GeForce 4 and powersupply requirements. Whats the truth?

[techwanabe]

I've seen some rumblings lately about the GeForce 4 Ti series needing a hefty power supply. One person claimed it needed 350W to run properly on an Athlon XP system.

I have a 250W PS on my Celeron system which has been powering it fine for 2 years (below)... with a newer CPU recently and mobo. I've been thinking about a new Video Card and the GF4 ti-4200 is my first choice. Now I'm wondering if I will be able to do this? The power requirements of my CPU are not the same as an XP or P4, so maybe I'll be ok? or what?

What is the power requirements for the GF4? officially? Anyone know? I don't recall this issue even being raised in the reviews.

 

[PowerMacG5]

I am running the Visiontek GeForce4 Ti4600. According to Visiontek, the minimum is 250W. I am currently running the Antec PP303XP (300W) Power supply. I am running a Pentium 4 2.0A @ 2.0 GHz, Intel D850MVL, 640MB PC800 RDRAM, Visiontek GeForce4 Ti4600, Thermaltake Volcano 7+, 4 Antec case fans, WD 1000BB, WD1200JB, Creative 16x Ovation DVD-Rom, and the TDK VeloCD 40/12/48B. All of my voltages are within spec, and I have never had my computer crash (running Windows XP Pro). I would say 250 is bare minimum, but I personally would reccommend 300.

 

[wackyquacky]

I feel that you should at least have a 300W dependable ps before running a gf4. That's b/c most systems w/ a gf4 should also have a high powered cpu, or the cpu will bottleneck the vid card's performance. I currently have the enermax 330w setup w/ the 750xp from gainward and a axp 1800+. but i only have 2 optical drives, 1 7200rpm hd and am only using the retail cooler. so my power drains aren't as much as some other systems out there. depending on your situation, you might need less, or you might need more.

 

[techwanabe]

Thanks Krazy

Wacky, What makes sense to me is the PS requirments would be dependant partly on what is drawing on it. I can understand that 300W would be minimum if someone is running an Athlon XP or P4, since those CPU's probably have a higher power requirement. Therefore you'd need more "headroom". And I understand the necessity to have the CPU speed to properly power the thing.

Here is the thing... I made a cheep upgrade from a PIII550@733mhz to a Cely-T 1.0A@1.33ghz. So, while more speed would be good, my impression is that I should be in decent shape - that 1.33 ghz isn't going to be a major bottle neck to the card... like say an 800 mhz or slower CPU might be.

Anyway, I'm more concerned about having proper power to the GF4-ti4200. In my case, I'm running a Cely-Tualy (1.475V) which actually has a lower voltage requirement than my older PIII550E (1.6V) due to the die shrink. So if anything, my system is drawing slightly less power than before. If temperature is any indication, I'm running at very similar temperatures as my old CPU (40-46 deg C).

Does the literature with these boards say anything about requirements for PIII/Cely vs XP and P$ systems? or anything in general?

 

[hans007]

its more about the quality of power supply. the gf4 really doesnt use any more power than the original geforce.



i have a micro atx case. i can run a p4 @ 2.13 and a ti4600 and its fine. 200 watt power supply. i'm not actually running the ti4600 right now, but i did try one and it never crashed.

 

[Crapgame]

Good point on the quality of the PSU, Ive seen an off name 350watt blow chunks trying to power a GF4ti and for kicks we tossed in a 230watt from an old proprietary machine and it worked. Watt ratings are pretty loose to what they really mean, you would think it would be a trustable spec but more often than not isnt.

 

[CubicZirconia]

its more about the quality of power supply. the gf4 really doesnt use any more power than the original geforce.

From what I've heard I'll agree. Just to note though, my Future Power 400 watt psu is running a ti4400 just fine. A friend of mine has a similar system with the same psu and his system is running fine too. These cases may just be exceptions to the rule, because most people here don't consider Future Power to be very high quality.