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The 3850 is a great card, especially when overclocked. I had one that did over 1ghz with a little voltage :D
 
Quick question, what does 'Link Width: x16 Max Supported.: x16' mean on my Motherboard Graphics Interface? Is it important?
 
I run an overcloked quad and either 2x3870's or the 70 and a 50... all off of a coolermaster 420 with 2x18a 12v rails. I was running the same cards on a far cheaper 600 with 1x22a 12v so I would say as long as you have 20+ amps on the 12v you should be fine.

btw 2x3870 should just outpace a 4850 in most cases. hmm thinking about it I have 2x3870's that I wouldn't mind shifting.
 
I've just run a wattage test - and the system is using 88watts when idle, perhaps 140 at 100% graphics and about 50% cpu.

That's total usage, including the loss from the power supply.

Is that "good enough"?
 
Wattage isn't the determining factor, so much as amperage. If your 12v rails are weak, it doesn't matter whether you've got a 1kw PSU. We need to know the specs of the unit you currently have.
 
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