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Power draw for DX10 cards?

K

KingGheedora

Diamond Member
I have seen people building systems buying huge, 700w and 800w+ PSUs, saying that they want to be able to power DX10 video cards. I also noticed in the comments on the Core 2 Duo overclocking article, that Gary Key (an AT reviewer) recommends 700w PSUs for DX10 cards.

I've seen people mention 300w. Is that for a single card? Right now high end cards can get to use around 120W at load. If this is the case, then the current ATX PSU spec can't even handle a DX10 card, because it would require 25amps of current on the 12v rail, and ATX spec limits any single rail to 18amps.

Are there any numbers on how much power these cards will really use? Any links to rumors or more official sources than people in forums talking? (I've only seen people on message boards talk about this so far, nothing from a more reputable source). Why so much? How are these things going to be cooled. Pretty soon we're going to need exhaust pipes from our PCs directly to the outdoors, much like a clothes dryer!
 
There's no way... even the most power-hungry Pentium Ds consume maybe ~120W max (??), and they have massive coolers compared to video card rinky-dink coolers. Granted, video cards run a lot hotter so the heatsinks don't need to be as big for the amount of heat produced, but still, even if you up the cooler to be like a CPU cooler and run the cards at 80 degrees C, it would just be ridiculous.

At any rate, regarding the ATX spec, some PSUs are rated for higher on one rail (I've seen up to 26 at least), and many have multiple rails (I just saw one with 5x 17A 12V rails!). Video cards are powered partly through the MB and partly through an extra molex connector to help split the load, and I think I've heard of cards with 2x power connectors; it's usually recommended to give an entire rail from a dual-rail supply to the video card, and that's up to 12Vx18A=216W right there, plus more from the mobo, so it is doable... although it still seems pretty crazy. They're going to have to get pretty creative with those heat pipes! 😛
 
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