Power supply recommended for the 9800PRO?

[Nissim Trifonov]

I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in
some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended
as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading
that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So… the question is: to buy
or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that “230W at max load”
???

 

[Chip]

I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in
some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended
as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading
that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So. the question is: to buy
or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that "230W at max load"
???

There's no simple answer to this. Power supply manufacturers are
notoriously inconsistent in how they rate their PSU's. A good 300 watter
can be much better than a cheap-n-nasty 400w unit. And the emphasis on
where to put the power has changed: CPU's used to be driven off the 5v
rail, and now they are all driven off the 12v rail. So whether your PSU has
a good 12v output is now much more important. You may well be OK if your
PSU is a decent one.

However, my advice to you would be that if you have any aspirations to
overclock your setup, then you probably need a new PSU. 300w really is
close to the limit and you will get much better overclocking with a nice
stable power supply that's not overstretching itself. Since you don't want
to keep changing PSU's all the time, in this case I would go for the best
one I could afford and I'd get a 400w *minimum*, probably more. I'd go for
a 500w unit, if I could afford it. Apart from anything else, they often run
more quiet when they are not near their maximum output. Antec and Forton
make very good affordable units. Personally, I don't rate Enermax very
highly, but others do. "PC Power and Cooling" make imho the very best
units, but they cost a fortune, and if you haven't heard of them, then you
don't need one;-)

If you are not bothered about overclocking then why not stick with your
existing PSU and try it. If its a decent one, it might well work just fine.
I have seen people running stable rigs with lower than 300w PSU's!

And no, it isn't true that the 9800 draws 230 watts. If that number has any
meaning at all (which I doubt), then that number would be a transient peak -
which a decent PSU would be able to accommodate anyway.

Cheers,

Chip

 

[DreamMaker]

I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in
some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended
as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading
that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So… the question is: to buy
or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that “230W at max loadâ€
???

I had a 300w psu before purchasing the ati 9800pro and, i did'nt knew
at that time that it was so demanding in power. so i did try to use
that 300w with the 9800pro and it did take long before smelling a
toasted psu. by chance it did'nt blow up or did a shortcut in my
system. So at that time i did'nt had much money so i purchase a nspire
450w psu rated at 430watts and till that time i dont get any bad smell
or else.

For te power consumsion of the card i've read that it was using as
much as 300W... i dont say that it true but for shure that babe need a
lot of milk... huh!

 

[Chip]

I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in
some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended
as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading
that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So. the question is: to buy
or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that "230W at max load"
???

BTW, For the 980 Pro, ATI say "ATI recommends a 300-Watt power supply or
greater to ensure normal system operation where a number of other internal
devices are installed."

Chip.

 

[@ndrew]

I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've
read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is
very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at
max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just
fine. So the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And
is it true about that 230W at max load ???

Well I use an Antec PS and can thoroughly recommend them.

You may care to run this as well:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

regards

@ndrew

 

[Wayne Youngman]

Hi,

I agree the *brand* of PSu is more important that the wattage. I was running
a 9800 on an overclocked Barton system, all worked well with a 300w ANTEC
PSU

 

[Thomas]

I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've
read in some review of the product that using a 400W or better is
very recommended as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at
max load. Before reading that I was quite sure my 300W will do just
fine. So… the question is: to buy or not to buy new power supply? And
is it true about that “230W at max load” ???

The card uses about 80-90 watts at full throttle. Which is quite alot, I
think ;-)

I have a 365 Watt PSU from Enermax, which is a good brand, so it works
perfectly on my 9700 OC'd to 9800 speed. SO.... if you have a decent brand,
and dont plan to do much overclocking, and dont have too many extra drives,
you should really be okay.

Thomas

 

[@ndrew]

The card uses about 80-90 watts at full throttle. Which is quite
alot, I think ;-)

If you use the site I recommended it shows that the card uses 54 watts
o)

I have a 365 Watt PSU from Enermax, which is a good brand, so it works
perfectly on my 9700 OC'd to 9800 speed. SO.... if you have a decent
brand, and dont plan to do much overclocking, and dont have too many
extra drives, you should really be okay.

Probably not ... depending on the rest of the configuration ... 400
watts with modern graphics cards and chipsets is probably the minimum
without overloading the system. Again look here and do your own
calculations:

http://www.jscustompcs.com/power_supply/

regards

@ndrew

 

[Sept1967]

Ditto:
I have the same Enermax 365w, no problems.

 

[Asestar]

These Enermax 365W are a real sob psu! They have more juice in 12V and 5V
rail than most 400W psu.

My fully loaded system with 3-dimm sdrams, 2Hdd, 2 optical drives, 3pci
cards, 1 9600SE, about 2 fans in system and a LOT of usb devices. It runs
smoothly on Enermax.

 

[res7]

The card uses about 80-90 watts at full throttle. Which is quite alot, I
think ;-)

I have a 365 Watt PSU from Enermax, which is a good brand, so it works
perfectly on my 9700 OC'd to 9800 speed. SO.... if you have a decent brand,
and dont plan to do much overclocking, and dont have too many extra drives,
you should really be okay.

