Antec High Current Gamer - HCG-850M not enough for 295GTX and 8800GT?

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
E

EspiOne

Distinguished
May 7, 2009
166
0
18,680
My current Pc Build :

XFX 750i
Q9650
8GB of Corsair XMS
OCZ 120GB SSD
XFX 295 GTX
XFX 8800 GT (AlphaDog for PhysX)
1000 Watt Ultra PSU
(read my other post, Gaming PC for Steam......BL/BL2/BS/BS2/BSI...??)

I recently began to have issue with my 295GTX, I have contacted XFX for support. I decided that maybe it was the PSU, so I decide to change it out. I have a Antec High Current Gamer - HCG-850M, that was an RMA replacement for an Antec TPQ-850, new in shrink wrap. I changed everything out and trying to do some good cable with the "new" PSU and nothing at power up, just a slight movement of fans. I re-seated all connection and no dice.
Today, I decide to go to TigerDirect to pick up a new PSU, (price are high for an 850watt) and asked if they tested PSUs, they did, so they test each, Ultra 1000Watt, D E D, dead, according to them, the 24 pin did not provide any good amount of power. They tested the Antec, powered up, 24pin, 12pin provided good power, but they said that with additional components, it may get drained at power up. So what does anyone think?? I am the process of getting support for both PSUs, the Ultra is probably a "no go" , almost 7 years old, the antec, well, I hope I can get a replacement. I hope they can give something other then another HCG-850.

I am currently running a Cougar 650 with two 6 pins, and a 560GTX Ti, I ask my friend to lend me it for a while
 
Solution
nukemaster
The 2 cards at max load should be about 400 watts at load. add on 100 watts for the cpu. I can not see the board taking much more than 30 watts lets just say 50. Toss in another 20 for the memory and ssd(they take nothing near that much.)

Gives you an overestimated guess of about 570 watts. The power supply is good for upto 840 watts @ 12 volts(what most of your hardware uses[the ssd uses 5 volts].).

Unless the power supply has a defect, 850 watts should be enough.

In all honesty, newer more power friendly cards will give you the same or better performance with much less power and heat(save you at least 100 watts).
Sort by date Sort by votes
nukemaster

nukemaster

Titan
Nov 23, 2004
19,626
6
74,965
The 2 cards at max load should be about 400 watts at load. add on 100 watts for the cpu. I can not see the board taking much more than 30 watts lets just say 50. Toss in another 20 for the memory and ssd(they take nothing near that much.)

Gives you an overestimated guess of about 570 watts. The power supply is good for upto 840 watts @ 12 volts(what most of your hardware uses[the ssd uses 5 volts].).

Unless the power supply has a defect, 850 watts should be enough.

In all honesty, newer more power friendly cards will give you the same or better performance with much less power and heat(save you at least 100 watts).
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
E

EspiOne

Distinguished
May 7, 2009
166
0
18,680
Thanks for the quick reply, and straight forward answer. Honestly, I am only gaming Borderlands 2, DX9, I am going to get the most out that 295GTX. I do have a more powerful PC Build, I used that one when I was gaming BioShock Infinite, FARCRY3 and Crysis 3 with DX11. I am honestly trying to wear the card out and get a replacement ATI DX11. So, I am guessing that the Antec 850 is faulty. I am gonna pull the antec 900 out of my newest build and see how that works, while I wait for Antec to provide some support.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

EspiOne

Distinguished
May 7, 2009
166
0
18,680
Just as an additional note, did decide and get a 560GTX ti, (as recommended by "Can You Run It?") but after running the 295GTX, good FPS, so I gave the 560GTX ti to a friend, we have trade components in the past (we're both IT Technicians). I am looking/debating to run a eVGA 660GTX (my back up card for my MSI 660 SLI Build), but I know it will bottleneck with the Q9650.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

EspiOne

Distinguished
May 7, 2009
166
0
18,680
The system is just for gaming, mainly BL2, of course some web browsing, and such. no other programs, MSI Burner, to monitor TEMP and FPS.

But simple and to the point, GAMING, and with the looks of BL2, I will be gaming this for the rest of the year. Game come out almost a year ago, but I just got it last month. I normally play games later, wait for prices to lower.

I am going to install the eVGA 660 GTX and a keep the 8800GT for PhysX, (the PhysX in BL2 is really nice), give my friend back the 560 GTX Ti. I think I will be good for the load on the 650Watt. Any suggestions on other card the would not 'bottleneck" with the Q9650?

"you can turn on gpu intense settings to try to offset the bottleneck(well at least give the card more to do)"

I have not heard of this, I will research it.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
nukemaster

nukemaster

Titan
Nov 23, 2004
19,626
6
74,965
To explain the gpu intense part. Some users with a cpu bottleneck tend to notice it because the games performs the exact same in high or low settings. In this case, they may as well max out those settings because they are harder(but still not hard enough to lower performance) on the gpu and do not slow down the game. I guess it is not an offset, just he ability to make games look better without a performance loss.

As for the cards.

~105 for the 8800 gt
~140 for the GTX 660
~100 for the cpu
same over estimated 50 for the board
Same over estimated 20 for the memory and SSD

This comes to an over estimated 415 watts for your system(most of it @ 12 volts.). Keeping in mind that it will be rare for all parts to be loaded to the max and the 8800GT should not be loaded too much for physx.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
E

EspiOne

Distinguished
May 7, 2009
166
0
18,680
Just as a follow up, while changing cases, I found the one of the 6 PIN PCI-E cables did not power the 295GTX, as I switched them, the second one did. So one of the 6+2 cable does not work. The first did power the 8800GT, so I have request a new cable.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom