Power consumption: 6600GT vs. 7800GT

[SUOrangeman]

After two weeks of use, my new Shuttle SN25P died ... apparently of a PSU failure (or so I thought). Tonight, I have learned that my video card, a BFG 6600GT OCX, may be to blame. *IF* the card is still good (I'll find out tomorrow), I have to think that the card just puts too much of a load on my 350W PSU (along with an AMD X2 4400+, 2GB RAM, 74GB Raptor + 320GB, DVD burner, etc.). Would an upgrade to a 7800GT actually lessen the strain on the PSU? AT's recent article on the 7800GT shows that the 7800s compare quite well to the 6800 Ultra in terms of power load (not to mention performance). Does the same hold true for the 7800 chips vs. the 6600GT?

-SUO, don't really want to spend another $200, but ...

 

[volrathy]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817192002
350watt psu running that OMG get something a lot better OMG OMG that is shocking

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: SUOrangeman
After two weeks of use, my new Shuttle SN25P died ... apparently of a PSU failure (or so I thought). Tonight, I have learned that my video card, a BFG 6600GT OCX, may be to blame. *IF* the card is still good (I'll find out tomorrow), I have to think that the card just puts too much of a load on my 350W PSU (along with an AMD X2 4400+, 2GB RAM, 74GB Raptor + 320GB, DVD burner, etc.). Would an upgrade to a 7800GT actually lessen the strain on the PSU? AT's recent article on the 7800GT shows that the 7800s compare quite well to the 6800 Ultra in terms of power load (not to mention performance). Does the same hold true for the 7800 chips vs. the 6600GT?

-SUO, don't really want to spend another $200, but ...

A 7800 will consume more power than a 6600GT. I believe a 6800 Ultra uses about twice the power of a 6600GT. A 350W, particularly the one that Shuttle uses, should be more than enough for even a 7800GTX. You do have a pretty loaded system, but I still think you'd have enough power for all that.

Could be a bad power supply, but there's a possibility the card was bad (did you have previous use of it to know if its good?) and caused problems.

 

[SUOrangeman]

Thanks for the responses. A couple of things:

1) This is a Shuttle SFF. I really don't have much of a choice when it comes to the PSU (other than abandoning the SFF altogether).

2) I already RMA's the PSU, and was quite pissed (at myself, in the end) that the new PSU didn't bring my system back to life. The system now runs without the video card, but I cannot see anything! If the card itself is good (I'll try it in another system today), I'll definitely want something with less of a power draw in hopes of using my system again. It ran fine for two weeks; overnight at times.

3) Per http://www.anandtech.com/printarticle.aspx?i=2496 (page 10), the power load of the 7800GT is considerably less than than the 6800 Ultra (-25W @ idle, -58W @ load). I just haven't seen any power draw numbers on the 6600GT. It should be less than the 6800 Ultra, but I don't know if it drops to 7800GT levels.

 

[DrZoidberg]

I am pretty sure a 7800GT consumes more power than a 6600GT. I have read the AT article saying 7800GT consumes less power than 6800Ultra but 6800Ultra takes alot of power significantly more than 6600GT.

I have a Leadtek 6600GT right now with Athlon 3200+ on a Thermaltake 400W PSU. My system is stable even when overclocking. My PSU not the greatest but its still better than 350W. Is it possible for u to put the 6600GT back in, remove all non essential devices like 2nd hard drive preferably raptor, remove dvd burner, remove any usb devices except mouse and keyboard, have bare minimum just hard drive with OS. See if your system then runs. I have feeling your PSU is not enough for your system with dual core 4400 and dual hard drives.

 

[SUOrangeman]

I can confirm that the card is toast. I have six Dell Precision 670s in my lab here at work, all outfitted with GeForce FX3400 PCI-E cards. I tried my BFG in two of those systems and they wouldn't even power-up. In fact, the little lit embedded in the power button just flashes orange (the light is usually green when the system is powered on). I could try the remaining for 670s, but I'm not expecting a miracle at this point.

The bad news is that it is now 30 days since I bought the card from ZZF, so I cannot return it to them (or even squeeze out an "upgrade" to the 7800GT). However, BFG has lifetime warranties on video cards, so I should be able to get a replacement from them. Just another 2+ weeks without my new PC ... if I don't find a cheap temporary PCI-E card before then. Time to go shopping!

-SUO, hoping I don't have to go with the PCi-E 1x Matrox card just to keep this system

 

[SUOrangeman]

As my luck would have it, my RMA from BFG arrived today. My failed 6600GT OCX has magically turned into a 6800GT OCX. Yippie. :/ My 350W PSU in the SN25P apparently wasn't enough to handle the 6600GT OCX, so now I have to figure out if/how I can put a 6800GT OCX in it. I might have been a little more adventurous if Shuttle had standard power connectors on the motherboard. Don't get me wrong, the idea of having "only" spent $200 (with anohter $30 or so on RMA mailings) on a dual-DVI 6800GT card certainly gives me goosebumps. I just don't think the PSU can handle it ... and I don't even know if the card will physically fit in the SN25P!

-SUO

 

[aatf510]

It's not true! You 350w Shuttle is more than enough for that setup!!

 

[CraigRT]

Man, I run an SN85G4 at work with an eVGA 6600GT, 1GB RAM, 2 hdd, 1 optical, and it runs FLAWLESS on a 240W which came with the SFF system... 350 is MORE than enough, as stated above.. that's total BS.