ATI X1950 512meg AGP

[Craig Coope]

Hi,

I just bought one of these and I've come to install it...

The instructions aren't very clear...

It doesn't say anything in the leaflet about plugging in a 4 pin power
cable but on the sticker on the static bag it said do. However there
are 2 sockets.

Do I really need to plug 2 in?

Cheers....

 

[Craig Coope]

Hi,

I just bought one of these and I've come to install it...

The instructions aren't very clear...

It doesn't say anything in the leaflet about plugging in a 4 pin power
cable but on the sticker on the static bag it said do. However there
are 2 sockets.

Do I really need to plug 2 in?

Cheers....

OK more detail...

With the card I got a cable that has 2 female 4 pin plugs that go into
one male 4 pin socket...am I supposed to connect the male 4 pinner
into the psu and the 2 females into the card?....to me that doesn't
make sense as it's just the same power but using 2 ports and not 1....

 

[John Cocktosen]

Hi,

I just bought one of these and I've come to install it...

The instructions aren't very clear...

It doesn't say anything in the leaflet about plugging in a 4 pin power
cable but on the sticker on the static bag it said do. However there
are 2 sockets.

Do I really need to plug 2 in?

Cheers....

I have one and yes both plugs must have power applied. However, you can
just do a split from a single power connector of your PC. That's what I
did...

 

[Craig Coope]

I have one and yes both plugs must have power applied. However, you can
just do a split from a single power connector of your PC. That's what I
did...

It's ok...I plugged both in but it didn't work still...so I used
another 2 and it worked...My PSU is only 360W tho....but everything is
going well so far....

 

[Scott Stephens]

It's ok...I plugged both in but it didn't work still...so I used
another 2 and it worked...My PSU is only 360W tho....but everything is
going well so far....

Not for long; I found the following while doing some research:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4

Go there, do some searches on "power supply", despair, and buy a good
30A supply.

It sounds like under-powering that card makes it actually draw *more*
power, run hotter, and degrade both the card and the power supply. I
once worked on a computer with such a card, and didn't understand that
the general sickness was caused by mutual-antagonism of the video card
and power supply.

Damn gpu is worse than the cpu.

 

[Craig Coope]

Not for long; I found the following while doing some research:
http://www.sapphiretech.com/en/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=4

Go there, do some searches on "power supply", despair, and buy a good
30A supply.

It sounds like under-powering that card makes it actually draw *more*
power, run hotter, and degrade both the card and the power supply. I
once worked on a computer with such a card, and didn't understand that
the general sickness was caused by mutual-antagonism of the video card
and power supply.

Damn gpu is worse than the cpu.

Well just to be on the safe side I have ordered myself a new 550W PSU
with 30A on the 12V....

 

[Scott Stephens]

Well just to be on the safe side I have ordered myself a new 550W PSU
with 30A on the 12V....

Later I found a better, concise article with a power supply calculator
(which I don't trust) @ http://www.xbitlabs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=13667

"From personal experience, I would say a total of 18amps is the very
bare minimum you need on +12V rail(s) in order to run an X1950 Pro card
properly (X1950 XT will need another 2 amps roughly ). BTW I am
currently running an Antec EA380W psu that has combined 27 amps on both
+12V rails, and my X1950 Pro 512MB AGP card is very happy with that.

The recommended minimum is 20 to 22 amps on both +12V rail(s). "
....
"To summarize, you do NOT have to HAVE a 450 Watt psu with 30 amps ( or
more ) on the combined +12V rail(s). While it certainly does not hurt to
have extra power, the minimum you need is 20 to 22 solid amps on the
+12V rail(s). If you have a very basic system a very high quality psu
you "may" get away with only 18 amps on the +12V rail(s). "

Since heat and thermal shock are THE enemy of hardware, money aside,
you'll hardly go wrong and be ready for the next upgrade power-hog and
video game.

I got a cheap 600W 24A@12V supply, hopefully almost as good as a 500W
20A supply, if it proves its survivability after burning-in.

I plan to keep an I on temperature and voltage anyways.

Scott



Scott

Scott