Does PSU AMP matter?

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karlmalowned

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Dec 7, 2009
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My GT 720 says it needs a ""Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 20 Amps.", but my 240w psu can only deliver 17 amps. The card works fine, and only draws 19w, but the guy at the computer store didnt like the amps being 17. Is this gonna cause a problem later?
 
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D
Amps do matter, but a lot depends on the quality of your PSU. If it's a cheap unit you are pushing your luck. Try inputting your system specs here http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator and see what's recommended. Often the cards stated requirements are exaggerated to allow for other hardware and low quality PSU's, there's just no way the graphics card manufacturer can know what hardware you have and how much power it uses so they have to add a safety margin.
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Dugimodo

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Sep 22, 2011
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Amps do matter, but a lot depends on the quality of your PSU. If it's a cheap unit you are pushing your luck. Try inputting your system specs here http://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator and see what's recommended. Often the cards stated requirements are exaggerated to allow for other hardware and low quality PSU's, there's just no way the graphics card manufacturer can know what hardware you have and how much power it uses so they have to add a safety margin.
 
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Shaun o

Shaun o

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Oct 7, 2007
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Basically when it comes to amps and wattage.
You have to work out what each component that requires 12v needs in amps and wattage from it.

For example hard disk drives require 12v and some of the amps from the 12v power rail as well as watts.
Cd/Dvd rom drives.

So for example say the total is 17amps the hard drive may require 2 amps and the dvd drive may also require 2 amps.

Leaving 13 amps for the GT 720 card.
As said that puts a strain on a Psu that can only provide 17 amps total of the 12v power rail.
Eventually the Psu is likely to fail.
Or you start to experience system crashes frequently.
 
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