Power Supply help

[sanddog28]

I going to be upgrading my system to a Core Duo 6600 2gigs of ram and a nvidia 8800gts. Currently i have a thermaltake pure power 460 psu, wondering if i need to upgrade it immediately... planning on going sli shortly and would upgrade the psu then, just considering budget constraints

 

[Rugger]

I'm not Tom...
What are the rest of your specs? How many HDD/CD/DVD drives especially. If you plan on upgrading when you go SLI, then I would at least try the TT before buying a new PSU, especially if the PSU has all of the right power connections. If you do decide to try it, then do some stress tests to check for stability after the install is complete.

 

[sanddog28]

the only other items in they system are two segate 7200 sata hdd and one dvd and one dvdrw

 

[Rugger]

THe reason that I asked is that disk drives can be one of the larger power draws in a system...estimate about 25W max per device. That being said, you normally won't do anything that requires you to stress all four at the same time. I would definitely try the TT 460W.

 

[sanddog28]

Thanks rugger... the order is going in, nothing like making new egg a little richer LOL

 

[Rugger]

Good luck with the new gear! I've given the Egg more money than I'd like to admit... 8O

 

[TSIMonster]

according to the specs I pulled up, your psu has 30 amps on the 12 volt rails. That should work for a single card as nVidia recommends 26 for a GTS. I would be skeptical of attempting SLI, however.

 

[TSIMonster]

going by the specs I pulled up for the TT PurePower 470watt (couldn't find 460) using the formula W/V=A I got 30 amps. I could have pulled up incorrect specs, however. 360/12=30

 

[TSIMonster]

Gotcha. I just googled TT Purepower and came up with a picture for a 470w that said 360w max on the 12v rails and based my post on that.

Should have known better. Most 450watt PSUs only have 300w on the 12v rails which does, in fact equal 25 amps.

Either way, I think that PSU will be okay for an 8800GTS depending on the rest of your system, but you will be asking for it if you try to power 2 with it.

 

[Rugger]

I realize that they are not the best PSUs on the market and that the 12V rail's amperage rating is borderline. If he wants to save some money right now, then he can try the PSU. If it works...and it very well may work...then he can upgrade the PSU when he gets the second GPU. I have an overclocked X1800XT and 3200+ running on a NeoHE 430W - completely stable. With his setup, I would think that he will max out with a draw no greater than 300-350W. He may be borderline with on the 12V rail, but if he gets the GPU/CPU on separate rails, then he should be good.