Best Gfx Card on 20amps Sli capable?

I'm upgrading my new system which is three way capable.
But my new 1010W PSU is only 20amp on each rail to the SLI

What is the best GFX cards that will run in SLI Machine of only 20 amps per rail?
9600GT DDR3 Models?

A 1010 watt PSU? Is that a typo or a new type of PSU I'm not aware of? >.>

Any 1000+ watt PSU will be able to handle pretty much everything you throw at it. You say you have 'only' 20 amps on each rail, and think you can only run 9600 GTs on that. I am happy to announce that you are very wrong about this =)

Depending on what model your PSU is, you could probably run 3 gtx 285s without a hassle.

Never hooked up the 9800GT in fear of hurting the card of my System.
Read manual 1st.
Only realised that it wasn't capable then, assumed 1010W whould be plenty..
Took back for full refund, while I figure out what is best for it..

Huh...that really *is* a 1010 watt power supply! Also, I like the emote in the middle of the url =P

Anyway, it's good that you read the manual first and didn't put the card in. That shows you're smart enough to check on things and not just plug things in and expect them to work.

However, when it comes to power requirements on video cards....they are way off. The 26 amps figure that you saw is a more accurate power draw for your entire system, not just your video card. Check out this review that Tom's did on GPU power consumption. The 9800 GT is the exact same as the 8800 GT, so you can look at that card to get your numbers. You'll see that the 88/9800 GT consumes a mere 9.3 amps at maximum load - a far cry from the 26 amps that the box calls for. A gtx 280 consumes about the same amount of power as a gtx 285 (Source: Here), and it looks like a pair of gtx 280s consumes 26.8 amps total. That workload would be a snap for your 1010w power supply.

Now, let's talk about your PSU (or rather, your former PSU >.> ). You actually don't have four 12v rails....you have 1. It's just split into four wires coming out of the PSU. Each of those 4 wires is really just a subset of your 12v rail, the total combined power of these wires is your 12v rail strength. Underneath the individual wire ratings, it says 66A for max current. That means 66 amps * 12 volts = 792 watts, so 66A or 792 watts is the maximum load for the 12v rail of that PSU. If you're still confused about this, I recommending reading this long but well-written post that can explain it better than I can.

So, to sum things up: That PSU had a 12v rating of 66a / 792w. A 9800 GT uses about 9.3a / 111w. That PSU is way overqualified to run a 9800 GT, and could in fact run three gtx 285s in SLI, if you decided to. Of course, you have to take into consideration that other components use power (fans, drives, CPU) and then you want to leave a little room for safety, but a 1010w power supply would handle just about anything you threw at it, except for the most extreme of extreme systems.

three gtx 285s?
Aren't they like 30A each = therefore 90A total

How is 20A x 4 = 66A?
(66A Total According to Specs? WTF?)

Here's what i'm already running (powerwise)
All with a Q9550 chip too (95W there i believe)
and on my 790i SLI Ultra Mobo which suggested a 1000W minimum PSU.
5 x 120mm Fans
2 x 80mm fans on case
2 x 120mm fans on cpu heatsink.
Slot Fan Cooler x 1
SATA II HDD
SATA DVD Burner
3x Case LED Lights (RED)

GeForce 9800 GTX SLI (512 MB) 21.4A is more than 20A
So it won't work!!!

Yep thats the rig.

Ohh, when you explain it all like that it makes sence to me!!

Thanks Man!!

Now If only I could Afford 1 x GTX 285 LMAO

Yes that's correct. You have one 12v rail of 66A that's split into 4 outputs.

Read this review again: http://www.tomshardware.com/review [...] 122-6.html

A 9800 GT (aka 8800 GT) only uses 9.3 amps. Ignore the numbers nvidia puts on the box, they're hogwash!

Edit: Ok, maybe don't ignore them outright, but definitely double-check them.

Also If I OC the GFX card with something like Rivatuner, and then benchmarked
would it draw more amps than specified on that toms hardware review?

Okay so i'll get 3 x 9600GT (DDR3 Models) (best i can afford for now)
and later upgrade that to 2 x 285GTX when they are much older and i can afford them lol

Thanks heaps for all your help
efeat ur awesome!

Yep just read this too
http://www.slizone.com/object/slizone_3waysli.html
States:
3-way NVIDIA SLI-Ready GPUs:
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260
NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX

So my selection has been limited even more to the darn expensive range.. lol
I thought all SLI cards were SLI-three way capable
apparently not

BTW mine is the 75A not the 66A version.

Which makes me happier again, Might get 2 x 9600GT in SLI and run a third 9600GT with Nvidia PhysiX Drivers

What that ampage take while the card was under stress (benchmarked)??
or at idle?

So why are there 1500W PSU's?
If your saying in real systems they aren't needed?