SYstem power requirements with ATI 4870 X2

davejuk

davejuk

davejuk

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I'm in the throws of upgrading my 2 year old box and am concerned that my Antec 550W PSU won't be able to keep up with the systems demand!

Here's the new spec:

Intel Q6600 2.4GHz (I plan to o/c to 3GHz+)
Asus Rampage Formula Motherboard
Asus ATI HD 4870 X2 (may o/c it)
GeIL 4GB (4x1GB) PC6400C4 800MHz Ultra Low Latency DDR2
2 x 80GB Western Digital Raptors (10k RPM)
1 x 500GB Maxtor HDD (7200 RPM)
Pioneer DVR111 (DVD+/-RW)
Floppy Disk Drive

I also want to have the option to add a second 4870 X2 in the future, so a new PSU should be able to handle that too.

Is there any chance my existing 550W PSU will be able to handle the above, and if not then what power rating should I be looking for?
 
550W should handle that without a problem, provided you have enough power cables.

For a second X2 I'd be looking at something in the 750-800W range.:)
 
It will be easier to OC with 2 x 2GB rather than 4 x 1GB and the power required will be halved for the RAM (only 5 or 10W, but every little helps).
 
BarKeep said:
It will be easier to OC with 2 x 2GB rather than 4 x 1GB and the power required will be halved for the RAM (only 5 or 10W, but every little helps).
Click to expand...

OK, I didn't realise it made a difference whether it was 4x1GB or 2x2GB. Can you explain, or point me to an article? Thanks
 
You'll have no problem, I've got a corsair 520watt and I'm running:
Asus P5Q-E
Intel E8500
4GB OCZ PC8500 Reaper
Sapphire 4870 X2
Creative X-FI Elite Pro
2 DVD Burners
3 Hard Drives (1 is a Raptor)
2 120mm Fans

In case your interested I got a watt meter attached to the plug and it never draws more then 380 watts (full load) so unless the psu is doing some jiggery pokery I don't know about, buying a high powered psu is a waste of money. So save your money until you know you are going to put in a second card.
 
I just installed my 4870 X2 with the two 6 pin power connectors from my PSU and I get the power supply error before the system POSTs.

Am I doing something wrong? Do I need to set a jumper or something to tell it I'm using two 6 pin connectors instead of a single 6 pin plus the 8 pin?

Or is there nothing I can do besides buy a new PSU?

Edit #1: I forgot to mention that the 8 pin connector on my power supply won't fit the 4870 X2.

Edit #2: I now have it working with one of the 6-pins and the 8-pin adapter that came with the card.

But that leaves two weird issues:

a.) Why doesn't it work with the two 6-pin PSU connections?

b.) Why does my PSU's 8-pin connector not fit the 4870 X2? [It's an Antec 550W TruePower Trio]
 
Last edited:
davejuk said:
a.) Why doesn't it work with the two 6-pin PSU connections?

b.) Why does my PSU's 8-pin connector not fit the 4870 X2? [It's an Antec 550W TruePower Trio]
Click to expand...
1. PCI-sig thinks that's asking too much current from that number of pins.

2. It's EPS 12V cable for CPU.
 
Your graphics card should have come with a 6 pin to 8 pin converter, for use when your psu does not have an 8 pin PCIE connector. The card will not work with 2x6 pin connecters, it needs a 6 pin and the 8 pin.
 
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