Seasonic M12 700 NOT enough for 8800GTX SLI????

EsaT · Post by **EsaT** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:28 am

rpsgc wrote:
And if it's peak consumption would be under 150W there wouldn't be any need for two PCIe power connectors!
Ever heard of standards compliance? PCI-E 2.0
http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie2.0_faq/

Ever seen a picture of 8800GTX?

It has two PCIe power connectors!
150W limit is for one connector and output of PCIe slot. (75W+75W)

http://www.atomicmpc.com.au/article.asp?CIID=68034

Here's again 185TDP
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==

And don't give me that crap about reviews saying ~150W as max peak consumption, G80 differs quite much from DX9 GPUs so none of current stress applications is reliable for achieving 100% load.

sjschwinn · Post by **sjschwinn** » Fri Nov 17, 2006 2:21 pm

EsaT wrote:
rpsgc wrote:
And if it's peak consumption would be under 150W there wouldn't be any need for two PCIe power connectors!
Ever heard of standards compliance? PCI-E 2.0
http://www.pcisig.com/news_room/faqs/pcie2.0_faq/
Here's again 185TDP
http://enthusiast.hardocp.com/article.h ... VzaWFzdA==

From your link:

"The total TDP of the 8800 GTX is 185W, although you are likely to see only a full pull of around 150W under load, although it is possible to go higher. Soâ€¦keep 185W as the magic number when you are figuring system load."

So, as I suggested before, 185x2=370W / 31A for SLI. So I still wonder how they think you need a 60A 12V PSU. They expect the rest of the system to pull another 350W/29A from the 12V line?

Sounds to me like they are being VERY conservative, expecting some PSUs to be not-so-rebust performers.

185W = ~15A. How does this explain the need for 2 PCIe power connectors???

floffe · Post by **floffe** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 5:35 am

sjschwinn wrote:185W = ~15A. How does this explain the need for 2 PCIe power connectors???

Because a PCI-E connector is only rated for a max of 75W, as EsaT stated above, with another 75W from the slot.

autoboy · Post by **autoboy** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 7:37 am

student wrote:I think I am just obsessed with the thought of a consumer system actually NEEDING a 1KW psu. I will not be happy until that day arrives!

Maybe you are on the wrong forum. I hope that day never comes. I would have to rewire my house to get that much power for the 3 systems in my office.

student · Post by **student** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 1:57 pm

Maybe you are on the wrong forum. I hope that day never comes. I would have to rewire my house to get that much power for the 3 systems in my office.

Oh that day is coming... it is almost here! Another 18 months should do it, hopefully 12.

1KW PSU! Me drools... Gotta stop droooling...

Whats wrong with wanting a silent 1KW PSU? This is the right forum.

How old is the wiring in your house? You will probably be fine if you make sure the pc's are plugged into different circuits and high power draw items like hair dryers are excluded from them.

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 2:38 pm

Whats wrong with wanting a silent 1KW PSU?

Even if it was 85% efficient at all loads (not possible right now) at 1000W it would be dumping 150W, you're not going to get rid of that without a big-ass fan, if you're not going to use 1kW why get one?

NB. There's also the small matter of climate change, global warming etc.

nici · Post by **nici** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 4:43 pm

Nothing wrong with wanting a silent 1kW PSU, it's more the idea of wanting a 1kW PSU in the first place. Power(heat, not processing power) is the enemy of a quiet computer.

If you are going to use three 8800GTXs and dual quadcores, you might be needing a 1kW PSU. 3x185W+2x130W=815W, and then some for mobo, HDD and peripherals. And keep in mind computers are getting more energy efficient, a top of the range prescott single core had a similar TDP to a quad core monster of today, and its nowehere near as fast even though its clockpseed is higher. Somehting similar in performance to the rescott is way cooler today. High power demand is not the same thing as high processing power.

student · Post by **student** » Sat Nov 18, 2006 11:24 pm

You are sort of right, computers are getting more energy efficient in terms of work done per watt but the general trend is towards increasing power consumption.

I think cooling technologies will develop along with increased heat output and so silent 1KW PSU's will be possible. Some watercooled or heatpipe version probably exists somewhere already...

vine-au · Post by **vine-au** » Sun Nov 19, 2006 7:12 pm

student wrote: I think cooling technologies will develop along with increased heat output and so silent 1KW PSU's will be possible. Some watercooled or heatpipe version probably exists somewhere already...

