Suffecient amount of 12V Amps to power a gaming computer?

[MTLink]

How many amps do I really need if I plan to run a single-card 6800GS setup? Is 17A enough? I'm not going to SLi or OC anything, so I'd just like to know how much I really need. One of the cases I'm considering comes with a PSU. The thing is, it's specially designed for the case, and is mounted in the front bottom of the case rather than the rear top. I'm afraid another PSU may not fit, so I'm just wondering if 17A is sufficient for a single 6800GS.

 

[gomerpile]

no 17 is not good, no lessor than 36 you could get a 32 but cross you legs if your 3d apps unexpectedly shut down.

 

[Herr_Fritz]

How many amps do I really need if I plan to run a single-card 6800GS setup?

notice the "single-card" in there?

no 17 is not good, no lessor than 36

what? Since when did a 6 series Geforce need 36 amps!??
nVidia recommends no less than 25 amps on the 12 v rail for an 6800 SLI SETUP, and one can extract from that that a SINGLE 6800 would draw roughly 12.5 amps, not your whopping 36.

Someone please prove me wrong, so MTLink isn't misinformed.

Fritz

 

[incinerator]

One Card would require a maximum of 12amps of power. At 12 amps your talking 144 watts for the card. No way it uses more than 144watts(12V*12Amps) . Even if you over clocked the thing i don’t see that hitting 12 amps either.
-Jimbomanx-

 

[MTLink]

Thanks for the help guys. Now I know how much I need for a single and two-card solution in case I want to go SLi in the future. Much appreciated

 

[MadModMike]

I have a pair of XFX 6800GS's in SLI, my PSU has a single 37A 12v, and I have them overclocked quite a bit, and I see absolutely no stopping in them. I also ran them in a PSU with a 20A 12v, and again, I saw no performance hit or crashing. For reference, a 6800 Ultra AGP draws no more than 5amps on the 12v (used a multimeter) so a 6800GS should draw less than that power hungry beast.

~~Mad Mod Mike, pimpin' the world 1 rig at a time