FYI- ATI 4870 minimum power: a good 500 watt PSU *is* enough

[DaveSimmons]

The AnandTech review has power at load for a complete system at under 300 watts, which is less than the 12v rating of my Seasonic S12 500.

Has anyone found a source for the 12v amps recommended for a 4870?

I'd be pairing mine with an intel E8400, 4 GB RAM, 2 HDs, 1-2 case fans.

Update: yes, it's enough, as are other 500 watt PSUs with 150 watts on 12V in additon to other 12V needs (fans, drives, CPU):

mwave listed PSU requirements for the Visiontek 4870 which should be the same for all models (since they're all the reference design):

500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors [ = 12V @ 6.25 A each ] recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX technology in dual mode)?

 

[feelingshorter]

Well looking at the reviews, i think any given dependable 500watt PSU is enough:

PC Power & Cooling Silencer PPCS500 500W
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817703015

SeaSonic S12 II SS-500GB
http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16817151034

Anandtech also has a review done a while ago on the PCPC Silencer 500w, saying its loud. But The Seasonic also gets bad reviews on newegg for making a lot of noise also. Either way, both brands are rather pricey when brands like Cooler Master, Enermax Antec both also offers very good PSUs. After reading the review on anandtech, i question if the price premium is worth for the PCP&C (which is considered a very high end brand for PSUs like Seasonic), because their rails wasn't too spectacular. More often than not, i would rather have rails be a little high at 50% load than a little low, and i thin the PCPC runs on the lower end at 50%+ load.

Although a name like Cooler Master doesn't sound awsome as PCP&C but if you google their PSUs, along with Antec and Enermax, all of which have very good quality builds.

 

[RussianSensation]

Corsair 650 Watt $70 for new google checkout customers

 

[DaveSimmons]

It looks like my S12 500 is fine, mwave listed PSU requirements for the Visiontek 4870 which should be the same for all models (since they're all the reference design):

500 Watt or greater power supply with two 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connectors [ = 12V @ 6.25 A each ] recommended (600 Watt and four 6-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX technology in dual mode)?

 

[Mgz]

Antec Earthwatts should be good enough for single 4850/4870.

http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=3146&p=3

 

[Jessica69]

You could try going to the source......ATi/AMD's list of certified power supplies for single cards:

http://ati.amd.com/products/ce...wersupplies.html#pstop

BTW.....all of Seasonic's 500W power supplies are certified for 4850/4870 single card use.