Getting Stupid with PSU's

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Originally Posted by Kayin

Take a look at the power limiter removal for GTX580? The GPU can be seen drawing as much as 500+ watts...

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I don't believe the cards alone can exceed 350 with or without limiter, but your point remains.

PCIe specifications state maximum power served by the MBB bus slot = 75W (150W for bridged cards), may vary between MBBs

PCIe power connectors = 225W (6-pin) or 450W (8-pin), PSUs may not be able to meet these maximums

I don't see why a card would provide 8-pin connectors if it didn't actually exceed the 6-pin power requirements.

Assuming I'm reading these things right (I could be very wrong). I dunno, I just generally buy good strong PSUs, go light on "extra" stuff like CCFLs, and not really worry about it. Much.

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Originally Posted by TheGreatSatan

What's with people getting 800, 900, or even over 1000 watt PSU's? There's no way in hell, even with tri-SLI is anyone pulling that kind of power. I believe most of these calculators online are using the specs on the side of the boxes to determine the wattages needed. If a video card says it needs a system with a 400 watt PSU, that doesn't mean you need 400 watts for every video card!

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For most people, yes. But a top-end GPU pulls over 250w, a top end CPU overclocked you're looking about the same.

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Originally Posted by Konrad

PCIe specifications state maximum power served by the MBB bus slot = 75W (150W for bridged cards), may vary between MBBs

PCIe power connectors = 225W (6-pin) or 450W (8-pin), PSUs may not be able to meet these maximums

I don't see why a card would provide 8-pin connectors if it didn't actually exceed the 6-pin power requirements.

Assuming I'm reading these things right (I could be very wrong). I dunno, I just generally buy good strong PSUs, go light on "extra" stuff like CCFLs, and not really worry about it. Much.

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The links you gave (click on 6 pin or 8 pin) state that 6 pin connectors can provide 75W each and that 8 pin connectors can provide 150W each. It's very common for videocards to have 2 6 pin connectors in addition to PCI-E power, but that does not mean that they are 525W cards :P

Yep, I think I read them wrong. I'd assumed 75W per 12V pin (which seems about right for 6A wire gauge), ie: 225W for three combined.

Yes, a 525W card seems a teeny bit excessive.

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Originally Posted by Konrad

Yep, I think I read them wrong. I'd assumed 75W per 12V pin (which seems about right for 6A wire gauge), ie: 225W for three combined.

Yes, a 525W card seems a teeny bit excessive.

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Give it a year or so :P

I'm sure the likes of the 4870X2 and GTX480 would have seemed absurdly power hungry when, for example, the Nvidia 6800 Ultra was launched...

The 6800 Ultra was considered incredibly power hungry. Considering at the time I ran SLi 6600GTs.

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Originally Posted by Kayin

The 6800 Ultra was considered incredibly power hungry.

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Exactly... about 100W wasn't it?

At or thereabouts.

my big 120mm fans pull 45W a piece lol