R600 Power Consumption

[Skiutah]

I was reading an article about the G80 and I saw a page about its power consumption.

http://www.rage3d.com/reviews/video/nvidia8800/index.php?p=7

The card topped out at 354 watts. But I also was reading Wiki-pedia about the upcoming R600 chip and it's estimated 265 Watt pull.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radeon_R600

My question is why are some thinking the power consumption of the R600 will be worse if its only estimated consumption is lower than a G80?

Is there something I'm missing? Should I consider maybe two 8800GTS's instead of waiting to see what the R600 will do? Should I think about my PSU first and then worry about the video cards?

 

[crazydingo]

Thats the total system power consumption for G80. I believe G80 is about 140W.

People are guessing R600 be 225-300W based on the leaked board pics have 2x 6pin and 1 6pin, 1 8pin connectors. (With this same logic we arrived at 225W for G80 before launch)

 

[theprodigalrebel]

8800GTX has a ~180W power draw.

 

[Creig]

It's all complete guesswork until somebody can get their mitts on one to do some actual testing on. Like crazydingo said, the same thing happened with the G80 before it was launched. Some people were predicting it would draw over 200 watts because it had two six-pin PCIe power connectors (75w max each) and the PCIe itself can supply up to 75 watts. As it turned out, the 8800GTX draws only around 180 watts at maximum.

The R600 has a six pin PCIe connector (75 watts), the PCIe slot supplies up to 75 watts and there's also an 8-pin PCIe2 connector which can supply up to 150 watts. So that's why some people are saying it will have a high power draw.

The thing some people aren't mentioning is that the R600 is supposedly PCIe 2.0 compliant. And part of PCIe 2.0 is the eight-pin power connector. So it doesn't necessarily hold true that the R600 will draw more juice than a G80 just because it has the eight-pin connector.

 

[Skiutah]

Thanks Anandtech! I understand now.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: Creig
It's all complete guesswork until somebody can get their mitts on one to do some actual testing on. Like crazydingo said, the same thing happened with the G80 before it was launched. Some people were predicting it would draw over 200 watts because it had two six-pin PCIe power connectors (75w max each) and the PCIe itself can supply up to 75 watts. As it turned out, the 8800GTX draws only around 180 watts at maximum.

The R600 has a six pin PCIe connector (75 watts), the PCIe slot supplies up to 75 watts and there's also an 8-pin PCIe2 connector which can supply up to 150 watts. So that's why some people are saying it will have a high power draw.

The thing some people aren't mentioning is that the R600 is supposedly PCIe 2.0 compliant. And part of PCIe 2.0 is the eight-pin power connector. So it doesn't necessarily hold true that the R600 will draw more juice than a G80 just because it has the eight-pin connector.

What this man is saying is correct. But i wouldnt like the R600 to be 8 pin because you would need to go out and buy another PSU that supports these 8 pin power connectors.

 

[tersome]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

What this man is saying is correct. But i wouldnt like the R600 to be 8 pin because you would need to go out and buy another PSU that supports these 8 pin power connectors.

I'm sure ATI will include adapters with the R600.

 

[Cookie Monster]

Originally posted by: tersome

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster

What this man is saying is correct. But i wouldnt like the R600 to be 8 pin because you would need to go out and buy another PSU that supports these 8 pin power connectors.

I'm sure ATI will include adapters with the R600.

Does adapters work? Im not a PSU expert so im not too sure. The 8 pin is part of the PCI-e 2.0 specification so im not too sure if current PSUs can be PCI-e 2.0 compliant.

 

[LittleNemoNES]

The thing some people aren't mentioning is that the R600 is supposedly PCIe 2.0 compliant. And part of PCIe 2.0 is the eight-pin power connector. So it doesn't necessarily hold true that the R600 will draw more juice than a G80 just because it has the eight-pin connector.

True. I mentioned it in another thread but you put it together better. 😛

 

[Painman]

At first glance that PCIe 2.0 power jack looks like an EPS12V but the pinout is a little different 😛 I reckon someone will come out with an adapter.

 

[Creig]

Originally posted by: Cookie Monster
What this man is saying is correct. But i wouldnt like the R600 to be 8 pin because you would need to go out and buy another PSU that supports these 8 pin power connectors.

If you compare the eight-pin PCIe 2.0 connector to that of the six-pin PCIe connector, you'll notice that six of the pins are an exact match. So it might be possible to use two six-pin PCIe power supply connectors to power the card. Sort of the same way people are using 20-pin ATX power supplies on 24-pin motherboards.