PSU requirements for X1900XT

[Maximilian]

Ati says "450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 Amps on 12 volt rail recommended" Whats that mean? A 450 watt piece of crap? A 450 watt dual rail quality PSU? I read a lot of people have 600 watt+ PSU's for this card, isnt that overkill?

 

[bjc112]

I have the OCZ Modstream 520 that has only 28A on the 12v line..

I run the rig in my sig..

 

[Ronnie]

Running an OCZ 520w powerstream with a 4800+ x2@ 3.2ghz and my x1900xt at 690/800.

 

[Matthias99]

Originally posted by: Soviet
Ati says "450-Watt power supply or greater, 30 Amps on 12 volt rail recommended" Whats that mean? A 450 watt piece of crap? A 450 watt dual rail quality PSU? I read a lot of people have 600 watt+ PSU's for this card, isnt that overkill?

Tests have showed a ~140-150W maximum load from the card, which is about 12-13A split between the +12V feeding the PCIe and the +12V it's directly plugged into. A high-end CPU might use another 110-120W, or about 10A on the +12V. So a PSU with 30A on the +12V isn't a ridiculous recommendation.

However, manufacturers recommending PSUs based on wattage alone is pretty goofy, since what really matters are the amperage ratings on the different rails (the +12V rail in particular for graphics cards).

 

[Maximilian]

Ok, thanks guys.

 

[Vokofpolisiekar]

What is a fully loaded system really? It says 450W PSU assuming a fully loaded system?

I'm running my xtx on a 430W PSU (dual 12V - combined max of 34A) - and I don't seem to have any problems. Although, I'm using a P4 660 CPU .

BAR the system shutting down, what else might go wrong if you have a PSU that can't deliver enough juice to the system?

 

[Zensal]

If your PSU can't deliver enough juice it could:

A)Blow up(almost literaly)
B)Cause screwy unexplained errors because other parts of your system arn't getting enough juice.
C)Anything else you can think of.

PSU errors are really weird and sometimes hard to trace back.