Is a 380 watt psu enough for an EVGA 7900GT KO and

[Sam334]

Finally decided to upgrade to PCIe....

Ordered
Got excited
Realized my psu is 380 watts
Cried
Ate
Cried


The PSU came with the Antec Sonata about a year ago. Like I said, it's 380 watts. Read some other member's post stating his 350w couldn't run a 7800gt. :-/

I have an AMD 3200+ Winchester, one optical drive, 2 sticks of ram, one SATA 300gig hdd.

Anyone else able to run that card under similar conditions with a 380 watt psu?

 

[mechBgon]

It might be worthwhile to upgrade PSUs to a 24-pin model, if yours is one of the older 20-pin versions of Sonata. The Fortron AX450-PN would be worth a look... single 12cm fan, dual 18-amp 12V rails, and only $50 or so.

7900GTs don't necesarilly present a huge power load, they take a little less power than a 7800GT actually: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7900gtx_6.html So if you have a 24-pin TruePower380, it might be worth a go. Your system's not one of those heinous 4-of-everything types 🙂

 

[Sam334]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
It might be worthwhile to upgrade PSUs to a 24-pin model, if yours is one of the older 20-pin versions of Sonata. The Fortron AX450-PN would be worth a look... single 12cm fan, dual 18-amp 12V rails, and only $50 or so.

7900GTs don't necesarilly present a huge power load, they take a little less power than a 7800GT actually: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7900gtx_6.html So if you have a 24-pin TruePower380, it might be worth a go. Your system's not one of those heinous 4-of-everything types 🙂

Thanks for the info 🙂 I'm not well versed in PSUs, so here's what may be a silly question: Will I not be able to run the new mobo and video card because of the difference in pins if I do, in fact, have the 20 pin version?

edit

Found some converters on several websites. Now I'm wondering whether I should just order a new psu or a converter. Or both and return the psu if it's not needed...

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: Sam334

Originally posted by: mechBgon
It might be worthwhile to upgrade PSUs to a 24-pin model, if yours is one of the older 20-pin versions of Sonata. The Fortron AX450-PN would be worth a look... single 12cm fan, dual 18-amp 12V rails, and only $50 or so.

7900GTs don't necesarilly present a huge power load, they take a little less power than a 7800GT actually: http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce7900gtx_6.html So if you have a 24-pin TruePower380, it might be worth a go. Your system's not one of those heinous 4-of-everything types 🙂

Thanks for the info 🙂 I'm not well versed in PSUs, so here's what may be a silly question: Will I not be able to run the new mobo and video card because of the difference in pins if I do, in fact, have the 20 pin version?

The truthful answer is that a 20-pin one ought to still make the system run, as long as the PSU itself can handle the load. Page 2-10 of the motherboard manual shows which 20 holes to use if you only have a 20-pin PSU. If I were getting a $300 video card, however, I'd feel more at ease if my PSU were a native 24-pin one with a PCI-Express power line and all that.

Looking at the manual for your motherboard, they say 18 amps or more on the 12-volt rail. Remind me again, what's the 12-volt rated for on your PSU? The label will say.

 

[Sam334]

The label reads as follows:

[+12v
max=24A
min= 0.8A]


[-12v
max=1.0A
min=0A]


By the independent power requirements for the motherboard and video card, the psu would theoretically be fine. However, I'm not sure what to base my assessment of whether it would power both items concurrently....

 

[mechBgon]

That oughta do it from an amperage standpoint. Good luck, whichever way you decide! 🙂 Those 7900GTs look like an attractive buy on every aspect except maybe that the "standard" heatsink/fan units are said to be noisy.

 

[Sam334]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
That oughta do it from an amperage standpoint. Good luck, whichever way you decide! 🙂 Those 7900GTs look like an attractive buy on every aspect except maybe that the "standard" heatsink/fan units are said to be noisy.

I feel a bit reassured. However, what other standpoint is there to consider besides amperage? The label also reads "AC Input: 115V/10A, 230V/5A; 60Hz/50Hz"

What should that be compared to?

Thanks for all your help; it's greatly appreaciated. 😀


edit


Also, where did you find the manual for the motherboard? I've been searching, but can't seem to find it. Thanks again.

 

[mechBgon]

I looked up the manual from their Knowledge Base, here's a link and scroll down for Manuals: http://www.msicomputer.com/support/OnlineKB.asp

Other than having enough amperage, and decent quality so we know it's able to actually deliver it without going POW!, the other thing that would be on my mind is spreading the amperage out over enough wires that nothing starts getting overloaded.

Like, if there were a lot of 12-volt amperage being pulled through just one 12V wire, then you could have classic ATX-cable meltdown. With your setup, I doubt you'd have to worry. The 24-pin cable would have one more ground wire, and one more 12V, 5V and 3.3V wires. Since the card is going to draw half its power directly from the power supply by way of its PCI-Express power plug, the strain on the motherboard's own power plugs shouldn't be any trouble.

 

[daveybrat]

24 amps on the 12v rail is fine for that card. And with you only using 1 hard drive and cdrom, you won't need higher. Especially since that power supply is an Antec.

Just get the adapter and you'll be set 🙂

 

[daveybrat]

Oh, and the other thing.....you can never go by just the wattage of your power supply when it comes to meeting requirements.

Case in point, my Thermaltake Power supply i use is a 480Watt......but it only has 18A on the 12V+, so your 380 watter isn't such a slouch 😉

 

[Sam334]

Can't wait. This is gonna be a nice step up from my paltry Radeon 9600. 😀