Thomas

http://apps.ati.com/ATIcompare/

according to this the 9800pro uses 300W by itself! I also just looked
at my AIW9700pro and the AIW9800pro and they also use 300W

I'm using a Antec true 430w and with this dual Athlon MP's !gig or ram 4
harddrives and 6 fans it just about brings it to it's knees on reboots!

 

[Asestar]

http://apps.ati.com/ATIcompare/

according to this the 9800pro uses 300W by itself! I also just looked
at my AIW9700pro and the AIW9800pro and they also use 300W

I'm using a Antec true 430w and with this dual Athlon MP's !gig or ram 4
harddrives and 6 fans it just about brings it to it's knees on reboots!

That 300W means you need a power-outlet from atleast 300W psu to run the gfx
card.

 

[johnny]

I'll be buying a 9800PRO soon. I have 300W power supply, but I've read in
some review of the product that using a 400W or better is very recommended
as the card uses about 230W (the card alone!) at max load. Before reading
that I was quite sure my 300W will do just fine. So… the question is: to buy
or not to buy new power supply? And is it true about that “230W at max load”
???

I just built a system and put in an Antec 550 (without the adjusting
panel). The difference in price between the 430/480 and the 550 isn't
much for the power bonus.

I think the main thing is your +12 volt rail. The higher the better.

Now I'm hearing the server power supplies are what you really want,
they've got humongous 12volt rails for commercial raid arrays.
Expensive though.

PS my silly 400watt original case supply came with a 12A 12volt
supply. My old BX box Sparkle 300 watter does better than that

 

[Dark Avenger]

These Enermax 365W are a real sob psu! They have more juice in 12V and 5V
rail than most 400W psu.

My fully loaded system with 3-dimm sdrams, 2Hdd, 2 optical drives, 3pci
cards, 1 9600SE, about 2 fans in system and a LOT of usb devices. It runs
smoothly on Enermax.

And to think that Enermax has made a few more powerfull versions now:
http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_page.php?Tid=1&gon=238&Gid=18&Gid2=25

Painfull, very very painfully strong.

But yes a 400W Enermax can easily run what most 600W cheap Ass psu's
dream to reach...

 

[res7]

And to think that Enermax has made a few more powerfull versions now:
http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_page.php?Tid=1&gon=238&Gid=18&Gid2=25

Painfull, very very painfully strong.

But yes a 400W Enermax can easily run what most 600W cheap Ass psu's
dream to reach...

In my experience with both brands enermax is better than Antec

the voltages on this true 430 are way lower than specs from day one
but the Enermax I had on that big server tower was always on the money

 

[Chip]

That 300W means you need a power-outlet from atleast 300W psu to run the gfx
card.

Correct. In fact I have seen people running Athlon XP / 9800 Pro's on less
than 300w PSU's with no problems. I ran an old Palamino 1900+ and a 9700Pro
on a 230w Sparkle PSU for a few weeks without problem.

Chip

 

[Asestar]

And to think that Enermax has made a few more powerfull versions now:

http://www.enermax.com.tw/products_page.php?Tid=1&gon=238&Gid=18&Gid2=25

Painfull, very very painfully strong.

But yes a 400W Enermax can easily run what most 600W cheap Ass psu's
dream to reach...

Daaaammmmnnnnn... is it Metalic blue color on it?? It looks like a sleek
Jaguar Xj220
Both in appearance and power!! What the heck is Seperatae 12V rail?

 

[res7]

Correct. In fact I have seen people running Athlon XP / 9800 Pro's on less
than 300w PSU's with no problems. I ran an old Palamino 1900+ and a 9700Pro
on a 230w Sparkle PSU for a few weeks without problem.

Chip

being in the technical field for many years, all I can say is that is a
WEIRD way for ATI to list the cards consumption on a SPEC sheet.

I read it as it uses 300Watts not that it needs a 300W PSU minimum.

but I will take your words on it.
--


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I ask you to digest it for yourself!
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[res7]

Daaaammmmnnnnn... is it Metalic blue color on it?? It looks like a sleek
Jaguar Xj220
Both in appearance and power!! What the heck is Seperatae 12V rail?

separate rails is a must for the latest power hungry processors and
definetly for a DUAL motherboard like the one I use.

you keep a separate 12v fed into the processors away from the other 12v
rails being used by fans and drives, and since each has it's own voltage
regulator circuitry, all 12v rails keep their own loads separate and
controlled
--


If you value your PRIVACY, your FREEDOM and your RIGHTS.
Please read what is on the page at this link.
I ask you to digest it for yourself!
http://www.againsttcpa.com/tcpa-faq-en.html

 

[Chip]

being in the technical field for many years, all I can say is that is a
WEIRD way for ATI to list the cards consumption on a SPEC sheet.

I read it as it uses 300Watts not that it needs a 300W PSU minimum.

but I will take your words on it.
--

http://www.ati.com/products/radeon9800/radeon9800pro/specs.html

Take a look at Bullet 2. It would be very odd if the card needed 300w for
itself, and then they said you need a 300w power supply for the whole
system.

Chip