Recommended PSU for X1900XTX?

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Revant

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Nov 5, 2005
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I was just wondering what you all think in terms of a good PSU for a

AMD 64 4000+
X1900XTX
1G Dual DDR 400 Ram

I've been readin that you want like 30A on the 12V rail bbut what PSU's accually do that, that are reliable and preferably under 80 Dollars....

been looking at this
PSU on Newegg
what do you think?
 
I've had nothing but good luck with my nuuo. 30+ amps on dual 12v rails. 550 watts. Should run you about 88 shipped... but its well worth the little extra money over your budget IMHO.

If you're not into modular cables or need something under 80 bucks period, all I can say is find something with dual 12v rails. Something that enermax lacks.
 
Ah i didnt think about that, 88 sound pretty resonable to me i'll have to check it out...
 
I have a question from you guys who own's X1900XT or XTX. What power connector did you use with you video card, i mean usually that six pin power connector. The think which confuses me is i have 7900GT and X1900XT, the six pin connector came with 7900 gt is actually 5 pin and missing one pin from connector and all the EVGA 7900GT comes with that.
But i did not had any power connector for X1900XT and nothing came in the box too, but i have six pin power connector in my PSU, should i use that?
 
Im using an ASRock 939 Dual Sata2 and i dont plan on going crossfire any time soon...

And i was courious about what they ment about 30A do they man just on the 12V rail or total? it is very confusing...
 
Revant said:
Im using an ASRock 939 Dual Sata2 and i dont plan on going crossfire any time soon...

And i was courious about what they ment about 30A do they man just on the 12V rail or total? it is very confusing...
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It is confusing, and ATI's support doesn't help much either. This is what I understand so far. First, the Antec NeoHE series PSUs reportedly have problems with that board (I have the same board), and I can vouch for that, so avoid them. Despite being on ATI's certified component list, the Antec NeoHE 550W has insufficient amperage on any single 12v rail to power this card, on top of having compatibility problems with the Dual939.

Second, you need to get a PSU that's rated at 30a minimum on a single 12v rail. So forget about all those multiple-rail PSUs that have less than that on any given rail...get one with a single rail with high amperage. I just replaced my Antec with a Silverstone that's rated at 38a on a single 12v rail. I haven't received, installed, and tested it yet but theoretically it should power this card with amps to spare.

To reply to the other poster, if your PSU has the PCI-E 6 pin connector(s) there's no reason to use the one that came with your XTX, unless perhaps if it's not long enough to reach the connector on the back of the card.

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.asp?item=N82E16817163111

Also see the thread below.

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1055220
 
annaconda said:
I have a question from you guys who own's X1900XT or XTX. What power connector did you use with you video card, i mean usually that six pin power connector. The think which confuses me is i have 7900GT and X1900XT, the six pin connector came with 7900 gt is actually 5 pin and missing one pin from connector and all the EVGA 7900GT comes with that.
But i did not had any power connector for X1900XT and nothing came in the box too, but i have six pin power connector in my PSU, should i use that?
Click to expand...

My PSU has two lines with 6 pin connectors. I am using those. Of course my cards also have the same connector. This DFI board allows you to set the draw limit higher for your PCI-e x 16 slots in the BIOS. I did that as well.

My cards came with a cable with a 6 pin connector that you can use to connect it to two 4 pin outputs instead. I didn't need it so I didn't use it.

To the OP, if you want to be set in case you go Crossfire try something from PC Power and Cooling. If you want to save a little cash get the Fortron Source Epsilon FX700-GLN. It's expensive and still less than PC Power & Cooling.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104015

I've had this PC Power & Cooling 510 SLi for a while. Its peak is actually rated at 650. When I went Crossfire I dialed up the voltage a tad with the potentiometers. No problems thus far.
 
Revant said:
Question.. What would i need dual 12V rails for?
Click to expand...

There is nothing that you NEED dual 12V rails for.

