much because it's 3 years old, but it's clear that it's aproaching max capacity if I load/stress the system. I can make that PSU get very loud, and very hot...

I'd recommend something like the PCP&C Silencer 750 Quad or the Corsair TX750w -- not because you'll need 750W of power for a 2nd GPU, necessarily, but you may appreciate the wealth of cabling that these PSUs offer. They both have 4 PCI-E leads for graphics cards, and lots of SATA connectors for your drives.

They both can be had for a very reasonable sum:

PCP&C for $90 shipped after MIR (as long as you don't mind a fire engine red PSU)

Corsair TX750w for about the same price after ground shipping/MIR via this $10 off link.

 

[keeleysam]

I'd drop $90 on a PSU, but if I can avoid it to run a $30 GPU, that'd be awesome. Do you think it can handle an 8600GT or something similar? I plan on a full upgrade once the 6 core Intel chips come out, and I've no idea how crazy the GPUs will be then.

 

[yh125d]

You could probably run a second GTX card on that, though I wouldnt recommend it. If the third monitor it's driving is just going to be running a desktop (i.e. no games) just get a 9400GT or something

 

[OCGuy]

In the below hotdeals thread, you can grab the Corsair 650W from Newegg for $69.99 + Free shipping AMIR. It would be much better than your aged 550W.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2280351&enterthread=y

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
In the below hotdeals thread, you can grab the Corsair 650W from Newegg for $69.99 + Free shipping AMIR. It would be much better than your aged 550W.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2280351&enterthread=y

Would that be enough to handle a future upgrade to a 6 core i7 chip plus two GTX cards?

 

[yh125d]

Originally posted by: keeleysam

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
In the below hotdeals thread, you can grab the Corsair 650W from Newegg for $69.99 + Free shipping AMIR. It would be much better than your aged 550W.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2280351&enterthread=y

Would that be enough to handle a future upgrade to a 6 core i7 chip plus two GTX cards?

Two GTX260 yeah, two GTX285 yeah but I wouldn't long term, two GTX295 probably not

 

[keeleysam]

Wow... I had forgotten that I had a second PCI-E power cable, as well as another power cable behind the tray. I took out the PCI-E power adapter and now it's running on the right ones, and I have 5 spare molex connectors (2 on one cable, 3 on the other empty one).

This leads me to believe that I may have enough on this to power a 9800GT or something similar. Think it's doable?

I'm looking at this card, hopefully CUDA isn't too badly hurt by only having 4 PCI-E lanes.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814150316

 

[OCGuy]

Originally posted by: keeleysam

Originally posted by: Ocguy31
In the below hotdeals thread, you can grab the Corsair 650W from Newegg for $69.99 + Free shipping AMIR. It would be much better than your aged 550W.

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...=2280351&enterthread=y

Would that be enough to handle a future upgrade to a 6 core i7 chip plus two GTX cards?

Yes, but at that point, if you are going to be spending the money on that much nice hardware, a few extra dollars for a 750w would be a little extra insurance.

 

[yh125d]

Well if hes only spending ~$120 on a 9800, the $90+ for a good 750w is more than a few extra dollars, especially when the one he has now has the proper connectors and plenty of power to do the job


OP, do you really think you need a 9800? What do you plan on running on the third monitor?

 

[keeleysam]

The monitors on this card will really only be used for viewing HD movies, with the occasional game or two, but nothing substantial.

The reason I'd like a 9800 is that it will be used as additional CUDA card for SETI@home and some programs I'm working on.

With my GTX260 Core 216, I'm seeing between 1600-2100MB/s in each direction when I'm running my CUDA apps, about half of what PCI-E x16 can do. With a 9800GT or 9800GTX+, I'd have half the shaders, so I figure I wouldn't see too much of a bottleneck with only 4 PCI-E lanes.

 

[keeleysam]

I just found an 8600GTS that I forgot that I owned. I threw it in, and it's running great, but I think I may still upgrade to some flavor of G92.