X2900Pro now or wait?

[J.D]

Sorry, You'll need a new PSU, 22A just won't cut it.

Wuth 22A you have 264W on the +12v and a 2900XT/Pro can consume >220W on it's own. Your CPU will take another 100-150W from the +12V depending on the overclock.

The Corsair 520 may only be a 520W PSU but it can deliver 480W (40A) on the +12v rail hence why although it appears to be lower rated than your PSU, it will handle a 2900 easily.

Best of luck

AD

If you had read my post more carefully then you'd realise that 22Amps shouldn't be enough to power the X1900XT, never mind to beyond XTX speeds. Then you have the rest of my system to take into consideration. This PSU is ancient but very efficient and from these 3 power consumption benchmarks the 2900XT (what I'll be clocking it too) isn't a great deal hungrier than the X1900XTX so I may get away with it.

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Hardware/Reviews/ati_2900xt/10.html

http://techreport.com/articles.x/12458/15

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2159&page=5

So I'm hoping I'll be able to fire the card up on Tuesday and get to play with it. I'll lessen the load on my system if need be to tie me over but I don't want that to be the case.

Thanks for the reply though .

 

[Rackerz]

Let us know how you get on, it's not like your is a crappy brand. I've got a ThermalTake and it serves me well.

 

[decto]

JD

If your TT powers your X1900 @ XT then it may well power the 2900XT but it's a little closer to it's limit than I'd like considering the potential risk to hardware if the PSU did fail in a destrictive manner.

Link to a review of your PSU, assuming it's the same model. As Rackerz says, post back and let us know how you get on. I'm thinking of putting another 2900 in my other DC Opty rig with an old Enermax 460w (33A +12) once I get the PCI-E to Molex I've ordered so interested to know if you get on ok.

AD

PurePower 560APD (W0023, 560W)

The W0023 doesn’t look an appealing buy to me. This power supply exceeds by just a little the requirements of the obsolete ATX12V 1.3 standard, and in such cases you should consider the allowable current on the +12V rail rather than the total wattage of a unit. Here, we’ve got 22A or 264W. It means that in a modern computer that consumes most of its power from the +12V rail the maximum allowable load on the PSU will be not 560W but 264W plus 30-40W more on the low-voltage rails. That is, about 300 watts in total. So, if you are comparing the W0023 with newer power supplies, you should regard it as a 300W unit. Well, an absolute majority of home computers will be quite satisfied with 300 watts of power, but the price of a power supply depends directly on its specified wattage. It means the W0023 is rather expensive in comparison with new ATX12V 2.0 units, yet there is no sense in this overpayment.

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/other/display/thermaltake-psu-roundup_7.html#sect0

 

[J.D]

Thanks guys. I'll give it a shot but if anything goes wonky I have a OCZ GameXStream 700w to use till I get the funds ready for a new PSU. My m8 just phoned me up and told me he ordered a 1200watt PSU as in 3dMark06 and Oblivion his SLI'd GTX, Conroe system was cutting out at times.

I only got the phone call 2 minutes ago!. How's that for luck and reassurance that I'll be playing with this card come Tuesday. Xmas out of the way, a 250cc crosser and then it's new system time again (it's been so long ) as the card needs a boost and 1gb isn't helping me.