I also recommend the OCZ PowerStream 520w SLI unit for a strong power supply, especially for anyone on a DFI board because different brand PSU's have had problems with their boards. OCZ power supplies have a great warranty and customer service as well.
 
batai37 said:
Second, you need to get a PSU that's rated at 30a minimum on a single 12v rail. So forget about all those multiple-rail PSUs that have less than that on any given rail...get one with a single rail with high amperage. I just replaced my Antec with a Silverstone that's rated at 38a on a single 12v rail. I haven't received, installed, and tested it yet but theoretically it should power this card with amps to spare.
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Sorry, but I'm calling shenanigans.
 
hey batai37 you ADD the rails together. you need to do a little reading up on power supplies. how many power supplies even offer more than 20 amps on a single rail anyway?
 
 
Chops said:
Good job. You just took his pricepoint, soaked it in gas, and lit it on fire.
Click to expand...

oops, i was responding to treck554's post not the OP's :( my bad
 
 
I'm REALLY diggin' this PSU...looks fantastic if you've got a windowed case...Plenty 'O Power...and Modular...thing is the price...

TopOff.jpg


DriversSideNew.jpg



it's the ULTRA X2 550W Titanium...$89.00/$79.00 with MIR from ZZF...

a little linky...http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductDetail.jsp?ProductCode=373064
 
trek554 said:
hey batai37 you ADD the rails together. you need to do a little reading up on power supplies. how many power supplies even offer more than 20 amps on a single rail anyway?
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Wrong, according to Powercolor's tech support that I spoke to. The recommended requirement says the card needs 30a on a single 12v rail, but getting Powercolor to explain that coherently was something of a challenge. Antecf support had that exact same question: is the requirement a total amperage of all the rails together, or the amperage on a single rail? Powercolor affirmed the latter. Looks like you could use a little reading up yourself, or at least try speaking to the manufacturers, before you comment.

Are you running one of these cards with a PSU on <30a on the 12v rail? Because if you are, I'd love to hear about your results. I have read of people running these cards on less than the stated requirements, but have no idea about what the overall stability is like.
 
batai37 said:
Wrong, according to Powercolor's tech support that I spoke to. The recommended requirement says the card needs 30a on a single 12v rail, but getting Powercolor to explain that coherently was something of a challenge. Antecf support had that exact same question: is the requirement a total amperage of all the rails together, or the amperage on a single rail? Powercolor affirmed the latter. Looks like you could use a little reading up yourself, or at least try speaking to the manufacturers, before you comment.

Are you running one of these cards with a PSU on <30a on the 12v rail? Because if you are, I'd love to hear about your results. I have read of people running these cards on less than the stated requirements, but have no idea about what the overall stability is like.
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i have read several reviews of multiple rail power supplies. every review seems to point out that you add ALL the 12v rails together to get your your 12v amperage. almost every top of the line psu has multiple rails and usually with no more than 20 amps on an individual rail. just using common sense should tell you its the TOTAL amps of all the 12v rails.
 
trek554 said:
i have read several reviews of multiple rail power supplies. every review seems to point out that you add ALL the 12v rails together to get your your 12v amperage. almost every top of the line psu has multiple rails and usually with no more than 20 amps on an individual rail. just using common sense should tell you its the TOTAL amps of all the 12v rails.
Click to expand...

Thats correct that your total amperate is the total of all of the +12v rails but the problem lies in the fact that when your running a SLI/Crossfire config the cards will try and max out a single rail instead of dividing up the load. For example if you had a dual rail PSU with 18A on each rail and two video cards in SLI they would both try to feed off one of the rails instead of using both and you'd be trying to run two power hungry cards on 18A.
 
Multi rail PSU's are a little better in my opinion. Remember, the ATI card itself will use around 13 amps, peak. So, all you need is 15 amps or so on a dedicated PCI-E connector. Most quad rail PSUs do this.

A single rail PSU is actually better in a lot of ways than a dual rail. The problem with dual rail PSUs is how they distribute load. The PCI-E connector is often on the same rail as the CPU with all accessories on the second rail.

Things to consider when looking at PSUs:

1. Are you going to overclock at all? This uses more amperage. A dual core AMD will use around 8 amps. OC the chip, and it is more like 10 amps. A video cards like the X1900XTX will peak at 13 amps under full load. That's 23 amps on those two items alone with a mild OC in place.

