Tkpenalty's X1950~HD4k Clubhouse

[anticlutch]

I'd suggest buying the highest rated power supply that you're willing to buy. Skimping on power supplies won't get you anywhere nice... I did it and my system is plagued with instability so I bought myself a 550w powersupply which will hopefully arrive tomorrow

 

[Stikk]

Thanks anticlutch for you (very) fast reply! Im kind of concerned about the current rating, thats the only thing, because i have been looking on eBay, and like i said, the highest current rating i could find was 25A which, according to the box, wont run my card.. I dont do a whole lot of stuff with my computer, but i do have 3 HDDs and a DVD burner, so finding one with lots of connectors is pretty important for me too..

Do you have any recommendations for a good PSU that i could order from here?

 

[anticlutch]

lol np with the fast reply (I don't have much to do today :| )

About the 30A needed... I seriously doubt that you'll need all 30A on that rail, because my system runs on less than that (although it is a bit unstable, it runs fine when I don't use/play graphically intensive programs). I'm sure that 25A *would* be fine, but just in case you might want to get a second opinion.

I live in the U.S. so the only places that I buy from are Newegg and Fry's Electronics (a brick-and-mortar store), so I won't be able to help you out much with the buying aspect. If you do buy it from Ebay, I'd advise you to stick to new items (you never know what could have happened to that power supply), as well as buying name brand power supplies (i.e. Antec (I personally reccommend this company), Thermaltake, SeaSonic, etc.)

Do you have a limit to how much you are willing to spend?

 

[Namslas90]

lol np with the fast reply (I don't have much to do today :| )

About the 30A needed... I seriously doubt that you'll need all 30A on that rail, because my system runs on less than that (although it is a bit unstable, it runs fine when I don't use/play graphically intensive programs). I'm sure that 25A *would* be fine, but just in case you might want to get a second opinion.

Do you have a limit to how much you are willing to spend?

I'll agree with that 25 amp rail. But keep in mind thats the lower end of power requirements for that card. You may have problems with top end overclocking. Other than that ATI recomends (if you call them, and get the right person) a 12v rail rating of 24 amps minimum.

 

[Stikk]

Well, im not planning to do any overclocking, i was just gonna plug it in and use it, but its turning out to be an expensive little upgrade, so i might wanna go for the slightly bigger PSU since im spending the money anyway.. Most of the PSUs i can find, even the more expensive, higher wattage ones, seem to be no more than about 18A on the 12V rail.. I dunno why that is, but i really havent managed to find one with a current rating over 25A..

I have found a few with dual 12V rails, but im not really too sure what that means.. Does each rail need to be at least 30A or do they have to add up to 30A? Im kind of restricted to looking on eBay and online sites at the moment since the websites for the shops near me have like no information on them and im at work, so i cant go ask

I found a whole bunch of stuff that i wanted to buy off newegg but for some reason they dont ship internationally! Seems odd to me, but yeah, they dont, so im kind of limited to what i can find on eBay, unfortunately...

 

[anticlutch]

Hm... I'm assuming it has to be 30A for 1 rail but then again, the gauge of the wire would have to be massive in order to supply 30A...

It's really a shame you don't live in the US... I just bought a Rosewill 550w power supply for about $70 (yes, I know some people might object to the brand, but the reviews were very good).

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antec-550-Watt-...4QQihZ004QQcategoryZ44949QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Maybe that? The refurbished thing really worries me though (I'm a bit paranoid about refurbs )

 

[Namslas90]

If you are using a PSU w/dual rails and one card; and the card needs more power ,it will pull 20% - 30% power from the unused rail to boost the used rail. If your planning on getting a second card then get a better PSU. Bad news is that most PSU's with the power and quality to run the newer cards are going to cost around $120 to $180 U.S. The good thing is if you buy a higher quality PSU it will last through several upgrades. Enermax, OCZ are good brands; I'm sure there are more.

 

[anticlutch]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antec-Power-Sup...6QQihZ006QQcategoryZ80173QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It's a bit pricey but... all the rest only ship to the US and Canada :|

Just for fun but... 24A per rail for only $300 USD!!! haha
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...Sell_LogicX&refwidgettype=cross_promot_widget

 

[Stikk]

Well i have quite an old motherboard, you see, so there is no chance of me getting two cards, i only have one slot and its AGP

Yeah, its annoying not living in the US, i wanted to buy a water cooling system from newegg but thats not gonna happen now its annoying looking for stuff over here and not being able to find it.. Even if you do find it, its usually a lot more expensive than in the US. Oh well, i guess thats what you get for living in the middle of nowhere!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/OMNI-SUPER-Q...ryZ80173QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This was the 500W PSU i was talking about.. Its a no-name brand so im cautious, but yeah, all the others dont really do anywhere near 30A and like you said, to actually deliver 30A without melting the cables, you'd be looking at 8 AWG OFC copper from my experience! I looked at that Antec PSU you posted the link to, anticlutch, but the shipping to australia is another 65 bucks on top of the price, so its pretty expensive!

anyway, let me know what you think of that one, im gonna keep having a look around for another one

 

[Namslas90]

http://cgi.ebay.com/Antec-Power-Sup...6QQihZ006QQcategoryZ80173QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
It's a bit pricey but... all the rest only ship to the US and Canada :|

Only has 19 Amp rail + (20-30%) = 22.8 amps. Kind of low.

