Antec Neo 550 can drive a single 9600GT?

[moose004]

Hi all, newbie here. I am putting together a couple of new systems, based in an Antec Sonata Plus 550 case. This case comes with an Antec Neo 550 modular power supply in it.

I've got a couple of people telling me that that particular power supply cannot handle a single Geforce 9600GT-based card (an MSI 9600GT 512 MB with a slight factory overclock) because the power supply has three 12V rails each with 18A, and the card supposedly needs 26A. Are they right? Is there a way to set the thing up so it can supply the 9600GT off two rails, if I need to? I'm trying to avoid having to spend an extra $200 on a couple of single-rail Corsair power supplies, when I've already got two cases here with the Neo 550s pre-installed.

I've done a couple of builds in the past, but those were some years ago--long enough that I've never worked with SATA or PCI-E power, or modular power supplies. Y'know, back in the days when "rails" were things you worried about with model trains.

Thanks!

 

[lostandwandering]

The amp recommendation that comes with the card is for the entire system, not the card alone. Those amp rating are also for combined power across all of the +12v rails. The Antec NeoPower has a combined 42amps on the +12v rails. You have plenty of power, no need to replace them.

 

[dobby]

i would really thinks so. if it was a no brand PSU then iw ould say yes but your gonna be fine

 

[MrCommunistGen]

Assuming a relatively normal system: E6750, 2 sticks DDR2, 2 HD, 1 DVDRW, 2 120mm fans... that PSU should run 2 9600GTs since they are such power efficient cards.

-mcg

 

[moose004]

Thanks guys, I think you just saved me $200.

The whole system:

Antec Sonata Plus 550 with 1 120mm and 2 92mm fans
Neo 550 modular power supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3GHz
Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L
Kingston 4x1GB DDR2 1066 PC2 8500
Maxtor 7200 rpm 500GB SATA 3.0GB/s hard drive
Asus 20x +-DVD-RW
Sabrent internal USB card reader
Vista 64-bit Home Premium

I always figured 550W was enough to run the system, but I didn't know that the "26A required" on the video card referred to the entire system and not the video card itself. Some folks I was talking to on another forums were telling me that I had to have 26A on a single rail in order to meet the requirements of the card.

 

[Guest]

The amp recommendation that comes with the card is for the entire system, not the card alone. Those amp rating are also for combined power across all of the +12v rails. The Antec NeoPower has a combined 42amps on the +12v rails. You have plenty of power, no need to replace them.

QFT. You have plenty of power for your system. Hell your PSU can power a single 9800GTX.

Your friends are idiots. Get new friends.


J/K but your friends are somewhat misinformed. They have the right idea, they've just interpreted it incorrectly.