Does my PSU have the 12v amps to handle this GPU?

[yacoub]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16814130433

System Requirements Minimum of a 500 Watt power supply. (Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 36 Amp Amps.) Two available 6-pin Molex hard drive power dongles
Power Connector 2 x 6 Pin

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...9001&Tpk=Corsair%20520

Output +3.3@24A,+5V@24A,+12V1@18A,+12V2@18A,+12V3@18A,- 12V@0.8A,+5VSB@3A

Connectors 1 x 20+4-pin ATX 1 x 4-pin +12V 1 x 8-pin EPS12V 2 x PCI-Express 8 x 4-pin peripheral 2 x 4-pin floppy 4 x SATA

(And it does have 2x PCI-E 6+2 cables, i checked the Corsair website to confirm)

combined 40A on triple +12V rails

Triple 12V Rails provide independent reliable power to the CPU, video card and other components with a combined rating of 50A (40A on 520W) maximum! Advanced circuitry design that automatically enables power sharing between the triple +12V rails in an event of overload on any single +12V rail.

I'm concerned on two counts: That the 520w is enough that I won't be running the PSU near its max ratings. And that it has enough power on its 12v rail(s) to support this GPU at all to begin with.



Moving to the PSUs section.

- AmberClad (Video mod)

 

[Tempered81]

You'll be fine. that psu has two pci-e 6pins and over 50 amps split 3 ways

won't be able to sli or anything.

 

[yacoub]

well 40amps on the 520w model, but thanks for the affirmation that i can run that GPU safely =)

 

[Shmee]

actually, my math comes to a total of 18A x 3 = 54 A, which is more than 40 =D

 

[HOOfan 1]

Originally posted by: Shmee
actually, my math comes to a total of 18A x 3 = 54 A, which is more than 40 =D

"young lady in this house we obey the laws of power supplies" -Bastardization of a Homer Simpson quote


anyway.

1) The Corsair HX520 is actually a single 12V rail design....for marketing reasons at the time, Corsair just said it had multiple rails.

2) Even if it were multiple rails you cannot just add up the numbers for each rail. Those numbers are artificial limits placed on the split rails by circuitry called Over Current Protection. If you read the stickied thread at the top of this forum about multi-rail designs it will clarify this for you. In short most multi-12V rail PSUs have a single 12V source which is artificially divided by Over Current Protection circuitry. In order to keep this OCP limit from starving certain components, the OCP limits are actually set higher than just the single 12V source's current capability divided by the number of rails.

To borrow an inane phrase from a poster not to be named.

A "literate" PSU label will show you the combined Power or current available across the split rails...In the case of the Corsair it is 480W or 40A since Power=Current*electrical potential

 

[yh125d]

You'd be doing maybe 350w full load, if that. Well in the range of the 520, without stressing it