Antec Smartpower 2.0 450 watt psu and 8800GT?

Those Antec Smartpower PSUs had a serious problem a while ago. I don't know if it was one batch or what. This might be a good time to upgrade.

I have a 450w smartpower with a sonata II case, and they only have 15 and 17 amps on the 12v rails. I would get something with at least 22 amps on each rail. And be sure to register your 8800gt when you get it. Some come with a lifetime warranty.

I don't have a link, but the 8800GT has the same psu requirements as the 8800GTS which is 26a on the 12v rails, normally a 400w psu. It needs the same single 6 pin pcie connector.

PSU specs
http://www.antec.com/specs/SP450_spe.html

As stated its 15A and 17A on 12v1 and v2
this bit is a concern "* +5V, +12V1, 12V2 and +3.3V maximum output: 410 Watts max"

eVGA says 400w 22a
http://www.evga.com/products/moreinfo.asp?pn=512-P3-N801-A1&family=19

To say that the GT and the GTS have the same power requirements is ridiculous... theres a die shrink which mean less power which is why the GT can run a on a single slot card rather than the bulky GTS and its dual slot.

In answer: Id get something bigger, as per these specs it should work but its border line and i dont like border line. If you like Antec get a NeoPower500+ or Trio range... otherwise look at Corsair and PCPC.

22a makes a lot more sense to me; I stand corrected. Still, it is best to run the psu in the more efficient middle part of it's range.

I use a PCP+C Silencer470 @ 26amps with my 8800GT.
Since the minimum for the card is 400w @ 22amps it keeps me within the desired 30-70% load usage target.

I have that PSU. The first one lasted me 3 months. The second a year and a half. I am in the process of getting a better PSU.
Too many problems with that SmartPower.

The smart power line has some real quality problems. It might power your card, but you're taking a real chance with it blowing up and killing your card too.

1. PC power and cooling...great
2. Corsair (made by Seasonic), Not sure about Thernaltake
3. Antec's current line is made by seasonic

Thats some nice bias you have there.... next your gonna say that the GameXtreme is better then the FSP Epsilon?

Anyway.... to the subject at hand....the video card does NOT use 22 amps. 22 amps is recommended to cover the rest of the system.... The card takes under 9 amps of its own....

So what one needs to know is whats in your system? that will decide what you need...

I had a E6600 @ 2.93(board limit)
P5W DH
X1900XT(slightly more power then a 8800GTS, yet soooo much slower....)
4 hard drives
2 sticks of ram
Sound Blaster Audigy 2zs
WinTV PVR 250
2x 120mm fans
2x 92mm fans
1 DVD burner

I never had any stability problems with it. So not all SP 2.0's went bad....

Where do you get these figures on power nuke? id just like to know as im going to either 8800gt or newer rev GTS or GTX, to up my games a bit. I always had a feeling that the figures quoted on manufacturers web sites were for the whole system, not just the card.

And the 8800GT uses less power again and is faster again... lol... im still living on my 7900GT 256mb

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/forums.asp?s=2&c=7&t=9354

They tend to keep it fairly upto date for video card power use....they quote sources and all that good stuff.....lets face it my full system i run now takes under 350 watts from the wall(no sli or xfire, but its an average system)...less then 300 watts across all its DC rails...

I am not saying that the SP 2.0 are great PSU's, but i must have got lucky? and my friend has one(350 watt one i think) that still runs to this day as well.....

Anyway wattage divided by voltage = amperage

So a 2900XT @ 161watts is

161 / 12 = 13.41amps

thanks nuke much appreciated info

makes my lowly 7900gt 48w / 12v = 4amps lol i could run it off my torch batteries

Reminds me of the panic when the 8800 series first arrived-

Chicken little's across every forum screaming 750 watts minimum!!!!!!!

I ran my sig rig, but with an e6600 instead of the 6750 for a while on my TT Toughpower 500, till I picked up a bay slot TT 250 smartpower just for the GTX.

The total watts viewer readout never topped 375 watts in operation running everything under load, and has not crossed 280 after I took the vid card off it and onto the bay psu.

13 months and counting!

Now it seems ALL requirements going down with 65 and 45 dies, yet I see more and more 1000+ and 1200+ watt offerings from these companies.

Weird!

When you look at it all you will see that while cards are getting more power hungry in the high end....mainstream cards get better and better for power...and even high end cards get more FPS per watt then ever before....compare a X1900XT to a 8800GTS....  

hey guys this thread has helped me a lot, but i have one question about psu's when they say for example 36amps on a 12v rail do they mean combined 12v cables on the psu? (eg say it had 3 12v outputs youd be wanting to total 36A minimum off them?) because i dont think ive ever seen a psu that offers 36A on a 12v line. its usually 18 at best.

Re: NeoTech

So, sometimes a psu advertises 3 12A 12V lines, but this does not actually mean that 36A @ 12V are available. You'll have to look at the psu sticker to find out what's really available. It might be 22A @ 12V or anything above 12A!

A lot of power supplies advertise multiple 12V rails, but don't really. It's one way of advertising more power. The PC Power & Cooling Silencers have (and advertise) one 12V rail, up to at least around 50A!

As for die shrinks reducing energy inputs, that's partially true, but the trend is still upwards in the grand scheme of things.

I just bought an Antec EarthWatts 380 -- it's likely to be plenty of power for a long time. Very few systems break 300-400W, even multi-gpu systems.

Quick side question: what risks do you run by going with a noname brand or insufficient amperage PSU? As I understand it, having insufficient amps on the 12V rail means your card won't even power up, but is there any risk to your hardware? And are poor quality PSUs dangerous because they might malfunction while running and fry some components?

thanks

The risks vary. Sometimes a company will advertise a peak power, while the normal operating power is far less. In other words, you really aren't getting what you thought. That is one reason we periodically see someone writing in saying they have a 600wt psu or larger, but their computer doesn't power up. I have one psu that was advertised as a 680wt which I bought a few years ago. It hardly kept up with the SLI rig I had at the time. Come to find out, its real power was only 380wt. Any guesses about how I felt?    

A bigger problem is unstable current. If you go to jonnyguru and look over the tests that he runs, you can see pictures of the current flow of the psu's and see some bad stuff. When the current is unstable, it can damage the hardware, like cpu's, video cards, ram, etc. All of a sudden that $50, or even $100 you saved on the psu is totally wiped out by the cost of replacing burned hardware, and then you have to buy a good psu anyway. Oh yes, bad psus have even been known to burn, I mean literally starting a fire. That will make you have a really bad day.

Best advice I can think of is to read the tier charts and read competent reviews, jonnyguru and others, and then make an informed choice.