2. Modular PSU. While they look clean, the connectors corrode, are inefficient and can lead to issues. PC Power and Cooling refuses to do this on their power supplies for this reason.

3. Efficiency. A good PSU is about 85% efficient. Thismeans they produce less heat, the fan does not have to cool as much, and the PSU is quieter.

4. Number of rails. I find the choice these days to be either one large rail or a quad rail PSU. Dual rails usually have issues with distribution especially with SLI or Crossfire. Good quad rail PSUs have dedicated PCI-E connectors with each having their own rail. The other two are for the CPU and the accessories.

If you are going single card, just get a 30 amp plus single rail PSU. A good one is around $120. You can get ones for less, but they all compromise something to do so. If you want to go dual video card, quad rail is the best bet.

Best deal on a quad rail, the OCZ GameXStream Series (FSP PSU). Check them out.

600 Watt with 4 x 18 amps
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341001

700 Watt with 4 x 20 amps
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817341002
 
Just to settle the issue i ended up getting a 550W PSU w/ 2 19A Rails and it works just fine and have had no problems so its deffinantly the rails added togather assuming your not using the other ones... It thought about the Quad rail but when it came down to it i wanted to use the Card today hehe so i went to Fries andthe best one was a Dual rail option so i took it hehe...
 
burningrave101 said:
Thats correct that your total amperate is the total of all of the +12v rails.
Click to expand...
In a lot of cases you can't just add the rail currents to get a real value. In most PSU's the 12v rails are fed from the same 12v source, What you should be looking for is the 12v maximum combined wattage. Look at the Hiper PSU below, is it 18+20=38A (456W). No its 30A/360W, so 12V1+12v2 could be 20+10 or 12+18 or even 15+15. Some you can add, IIRC Seasonic is one, but again always check the combined wattage.

thiper20315if.jpg


This may help explain some of the CF issues with multiple rails.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1932947,00.asp
 
trek554 said:
hey batai37 you ADD the rails together. you need to do a little reading up on power supplies. how many power supplies even offer more than 20 amps on a single rail anyway?
Click to expand...
trek554 said:
sorry what i meant say was there are very few DUAL RAIL power supplies that have more than 20 amps on an individual rail. so a psu with dual rails you would need to add the amps on both the 12v rails together.
Click to expand...

20A/240VA is the overcurrent limit set by ATX 2.* form factor for each rail. If they don't hold to the newer ATX spec then PSU's like the PCP&C 510 and the OCZ 520W, both have very solid single rails in the 36A+ range. And you can't just add the rails.
 
FORNOWAGAIN said:
In a lot of cases you can't just add the rail currents to get a real value. In most PSU's the 12v rails are fed from the same 12v source, What you should be looking for is the 12v maximum combined wattage. Look at the Hiper PSU below, is it 18+20=38A (456W). No its 30A/360W, so 12V1+12v2 could be 20+10 or 12+18 or even 15+15. Some you can add, IIRC Seasonic is one, but again always check the combined wattage.

thiper20315if.jpg


This may help explain some of the CF issues with multiple rails.

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,1932947,00.asp
Click to expand...
So according to that article then, if you have a dual or greater 12v rail PSU that's experiencing sudden shutdowns, the use of a dual 4-6 pin adapter to share the load with another rail should solve that problem. Interesting because that seems counter to what an Antec support guy told me...make sure to put the PCI connector on it's own rail alone (regarding specifically the modular Antec NeoHE series PSUs). Newegg carries those adapters BTW, should anyone find themselves needing one.

The PSU I ordered is the Silverstone SST-ST56ZF, which has a single 38a 12v rail, so if I'm understanding correctly the shutdown problem generally shouldn't even be an issue with that PSU since it uses a single massive 12v rail, unless perhaps if you're running a lot of devices that draw a lot of amps, correct?

Thanks for the info and clearing up some of the confusion surrounding the power requirements of this card (I know I was confused by the number of mixed messages I was receiving). As that article mentioned, they seemed to have caught the industry by surprise, but then ATI for instance doesn't seem to be doing much in the way of clarifying the situation either.
 
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