Serious consideration needed!!!!!!

[area61]

this is my power supply :

http://www.leapfroglobal.net/p-pl.php?id=magnum450&series=powersupply

Can it support the HD3870,HD3850 & 8800 GT?
PLEASE HELP ME.......IM IN A DIRE STATE!!!!!!!!

 

[leo2kp]

I wouldn't try it. You need a higher quality supply with more amperage on the 12+ rail. Don't skimp on the PSU. It can fry your entire rig if it blows costing you more than you would have paid for a good PSU

 

[coret]

I'm inclined to say you'll be fine.

Looking at the blurb and the amp ratings on the rails, the reported Amps are available for the 450w Truepower branding rather than the 900w peak. Having 25Amps available on the 12v rail should be more than enough to see you happy with the cards you mentioned.

However, if you upgrade to anything wanting much more power, you'll be wanting a beefier power supply.

 

[leo2kp]

The GT has a requirement of 22 amps. That's cutting it pretty close especially for a generic PSU with 25amps. That's just me tho.

 

[coret]

Those requirements are a lie/marketing BS so people can't sue them. The 8800gt consumes a grand total of around 80watts under load.

The PCI-Express connector supplies at max. 75watts of that with the rest coming through the connector.

Meanwhile, 12v*25A = 300watts of available power on that 12v rail alone. If the entire 80watts for the card came off that, that's still 220watts free for other components.

 

[leo2kp]

If you say so. Even if that's true, I'd still recommend a good non-generic PSU, and may as well get one with more amperage for future stuff. I've had way too many generic PSUs blow up on first-boot to let one go in to one of my machines.

 

[JonnyRock]

Those requirements are a lie/marketing BS so people can't sue them. The 8800gt consumes a grand total of around 80watts under load.

The PCI-Express connector supplies at max. 75watts of that with the rest coming through the connector.

Meanwhile, 12v*25A = 300watts of available power on that 12v rail alone. If the entire 80watts for the card came off that, that's still 220watts free for other components.

your maths looks good A+ :lol:

If you had a very good quality PSU i would say stay and play, although its still a risk depending on what else you have in the system, but not with a generic. There is no way i would risk it.

 

[cardio]

Since there are no real testing standards for PS, I would not put too much faith in the mfg claims for a low end product. At what temps, what else driven besides the 12V rails, etc...etc. Read a bit at PC Power and Computing about PS ratings, read some PS reviews. Every cheap PS has great specs from their Mfg and it seems like it would be a waste of money to buy anything more expensive. Uh, huh.......

 

[area61]

actually im also using a E6550 which is not overclocked.....
So i guess its fine to throw in a HD3870 together with my E6550 and this PSU?

 

[area61]

the psu cost USD$35~$40

 

[jsc]

Anyone who puts "peak power" on a computer PSU label:

"900W MAX/PEAK Power
450W PURE/REAL Power
SATA & 24 Pins Cable Built-in
12 cm Super Low Noise LED COLOR Fan
1 Year 1 To 1 Exchange Warranty"

is selling junk.

Besides how the power is distributed across the various outputs, the only other meaningful spec is " NNN watts continuous output at nn deg. C."

Since rated temp is not given, we can assume that it's 25 deg. C. If it were higher, they would tell you. 25 deg C. is a little above room temperature (77 F.). You need to derate the PSU so much per degree over rated operating temperature. In other words as it heats up, it is capable of producing less power.

Data (from the few manufactures who DO publish such data) that I have seen indicates that 1% to 2% per deg. C. is a reasonable figure. An inexpensive PSU with skimpy heat sinks will probably be closer to 2%. Keep in mind that the PSU fan is also pulling warm case air through it. That needs to be added to the thermal load on the PSU.

I'll be charitable and assume the internal PSU temp only goes up 10 deg. C. That's 20%. Your 450 watt PSU just turned into a 360 watt PSU.

Now, you could say that the above figures are based on the assumption that the PSU IS rated for full continuous output at only 25 deg. C. Yep.

"Full rated power at 50 deg. C." is such a hard spec to meet that those who can will tell you.

 

[mi1ez]

Has anyone else looked at the review they have?
Would've done better taking a photo of the mag.

 

[area61]

So can it handle the HD 3870????????????

 

[leo2kp]

Handle it? Probably. Without eventual failure? I wouldn't bet my data and expensive parts on it.

 

[area61]

what about the hd3850??can the psu take its load????????

 

[leo2kp]

And I repeat...

"Handle it? Probably. Without eventual failure? I wouldn't bet my data and expensive parts on it."

In other words, the specs look like it might be JUST enough, but the quality of the PSU (or lack thereof) might cause it to fail prematurely. I would consider getting a higher quality PSU.

 

[coret]

Area61 ... is your question in regards to an upgrade or a new build? If an upgrade, what card do you have at the moment?

 

[area61]

at the moment i do have the same psu,E6550 1gb ram,1 80gb IDE HDD,a dvd rom, a p35 ds3l mobo and a 7300gt

 

[jsc]

<SIGH>
A 7600GT needs about 36 watts. A G92 8800GT or the HD 38xx needs about 80 watts. So using any or these cards, the PSU 12 volt load will go up about 4 amps.

It will probably work. I have seen cheap PSU's run for years if they weren't heavily loaded - primarily with motherboards using chipset graphics. And I've seen them die in three months.

But if you do have problems, your first sign of problems will probably be random reset/reboots under heavy graphics load.

 

[area61]

a friend of mine uses the same PSU to power his 8800GTS 320Mb......
he has been using it for the past 5 months with no problems.What do you guys think about that?Doesnt the 8800GTS consume more power at load than the HD3850???

 

[coret]

The 8800GTS consumes around 100watts at load (so more than a 3850/3870/8800gt)

 

[chuckm]

at the moment i do have the same psu,E6550 1gb ram,1 80gb IDE HDD,a dvd rom, a p35 ds3l mobo and a 7300gt

Do you have the DS3L or the Asrock you posted about in the CPU section? Get this power supply and you'll be set for quite a while;

http://www.buy.com/prod/Corsair-VX-550W-Power-Supply/q/loc/101/205852646.html