Thinking of going from 6600gt to 7600gt

[hans030390]

I want to upgrade to a 7600gt on my rig. My PSU is rated at 300watts (I think with 17 or 18A on the 12v rail). I'm not 100% sure that my PSU can run it properly, but after reading charts, the 7600gt should draw about the same power as my 6600gt.

All that's on my system is:

P4 (2.8ghz OCed to 3.0ghz, Northwood)
2gb PC3200 ram (2 sticks)
1 120gb HD
1 DVD-R/RW burner
6600gt (Which I want to upgrade to 7600gt)

I've heard some people say yes, some say no, and I want to double check

And I'm not going to listen to "YOU NEED 500WATTS OMG!", because I know that's not true. At load, I don't think my setup would need more than 250watts (calculated).

I don't believe I can upgrade my PSU, as I have a Sony Vaio RS420, and I've heard reports that if you try to change the PSU it comes up with a "no fan" error and won't start. I'm not going to waste my money on something that won't work.

 

[yh125d]

heres my old system


A64 4000+ @ 2.6mHz
3x512mb ram
7600gt o/c'ed
many case fans

and off an old 16A psu. you'll be fine for now, but you should upgrade the psu as soon as you can after you get the 7600gt

 

[hans030390]

I don't think I can upgrade my PSU, that's the thing.

The Leadtek 7600gt on newegg says it needs 300watts. So I have a feeling I should be OK.

 

[lavaheadache]

I'm sure you'll be fine... IF not, you can deal with it then. Just hold on to your 6600 till the 7600 arrives and works. AS far as the fan issue, you should be able to turn off any fan monitoring and be good to go

 

[Munky]

Check this out: Text

A system with a 7600gt and even a 7900gt draws less power under load than an identical system with a 6600gt. If you ran a 6600gt ok, you'll have no problems running a 7600gt with that PSU.

 

[hans030390]

Originally posted by: lavaheadache
I'm sure you'll be fine... IF not, you can deal with it then. Just hold on to your 6600 till the 7600 arrives and works. AS far as the fan issue, you should be able to turn off any fan monitoring and be good to go

I thought I'd be ok. But about turning off the fan monitoring, how would I do that? I personally have never encountered this, as I've never messed with my PSU...I just read about someone that experienced it with the same computer. It comes up before anything else starts, I believe. How would I disable it? Perhaps the BIOS?

Originally posted by: munky
Check this out: Text

A system with a 7600gt and even a 7900gt draws less power under load than an identical system with a 6600gt. If you ran a 6600gt ok, you'll have no problems running a 7600gt with that PSU.

Yes, I saw some other site that had similar reportings. I'd assume I'd be ok then, even with my 12v rail having 18A-19A (if I remember correctly)...right?

I think I'll order one...when I get the extra money. But I thought it wouldn't hurt to ask while I was thinking about it.

Thanks!

 

[Captante]

I don't believe the site linked above is very accurate (especially in its claims that a 7900GT draws less juice then a 6600GT under load!) however I do agree with everyone that you should be fine with the 300 watt psu you already have.

 

[Munky]

Originally posted by: Captante
I don't believe the site linked above is very accurate (especially in its claims that a 7900GT draws less juice then a 6600GT under load!) however I do agree with everyone that you should be fine with the 300 watt psu you already have.

That site is one of the more reliable review sites, and they often address issues that other sites ignore, like running g7x cards in HQ mode and testing TRAA/AAA performance. Anyway, you can also compare the power consumption of the actual card as tested by xbitlabs here and here, and they also find that the 6600gt uses more power than the 7600gt, and almost as much as the 7900gt

 

[Stumps]

you should be fine, I have my 7800GS running on my old Antec SP300's and SP350's for sometime now...they only have 16a on the +12v.

the 7800GS consumes more power than a 7600GT.

 

[hans007]

xbit labs did the same thing. the 7600 and 7900gt do draw less power . so you should be fine.