Zalman already have one available

nici · Post by **nici** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 2:02 am

Oh, that thing....

merlin · Post by **merlin** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 9:53 am

nici wrote:Nothing wrong with wanting a silent 1kW PSU, it's more the idea of wanting a 1kW PSU in the first place. Power(heat, not processing power) is the enemy of a quiet computer.

If you are going to use three 8800GTXs and dual quadcores, you might be needing a 1kW PSU. 3x185W+2x130W=815W, and then some for mobo, HDD and peripherals. And keep in mind computers are getting more energy efficient, a top of the range prescott single core had a similar TDP to a quad core monster of today, and its nowehere near as fast even though its clockpseed is higher. Somehting similar in performance to the rescott is way cooler today. High power demand is not the same thing as high processing power.

Such a horrible waste of energy for most systems. I hope most of the low-mid end systems stay near the same or lower power consumption compared to currently.

Howard · Post by **Howard** » Mon Nov 20, 2006 10:51 am

vine-au wrote:
student wrote: I think cooling technologies will develop along with increased heat output and so silent 1KW PSU's will be possible. Some watercooled or heatpipe version probably exists somewhere already...
Zalman already have one available

Unfortunately, it's hardly effective.

miTchy · Post by **miTchy** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 6:56 pm

how much do these cards use idle cant find it any where

wyley60 · Post by **wyley60** » Tue Nov 21, 2006 10:31 pm

jaganath wrote:
Whats wrong with wanting a silent 1KW PSU?
Even if it was 85% efficient at all loads (not possible right now) at 1000W it would be dumping 150W, you're not going to get rid of that without a big-ass fan, if you're not going to use 1kW why get one?

NB. There's also the small matter of climate change, global warming etc.

Dont forget rolling blackouts

Besides what do you need 2 8800GTX's sli'ed for anyway?

sjschwinn · Post by **sjschwinn** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:32 am

wyley60 wrote: Besides what do you need 2 8800GTX's sli'ed for anyway?

I'm sorry to butt in on this...

I myself am not a gamer, and have but a "lowly" 7600GT myself, but as with computers in general, software developers will always make better "stuff" that pushes the current hardware technology. Does anyone really need 2 8800GTXs in SLI now? Probably not. Will software eventually leverage the processing capabilities? You can count on it...

nici · Post by **nici** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 8:57 am

This is why synthetic benchmarks like 3dMark are good to have, they give some idea of how current cards will work with games released in the near future. Try running 3dMark06 on 2560x1600 with HDR+AA+AF on a 8800GTX, it's slow as hell, though it does look pretty amazing.

If you play at 1280x1024 or lower, you don't even need one 8800GTX.

merlin · Post by **merlin** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 10:37 am

nici wrote:This is why synthetic benchmarks like 3dMark are good to have, they give some idea of how current cards will work with games released in the near future. Try running 3dMark06 on 2560x1600 with HDR+AA+AF on a 8800GTX, it's slow as hell, though it does look pretty amazing.

If you play at 1280x1024 or lower, you don't even need one 8800GTX.

Hmm, I'd actually beg to differ, there's some games that still kinda chug on my 7900GTO right now with max or near max 1280 settings. It's possible part of it is caused by having a semi-older cpu, but a 8800GTX would certainly help. A single one makes sense to me, two sounds like massive overkill unless you're running a 24 or 30" 1080p lcd.

Devonavar · Post by **Devonavar** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 11:05 am

sjschwinn wrote:Does anyone really need 2 8800GTXs in SLI now? Probably not. Will software eventually leverage the processing capabilities? You can count on it...

Will it leverage the processing capabilities before nVidia releases a cheaper, more powerful card in its 9000 series?

sjschwinn · Post by **sjschwinn** » Wed Nov 22, 2006 1:03 pm

Devonavar wrote:
sjschwinn wrote:Does anyone really need 2 8800GTXs in SLI now? Probably not. Will software eventually leverage the processing capabilities? You can count on it...
Will it leverage the processing capabilities before nVidia releases a cheaper, more powerful card in its 9000 series?

Point taken.

In general I agree with that mindset, but I figured I'd play devil's advocate on this for a change. As I said, I'm not a gamer, so I have no idea how current games perform at 2560x1600. Seems to me to be a lot of pixels for a 60 fps or higher rate...

bexx · Post by **bexx** » Fri Nov 24, 2006 2:54 pm

"Another possibility is a manufacturer might have to PAY to have nVidia CERTIFY it as SLI ready."

I think nVidia has a list of tests that the manufacturer can perform and submit the results for certification. Thats how it works with motherboards. nVidia doesn't charge anything that I know of but it can cost money if you have to pay a 3rd party to perform a test you are unable to... ie vibration testing.