8800 GTS and power supply needed?

adarryl

Looking at buying this video card: http://www.bfgtech.com/8800GTSOC_640_PCIe.html

Specs say: "A 425W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 28A or more*"

My question is: What power supply would be good to run this card in a Core2Duo 2.66, 2 gig RAM, 1 HD and 2 optical drive setup? I am a bit confused on power supply requirements on these higher end cards. Does "a combined 12v current rating of 28A or more" mean the amperage of the 12v rails added together must exceed 28 or that a single 12v rail's amperage must exceed 28A? Thanks for the assist!

DanG

You'd be good with a good 500w power supply, something from ocz, antec, pc power and cooling.

Thrax

I strongly suggest the HiPer 580w from the Type-R series.

adarryl

Thanks for the replies. I looked at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817128004

But you will notice its 12v rails don't meet the BFG specs for amps. Thoughts?

adarryl

P.S. Upon further study, I now realize that if a PS does not have strong enough 12v rails, an adapter can be used to combine two 12v leads into one of higher amperage. Thanks. BTW, that HiPer PS looks good. And since this will be my wife's new rig, she will love that color! LOL!!!

Thrax

adarryl wrote:

Thanks for the replies. I looked at this one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817128004

But you will notice its 12v rails don't meet the BFG specs for amps. Thoughts?

The specs BFG have provided apply to a single-rail PSU only. I assure you that this PSU provides enough amps for the video card on one rail, and the rest of the devices on the other. Multi-rail PSUs do not add up directly, nor should they be evaluated as isolated sources of power like a mono-rail PSU, nor do the rails need to be combined for any reason.

adarryl

Thanks! What I was remembering was basic electricity. For example: 2-12 volt leads connected in series doubles the volts while maintaining the amps. So 2-12v with 18 amps each would yield 24v when connected in series while the total amps would remain at 18. Similarly, if 2-12v leads with 18 amps each are connected in parallel, which is what I was seeing with the PS cable supplied with these 8800's, the volts would remain at 12 but the amps would sum to 36. From looking at the power cable adapter supplied with the 8800's, it looks like a parallel adapter not a simple pass-through. I haven't seen one up close to tell for sure so that may not be right. Anyway, the PS you listed looks mighty good for the $$. Thanks!