Confused about the capabilities of power supply

[TexasAssassin]

I just recently ordered and received this power supply:

Topower TOP-1000WG 1000W:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817342041

and im confused about why they would make a power supply that can produce a 1000 watts but only allow 19a for peripheral devices.

According to this review from tweaktown:

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/4178/topower_top_1000wg_1000w_power_supply_review/index4.html

It states: "12V1 handles the 20+4 pin Main connector and all of the peripheral connectors." So basically from what i can gather, my video card and any other devices i hook up will be drawing off the same 19a rail. So the video card i have now requires 24a or above, so theres no way i could do sli with this power supply let alone power what i have now from what i understand. Why would they split it up like that? I will never use the other connectors that are allocated to the other rails, so essentially is it a waste of capabilities?

Should i return this one and find a power supply that has all the amps on one rail instead of split up so pointlessly?

 

[kleinkinstein]

I would, but I'm finicky and smitten with the sheer silent performance of Seasonic. Let's back up for just a question...or three. Why do you need 1000w? New build or is this a replacement psu? What is your calculated load?

 

[coffeejunkee]

Pheripherals refer to harddrives etc, not videocards. Those use the pci-e connectors which are distributed across the separate rails.

If you really need 1000W I would probably keep it, it's not the best psu out there but judging from the review it's also far from the worse. Ok, you don't get 1% voltage regulation like a Seasonic X-1250, but it also doesn't cost 250$.

 

[TexasAssassin]

So what would be the highest performance video card i could get that would also work with this psu? Would a gtx 670 work on it? I don't mind the brand but i figured by buying a 1000w psu i could run any video card i want, now that doesnt seem to be the case

 

[TexasAssassin]

I would, but I'm finicky and smitten with the sheer silent performance of Seasonic. Let's back up for just a question...or three. Why do you need 1000w? New build or is this a replacement psu? What is your calculated load?

Well its a replacement for now but i plan on building a new pc soon and i want to get a top of the line video card and maybe sli so i figured a 1000w would cover that. Im thinking a gtx 670 or 680. That plus what ever the typical load is for a i7 motherboard stock clock. 2 hardrives, cd drive

 

[coffeejunkee]

GTX670 has 170W TDP and GTX680 has 195W TDP so that's no problem, as long as you use 12V2 and 12V3 rails.

Theoretically 19A x 12V + 75W from the slot = 303W so any card would work since pci-e specs allow max 300W per card. But say, 2 times GTX690 + overclocked cpu would probably be too much.

 

[TexasAssassin]

Awesome. Thanks.

 

[lehtv]

A high quality 500 watt unit will handle any graphics card so I'd expect a Topower 1000W to also handle any graphics card, or two, or three. It has six PCIe connectors and they're divided across several rails, probably two connectors in three of the four rails each. The safest way to run one graphics card that requires two connectors would be to use connectors from different rails.

 

[Ketchup]

Your power supply is rated 19A on EACH of the 4 12V rails. The 24 is a total for the 12V line, so you should be fine.

 

[Eureka]

500W will handle any single CPU/single GPU set up you want, as long as it's delivering those 500W continuously (all good brands should do this). 1000W will let you run three.

If you are going to SLI, I would say a 700W PSU will be good.

 

[Blastman]

So basically from what i can gather, my video card and any other devices i hook up will be drawing off the same 19a rail.

Video cards will use the +12v2,+12V3, +12V4 rails and each has a 19A rating, so you will be fine.

Also, even though each +12v rail is rated 19A x12v = 228 watts, they will normally be able to provide much more power than that as PSU's typically set trip points OCP (over current protection) on each rail quite a bit higher than what the rating is -- typically 5-10A or more. For eg, my Enermax 500W PSU has 2 +12v rails rated 24A each (combined 38A), but the trip point (OCP) is set 30-35A for each rail, so I can pull up to 30A or more on a rail before it will trip and shut down. You should have no problem going quite a bit above 19A on each of the +12V rails if you ever need to -- but I doubt you will.

 

[Fx1]

1000W isnt needed any more. Not unles you want to run 2x690 GTX.