Anyone with fx5900 or fx5700 non ultra versions and 300w PSU?

I really want one of these cards, pref the fx5900xt but keep reading
different things about the PSU required.

I have a 300w PSU. No additional HD's or PCI cards and an Athlon XP1600+,
MSI Kt7266 MB, 512mb mem, cdrw and dvd rom.

Can anyone who is running an FX5900XT or FX5700 Ultra or even any other
FX5700/5900 series card with a 300W PSU please let me know if they have had
any problems.

Thanks to anyone who has previously helped me with this PSU query but I
really want to hear from people with first hand experience.

Many Thanks

Mike

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:50:44 -0000, "Mike Spezzano"
wrote:

I really want one of these cards, pref the fx5900xt but keep reading
different things about the PSU required.

I have a 300w PSU. No additional HD's or PCI cards and an Athlon XP1600+,
MSI Kt7266 MB, 512mb mem, cdrw and dvd rom.

Here's a friends 5900 on a 230watt PSU: http://ap.terrabox.com/rpc/fx

The question is... is your 300watt a good quality PSU? Typical $25 or
less PSUs are crap... sometimes with generic 420watt PSUs that have a
max power of 185watts!

Can anyone who is running an FX5900XT or FX5700 Ultra or even any other
FX5700/5900 series card with a 300W PSU please let me know if they have had
any problems.

Thanks to anyone who has previously helped me with this PSU query but I
really want to hear from people with first hand experience.

Look on your PSU, it should tell you your max power load.


--
Remember when real men used Real computers!?
When 512K of video RAM was a lot!

Death to Palladium & WPA!!

On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:50:44 -0000, "Mike Spezzano"
wrote:

I really want one of these cards, pref the fx5900xt but keep reading
different things about the PSU required.

I have a 300w PSU. No additional HD's or PCI cards and an Athlon XP1600+,
MSI Kt7266 MB, 512mb mem, cdrw and dvd rom.

Can anyone who is running an FX5900XT or FX5700 Ultra or even any other
FX5700/5900 series card with a 300W PSU please let me know if they have had
any problems.


I am running a P4, 3.06, FX5900, Audigy2, and 4 large hard disks, and
2 DVD-burners on a 340 watt power-supply with zero problem, but please
see my comments below............

Thanks to anyone who has previously helped me with this PSU query but I
really want to hear from people with first hand experience.

Many Thanks

Mike



Ignore the twaddle about watts you will get from many people in reply
to your query..............

Check the current available at +12V from your power-supply.
13 amps is marginal, 15 amps should be OK except for a Ati9800XT,
17 amps is plenty. Assume 6amps@12V as the maximum required by
the video card, the remainder by the CPU. The Athlon XP1600+ is
likely to need about 6-7amps@12V max.

See the best article wriiten in recent years on PC power-supplies:-

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp

You will be much better educated on the subject after reading it.

You will note from this article that basing the requirement SOLELY
ON WATTS is totally misleading. Although a 500watt PC power-supply
of recent design is 99.99% likely to have more than enough juice at
12 volts......


John Lewis

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 07:25:16 GMT, (John Lewis)
wrote:


See the best article wriiten in recent years on PC power-supplies:-

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp

Read that. Yeah it's a good article but includes this little gem:

"It's worth noting that although Pentium 4’s typically run cooler and
have lower voltages than AMD CPUs, their higher raw clockspeed means
that they draw more power."

The author seems to have thrown the law of conservation of energy out
the window! If it draws more power then it generates more heat.


Peter

Thanks for your advice. I just checked voltage using Sandra2003 and my +12v
shows 12.28v

Is sandra reliable or should i be measuring using proper hardware?

"John Lewis" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 20:50:44 -0000, "Mike Spezzano"
wrote:

I really want one of these cards, pref the fx5900xt but keep reading
different things about the PSU required.

I have a 300w PSU. No additional HD's or PCI cards and an Athlon
XP1600+,
MSI Kt7266 MB, 512mb mem, cdrw and dvd rom.

Can anyone who is running an FX5900XT or FX5700 Ultra or even any other
FX5700/5900 series card with a 300W PSU please let me know if they have
had
any problems.


I am running a P4, 3.06, FX5900, Audigy2, and 4 large hard disks, and
2 DVD-burners on a 340 watt power-supply with zero problem, but please
see my comments below............

Thanks to anyone who has previously helped me with this PSU query but I
really want to hear from people with first hand experience.

Many Thanks

Mike



Ignore the twaddle about watts you will get from many people in reply
to your query..............

Check the current available at +12V from your power-supply.
13 amps is marginal, 15 amps should be OK except for a Ati9800XT,
17 amps is plenty. Assume 6amps@12V as the maximum required by
the video card, the remainder by the CPU. The Athlon XP1600+ is
likely to need about 6-7amps@12V max.

See the best article wriiten in recent years on PC power-supplies:-

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp

You will be much better educated on the subject after reading it.

You will note from this article that basing the requirement SOLELY
ON WATTS is totally misleading. Although a 500watt PC power-supply
of recent design is 99.99% likely to have more than enough juice at
12 volts......


John Lewis

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 07:25:16 GMT, (John Lewis)
wrote:

See the best article wriiten in recent years on PC power-supplies:-

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp

You will be much better educated on the subject after reading it.

Very good article. I will check my FMI 300W PSU's +12v output as soon
as I get home. The Enermax 350 looks like a very good item.


Enjoy,

Tim Wisner www.wisner.us

"Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves."
- William Pitt (the Younger)

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:20:11 +0000, Peter wrote:

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 07:25:16 GMT, (John Lewis)
wrote:


See the best article wriiten in recent years on PC power-supplies:-

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp

Read that. Yeah it's a good article but includes this little gem:

"It's worth noting that although Pentium 4’s typically run cooler and
have lower voltages than AMD CPUs, their higher raw clockspeed means
that they draw more power."

The author seems to have thrown the law of conservation of energy out
the window! If it draws more power then it generates more heat.


I noticed. However, that does not detract from the excellent and
correct information in the rest of the article. It makes quite clear
that watts alone are only part of the story and emphasises
the importance of adequate current on the +12V supply.
Most people still incorrectly assume that the processor and GPU
get their core power from either the 3.3v or 5V power-supply
and further assume that the +12V is just for peripherals such as
hard-disks.

John Lewis


Peter

On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 15:20:11 +0000, Peter wrote:
On Fri, 23 Jan 2004 07:25:16 GMT, (John Lewis)
wrote:

See the best article wriiten in recent years on PC power-supplies:-

http://www.firingsquad.com/guides/po...ly/default.asp

Read that. Yeah it's a good article but includes this little gem:

"It's worth noting that although Pentium 4’s typically run cooler and
have lower voltages than AMD CPUs, their higher raw clockspeed means
that they draw more power."

The author seems to have thrown the law of conservation of energy out
the window! If it draws more power then it generates more heat.

For what it's worth, something can run cooler but at the same time
draw more power (and expel more heat) than another. Temperature !=
Heat. Of course I would assume that P4 die and heat sinks aren't
necessarily more efficient in dispersing heat than AMD's so your
conclusion seems to be correct. But I would sooner question that power
isn't tied to voltages alone ( V*I ) and raw clock speed is neither
here nor there unless you talk about identical chip designs.