Simviation Forum - Question about a GTX 260 and power supply

Sep 19^th, 2010 at 5:10pm

HarvesteR Offline
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Hello again,

I've got some sad news today... my trusty 8800 GTX is going bad again... and rather than put it in the oven again, I've decided it's time for it to retire...

It's too bad really... This is the best video card I've ever had, and it's still a very decent card, which is quite something given that this card is almost 4 years old... but I can't keep on baking it... it's just going to happen again and again...

So I'm resigned now to the fact that I need a new video card... So i got to looking for new ones...

The GeForce GTX 260 struck me as a nice option... it is more powerful than the 8800, so it's an upgrade, and not just a replacement, and it's cheap enough these days so that I don't have to sell the car to get it.

the only thing that's bugging me is the power requirements... I don't know if my PSU can provide enough juice for it...

The 260 draws a peak 180W... which is quite a lot more than my 8800... I don't recall exactly how much the 8800 did draw, and nVidia took out it's specs page... (the 8800GT page is still up and it states 105W... but it's a very different model from the 8800 GTX version)

So... my current PSU is a Seventeam Thundering 750W... and it did fine for my 88... (I bought it based on the idea of SLI'ing in the future, and was told this PSU could handle two 88's)... but IDK... the fact that my card died with artifacts does open up some implications for the power supply... what if it died because it wasn't being fed well enough?

So here I am asking... do you guys think my PSU can manage the new card? or should I start thinking about new PSU's too (or possibly a lesser GPU model)?

As always, Thanks in advance!

Cheers

NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm - 200GB Maxtor 7200Rpm - Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard - 5.1 Surround and a Saitek X52 Pro and Pro Flight Rudder Pedals -- Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

My 8800 GTX has at last retired... may it rest in peace in GPU heaven.

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Reply #1 - Sep 19^th, 2010 at 5:19pm

Rich H Offline
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I'm pretty sure 750W is ample enough for
the 260, as long as you haven't got any other power thirsty cards.

"Politics" is made up of two words, "Poli", which is Greek for "many", and "tics", which are blood sucking insects. - Gore Vidal

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Reply #2 - Sep 19^th, 2010 at 8:29pm

HarvesteR Offline
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Rich H wrote on Sep 19^th, 2010 at 5:19pm:

I'm pretty sure 750W is ample enough for
the 260, as long as you haven't got any other power thirsty cards.

No I don't think I have... The motherboard (Intel DX58SO) looks power hungry, with it's 24-pin cable plus an 8 pin PCI-e, a molex and another weird cable plugging into it from all sides... but i hardly think it could do away with the remaining 500+ watts by itself... all the rest is pretty normal... 2 SATA HDs, wifi card, DVD-RW and 3 case fans... the usual stuff...

Anyways, the power for the GPU comes from two independent rails, each with only a single PCI-e 6-pin connector at the end... so other stuff at least wouldn't drain straight off the video card feed...

Cheers

NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm - 200GB Maxtor 7200Rpm - Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard - 5.1 Surround and a Saitek X52 Pro and Pro Flight Rudder Pedals -- Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

My 8800 GTX has at last retired... may it rest in peace in GPU heaven.

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Reply #3 - Sep 24^th, 2010 at 8:05pm

HarvesteR Offline
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has my name on it!
Mexico, DF :D

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Well, it's done!!

My 88 is now retired, and I have a new GTX 460 installed! Cheesy

I couldn't find a GTX 260 anywhere, and the 460 was not so much more expensive, so I went with it Cheesy

It's looking quite good now... I was able to crank up the graphics a good deal on ArmA 2 Arrowhead, and push the native triple head resolution, which was something the 88 had a lot of trouble with Wink

But I feel like I have to say something about how good a video card the GeForce 8800 GTX was... for almost 4 years it remained at a high-end level, which is something that never happened with previous GPUs I had... in four years, I was inevitably hating my video card for failing to drive the latest games, but the 88 always puled through... until it died Tongue

Anyways, I'm quite happy with my new GPU now!! this should be a fun weekend Cheesy

Cheers

NEW PC SPECS: Intel Core i7 920 - 6GB Corsair DDR3 PC12800 RAM- Intel DX58SO Mobo - Geforce GTX 460 768MB GDDR5 - 3x LG1952h LCDs through Matrox's TH2Go - 640GB Seagate Barracuda 7200Rpm - 200GB Maxtor 7200Rpm - Microsoft Sidewinder X6 Keyboard - 5.1 Surround and a Saitek X52 Pro and Pro Flight Rudder Pedals -- Running Windows 7 Ultimate x64

My 8800 GTX has at last retired... may it rest in peace in GPU heaven.

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