Antec Earthwatts 500W with HD4870x2

The wattage should be barely enough however I am not sure if you will have enough amps on the 12v rail. You should check what the HD4870x2 requires for the 12v rail compared to your Earthwatts power supply

According to the table on http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-radeon-powe... , the HD4870x2 needs 22.4A.

According to the Antec website (http://www.antec.com/Believe_it/product.php?id=NjU=), the EA 500 has 12V1 and 12V2 of 22.0A each.

Does it mean that my PSU has 44A 12v rail which would be sufficient for the card or should I count only one 12v rail?

Nope, the 4870x2 uses 2 8 pin connectors if I recall correctly.

Now, make sure to use 2 and 2 HDDs on the rails and DVDRW. Also, if your card doesn't turn on right away, use the molex converter to 8 pins so you use the other rail (I failed on the first try with my 4890 xD!).

Cheers!

the EA500 has a combined 34 amps on its 12v rails

HD4870 X2 requires at least 650W PSU. 500W PSU is far less than sufficient even from a quality brand like Antec.

I wouldn't chance it. Get a new 650w power supply like the tx650, ea650, tp650, etc.

The EA500 has 34A total for the 12V rail. If the 4870x2 needs 22A (and that seems rather light to me.) then you'd have 12A for everything else. The 4870x2 requires one 8pin PCIe plug, which the EA500 doesn't have. I agree with the others, I'd be looking to get a different PSU. Your to close to the limit, and lack the correct plugs.

A quality 500W PSU like the Antec Earthwatts should not have a problem sustaining 439W. Of course, when you use the calculator I recommend you set the load to 100% and use that number. You may not even approach that number unless you're running Furmark AND Prime 95 on all but one of your cores at the same time just to test the power consumption. During Gaming you will draw considerably less power than that.

Anyway, the biggest problem will be that you will of course need adapters for the 8-pin connector, which would require you to use the remaining 6-pin connector and a 6-pin to 2 molex adapter. Not an elegant solution ^_^.

300watts/12=is 25 amps needed by the 4870x2

^+1.  

22.4A x 12V = 269W. I thought the 4870x2 was more then this, but less then 300. But both are in the ballpark.

Little late, but this helped me before. Click Antec, the x2 needs at least the 650W Earthwatts to function.
http://ati.amd.com/products/certified/powersupplies.htm...

4870x2 is a thirsty card

Well, I got it from a friend and want to use it without having to upgrade my PSU. I didn't want to try it without first asking for advice since I heard it is a very power hungry card.

According to your responses, it looks like it will work. I'll give it a try. If it doesn't, then I guess I will have to get a new PSU.

Thanks for your responses.

Whilst power hungry, the only thing that beats the 4870x2 at stock is the 5970.

Best answer selected by chrisll.