Monitor power consumption?

Lighters · 24 Nov 2007 at 03:25

Can i use any software to get an accurate reading on my power consumption?

I ask because i have a thermaltake butterfly psu 480w with crap 12v rails and am seeking to upgrade my system without having to get a NEW PSU so i want to check how much power i;m consuming because im under the impression if i;m running a low power consumption it will be ok to upgrade my graphics card?

semi-pro waster · 24 Nov 2007 at 03:38

Software is invariably dodgy to estimate power consumption, hardware is rather better but it still isn't perfect. If your PSU has bad 12v Rails then what would you hope to achieve by switching graphics card?

ANDARIAL · 24 Nov 2007 at 08:24

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-023-GI&groupid=701&catid=123&subcat=1047
well if you got one of these it monitors your voltage output,but you would need to buy one first

Lighters · 25 Nov 2007 at 16:19

thnx for the info, i was thinking the 12v rail wont matter if i;m only runnig 300w with a 480w psu or is that completely wrong?

ANDARIAL · 25 Nov 2007 at 18:14

I `think` it depends on the `amps` not the overall wattage on weather it would be suitable

fish99 · 25 Nov 2007 at 22:22

I've just read the TT Butterfly 480W only has 17A on the +12V rail, which is really low for a 480W. Dunno which video card you're thinking of, but I'd think that PSU may well struggle with something like an 8800 GT/GTS. For the sake of comparison I've owned 465W PSUs which had over 30A on the +12V rail.

Lighters · 26 Nov 2007 at 01:19

ow

so its really that bad?

fish99 · 26 Nov 2007 at 14:01

Try it. Buy the new card, if it doesn't work it'll throttle back and tell you there's not enough power (or the PC will reset or switch off) and you can buy a new PSU. I had an Enermax 465W which had two +12V rails of 15A and 16A, and the PSU would switch off when I ran games (it did this many times when I was trying to get it to work), but it didn't damage the card (an X800 Pro).