need help measuring...

k61824

Distinguished
Jul 27, 2005
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What tool (and subsequently where to get them) does THG (or anyone) use to measure TOTAL power consumptions on a rig?

(need power usage info with the current rig in order to determine what upgrades the PSU can afford...or just to get a PC power and cooling so not to get any upgrades till the next time I got paid)

so far I have:
Enermax Liberty 620W (EL620AWT)
Lian-Li PC70 Full Tower case
2x Opteron 240 (revision B3)
2x Generic DDR333 ECC registered
2x seagate 120GB SATA HDD
Tyan S2895 (S2895A2NRF)
1x 16XDVD-ROM
1x 16XDVD-RW
1x Creative SB Audigy 2 ZS platinum (w/ front bay)
1x ATI TV Wonder Pro
1x ATI All-in-wonder X600 Pro

keyboard,mouse, and up to 2 USB device (power from USB bus)

I would like to know how much RAM and what video card I can afford to add in this case

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(")¥(") My bunny has dual channel genitals!
 
If you want to know the equipment that they use, then you can take a look at their most recent PSU review. IIRC they detail the eqpt that they use in the tests. Don't expect that type of equipment to be cheap.

With your PSU, I would expect that you could add an X1800XT or 7800GTX without hitting any huge snags. If you don't want to buy any equipment, then you could calculate the max power requirement for your parts and then add/substitute the numbers for the additional parts. The better way to manage your PSUs capability to handle additional parts is by using the amperage rating of the different PSU rails. Use P=IV to get the amperage for each device and then apply that to the rating of the proper voltage rail. The only real concern that I would have on that PSU is the graphics card. It is a large load on the 12V rail. With the number of drives you have you may be stressing that rail a bit, but I doubt it. The memory sticks have very minimal power requirements that don't come from the 12V rails.

*Steam rising*
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BUNNY STEW FOR DINNER!!