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Whats the best GFX I can use with a OCZ 520W Modstream

Mr Paul

Mr Paul

Mr Paul

Soldato
Joined
19 Oct 2002
Posts
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Location
Reading UK
Fancy an upgrade from my 1800XT, but need advice on what GFX I can use with my current PSU.

It delivers :-

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ta

Paul
 
I would be interested to know this to as i've got a OCZ 520W Powersteam which may limit what i can choose when i decided to buy a new card.

I just looked at the box and it has almost exactly the same specs.

Just had a quick look on the 8800 Ultra's GTX's and GT's and they are showing as 500W minium and 600W recommended. I guess it depends on what you have in your machine sucking up the juice apart from the card.
 
That psu will run an overclocked 8800gts with no probs at all. I'm running one meself with a C2D @ 2.8ghz also using an enermax 485w noisetaker. That ocz would probably run a gtx I reckon, but how far you could overclock it is debatable.
 
Mr Paul said:
Well it's probably between the 640Mb GTS and the 512Mb X2900XT.

But surely the X2900 draws to much powar for a 28A 12v rail????
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The XT use anything from 150W to 175W and more overclocked. It's really down to he rest of the system. 336W/28A at 12v should be ok if nothing else is using to much. The Modstream is a P5 chassis made by Topower same as the smaller/older Tagens. Not a bad unit, 3rd tier tbh.
 
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System is :-

DFI NF4 Ultra-D, Opteron 170 @ 2.7GHz 1.33v, 2Gb OCZ Platinum PC4000EB, Connect 3D X1800XT 256Mb, 320Gb Seagate 7200.10 SATAII, NEC ND4550A DVD burner, OCZ Modstream 520W PSU.
 
Don't mean to thread hijack, but it is very related to the OP.

I have a similar setup but with a 8800 GTX, using the 520W Modstream also. Now the 12V rail looking at speedfan is @ 11.78 when idle, running a game like the dirt demo it drops down to about 11.60 fluctuating a lot.

My question is, should the 12V rail actualy be closer to 12v or even slightly above it when idle, and would the voltage dropping down to 11.6 be the cause of games just quitting out without a crash, they just sharp exit.
 
Mr Paul said:
System is :-

DFI NF4 Ultra-D, Opteron 170 @ 2.7GHz 1.33v, 2Gb OCZ Platinum PC4000EB, Connect 3D X1800XT 256Mb, 320Gb Seagate 7200.10 SATAII, NEC ND4550A DVD burner, OCZ Modstream 520W PSU.
Click to expand...

That's quite a juicy CPU even at stock volts, I had the same at one point. The 170's TDP is 110W which is high, up there with a vanilla Intel quad core. It's going to be close with an XT. Best bet is to try it, load it up and watch the rail voltage.
 
fornowagain said:
That's quite a juicy CPU even at stock volts, I had the same at one point. The 170's TDP is 110W which is high, up there with a vanilla Intel quad core. Best bet is to try it, load it up and watch the rail voltage.
Click to expand...

The software measurement on mine doesn't drop under load hardly at all.
 
YoungBlood said:
Don't mean to thread hijack, but it is very related to the OP.

I have a similar setup but with a 8800 GTX, using the 520W Modstream also. Now the 12V rail looking at speedfan is @ 11.78 when idle, running a game like the dirt demo it drops down to about 11.60 fluctuating a lot.

My question is, should the 12V rail actualy be closer to 12v or even slightly above it when idle, and would the voltage dropping down to 11.6 be the cause of games just quitting out without a crash, they just sharp exit.
Click to expand...
As MrPaul says use a DMM to check it. According to ATX spec its +-5%, equates to 11.4V. Personally if its that low I'd be concerned.
 
Mr Paul said:
The software measurement on mine doesn't drop under load hardly at all.
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They're known to quite stable under reasonable loads. You'll may well find it starts to droop nearer its maximum. Tagan rated the same unit at 480W, I had a few of those and like I said they're not top draw, just ok.
 
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Sorry to hijack again but i hear TDU thrown around a lot, what does it actually mean?
And to add in on the original topic, all these GFX card requirements are overstated, I think there is a thread about it somewhere in the forums.
 
Sukh said:
Sorry to hijack again but i hear TDU thrown around a lot, what does it actually mean?
And to add in on the original topic, all these GFX card requirements are overstated, I think there is a thread about it somewhere in the forums.
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Its TDP, means Thermal Design Power. Its an indication of a card/chips maximum power consumption under normal circumstances. Not necessarily the actual maximum and has no reference to the overclocked consumption. And I don't quote manufacturers stated power requirements, stick to real world values. The TDP for a GTX is 177W, real world nearer 130W (DX9).
 
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helmutcheese said:
I would be worried running a modern mobo and a high end GPU on 1x 12 rail PSU. (going by picture).
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Absolutely nothing wrong with one rail. Some of the best psu use one rail (even if it states it uses three, some are connected together internally). Its the maximum current that counts. A 'rail' is nothing more than a circuit called a 'limiter" or 'OCP'. Usually an IC programmed to act at a certain current trip point, just a final stage between the 12v source and rail outputs. A single rail PSU doesn't have these separate limiters, it will have its own overcurrent trip to protect the entire source.

Some more expensive PSU (e.g. Tagan dual power) have separate primary sources, different thing all together.

Best places to read up on it.

http://www.jonnyguru.com/
http://www.silentpcreview.com/

http://www.silentpcreview.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=23916
http://www.jonnyguru.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3
 
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