Tom's Hardware > Forum > CPU & Components > Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods > How far should I push a WinPower 850w PSU?

How far should I push a WinPower 850w PSU?

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - How far should I push a WinPower 850w PSU?

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My winpower 850w PSU has 4 +12v outputs: two rated at 22A and the others at 20A. Will this be sufficient to run even the most power hungry GFX cards as single card solutions? What about dual card solutions - is that advisable?

I'm intending to use them with an X58 mobo and an i7 920 chip. The system will also have 3-4 SATA disks and one optical drive.

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The general rule of thumb is a high quality 500 to 550 watt power supply with sufficient current (amps) on the 12 volt rail(s) can easily handle a pc system and any single video card made. A high quality 700 to 750 watt power supply with sufficient current (amps) on the 12 volt rail(s) can handle a pc system with just about any two video cards operating in dual mode (SLI or Crossfire).

From what I could find out the HEC Winpower 850 watt power supply is an average power supply. You should not have any problems operating a system with just a single video card or two video cards operating in dual mode.

Reply to JohnnyLucky

Yeah, I was pretty surprised at how cheap the PSU was compared to other 850w models so i'm not expecting miracles. How many amps do things like the GTX295 or the 4870 need on a +12v line? I couldn't find the technical specs on this from nVidia/ATi's sites.

Reply to Rab1d-BDGR

jsc 09-09-2009 at 11:48:56 PM

-1

A 4870 needs about 12 amps. I estimate that a GTX295 would need around 25 amps.

Reply to jsc

Well, I wouldn't try running two GTX295s or two 4870X2s on it. One GTX295 would probably be O.k as should one 4870X2. As for single GPU cards any two stock clocked GTX 260 cards would probably be fine, but I think two power hunger 4890s or GTX285s may be a little iffy. With two 4890s that system would certainly go over 500W running 3D mark and modern games. Running furmark on it though would probably use a bit more and would be scary high for a low quality PSU.

Anyway HECs are generally considered tier 5 PSUs so I wouldn't use it for a high end system.

Message edited by megamanx00 on 09-10-2009 at 12:13:20 AM

push right in the trash

Reply to obsidian86

Here is a link to a technical review over at bit-tech.net which includes charts for total system power consumption measured at the wall outlet at idle, load, and peak while playing Crysis. It includes power consumption for both the GTX 295 and the 4870 in dual card mode:

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/g [...] -review/16

GEEZ! The GTX295 and 4870 are both power hogs!

Reply to JohnnyLucky

I searched and searched, and although I couldn't really find anything bad about this PSU, I couldn't find anything good either. Seems to be a "decent" value unit.
I agree with others that a single highend, or a couple of upper midrange cards would probably be fine.
I mean, after all the worst that could happen is that it could kill your motherboard, a gpu or 2, and maybe a hard drive. Those can all be replaced right? No sense spending money uselessly on a better unit, right? Cheap PSU's will work just fine.

Reply to jitpublisher

It's you're system so it's up to you. Personally I wouldn't use anything more than two 4850 1GBs or a single GTX285 with that PSU. Of course, if you do something crazy that ends up turning your system into a molten fireball I'd hope you would post pics up for us to see .

Hehehe, pictures guaranteed if that happens.

Last time I overloaded a PSU it wasn't very exciting though, it just cut out whenever it got too warm and refused to work until it had time to cool. I don't mind getting a better PSU if I have to, but the winpower PSU is literally brand new so it seems wasteful to throw it in the trash if it will work.

I'm actually waiting for the DX11 cards to come out before I decide on my exact set up, but here is a hypothetical question:

If a GTX295 needs 36A at full load and I only have 20A and a 22A rails available, what would happen if I "piggybacked" both rails together into the one socket.

I'm guessing either:

a) I have the equivalent of a42A rail powering the card.

or

b) Is that burning plastic I can smell?

Reply to Rab1d-BDGR

GTX295 only needs 18A according to xbitlabs, and that would be split between the 2 PCIe connectors and the slot.

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How far should I push a WinPower 850w PSU?

Forum CPU & Components : Power Supplies, PC Cases & Case Mods - How far should I push a WinPower 850w PSU?