 

[Namslas90]

Well i have quite an old motherboard, you see, so there is no chance of me getting two cards, i only have one slot and its AGP

Yeah, its annoying not living in the US, i wanted to buy a water cooling system from newegg but thats not gonna happen now its annoying looking for stuff over here and not being able to find it.. Even if you do find it, its usually a lot more expensive than in the US. Oh well, i guess thats what you get for living in the middle of nowhere!

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/OMNI-SUPER-Q...ryZ80173QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

This was the 500W PSU i was talking about.. Its a no-name brand so im cautious, but yeah, all the others dont really do anywhere near 30A and like you said, to actually deliver 30A without melting the cables, you'd be looking at 8 AWG OFC copper from my experience! I looked at that Antec PSU you posted the link to, anticlutch, but the shipping to australia is another 65 bucks on top of the price, so its pretty expensive!

anyway, let me know what you think of that one, im gonna keep having a look around for another one

Typed in "omni psu" @ google and got linked to people in Austrailia who say that PSU caused them problems. IDK, maybe try again.

 

[Namslas90]

This site has some good PSU's. Silverstone is OK

http://www.nintek.com.au/x/scripts/prodList.asp?idcategory=484

 

[Stikk]

Yeah, im not liking the reviews im finding on the Omni PSUs.. Not that i expected too much, i mean, a 500W PSU for like 30 bucks is wishful thinking.. But still, would have been nice

I dont really wanna spend more than about $100 on the PSU (AUD) cuz i already spend $360 on the damn card.. Any more than that on a PSU i may aswell get a whole new computer!

 

[Namslas90]

Don't feel bad, I bought A X1900XTX for $569.00 U.S. and then had to spend another $169.00 on a PSU to make it work!! Well worth the money in my book, the Gateway computer I put it in runs like a Dream!! (See system specs <<<<)

 

[Stikk]

yeah, i think spending a little more on the psu might be a good idea.. I want a quiet one, too, cuz im trying to shut my computer up.. It makes a hell of a lot of noise at the moment so im looking into making it quieter, but there is almost no airflow in my case at the moment, which is not helping, everything keeps overheating.. My 6600GT killed itself cuz it got too hot, now im stuck with a GeForce 2 64mb until i can get my X1950 PRO working... why do computers have to be so difficult?

 

[Namslas90]

Try and find a PSU w/dual fans. Enermax makes some good quiet one's. Find a way to install a front air intake fan, or maybe even a "blowhole" up top. Airflow through the case can make a big difference in cooling, By turning around my northbridge fan I cooled my GPU down 13' F. It was pushing hot air off my CPU into the GPU. Reversing the fan pulled cool air into the GPU and sent the hot air off the CPU out the back fan.

 

[whc.demo]

I just got my Sapphire x1950pro 512mb AGP today, as a replacement for my x800xt to go in my antique rig that has a s478 P4 3.4E

after i installed it i went and played c0d2 to check out the gfx and performance and my system switched off after around 15mins...

so i came to the conclusion that my psu couldnt cope, so i went and bought another psu with more amps on the 12v rails and its running like a dream so far touch wood...

i also had to change the fan speeds as the default 41% at 70c seemed a bit low to me lol :S

anyway temps are pretty good 40ish idle & 61 load


the performance is great and im really impressed with it so far

although i couldnt work out how to get hdr + aa in oblivion working?? i tried forcing aa in ccc and it didnt work :S

btw im using the drivers that were bundled with the card and havnt tried oc yet

wewt x1950pro

edit: after playing for many hours without any problems i started up ghost recon advanced warfighter and about 45 mins later started to get artifacts all over the ground oh noes..

 

[Stikk]

Hey all!

Im back again.. whc.demo, what kind of PSU did you end up buying? How many amps on the 12V rail? Im having real trouble with finding a PSU to handle this monster, Im also trying to understand how its possible to send 30A of current down those tiny little wires!! I cant believe that any PSU will put out that much current, its insane, and dangerous!!

I found this PSU:

http://www.thermaltake.com/product/Power/TR2power/w0101102/w0101102.asp

It looks ok, 550W, dual 12V rails, but working on Namslas90's estimation of 20-30% power from the other rail, this PSU can do like 19.2A, max.. This seems awfully "low" for a 550W PSU from Thermaltake.. If this half kilowatt PSU cant run this card, i dont know what will!! What do you guys reckon? Will this PSU do it?

Thanks
Ollie

 

[anticlutch]

Well I've just installed my 550w Rosewill psu that has 17/18A on the rail and it's doing fine (much more stable than before). I'm sure that you'll be able to run it on the Thermaltake psu without any problems... and I'd suggest giving up looking for a psu that has 30A per rail... if you think about it, it's not possible unless the wires are huge (bigger wires = more cost for the manufacturer = they probably wouldn't make one with 30A ).

 

[Stikk]

Ok, did a little more digging and its a little more expensive, but check out what i found...

http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=37&pPath=157&productID=160

Apparently has 34A on the 12V rail, which meets ATI's ridiculous claims.. It only has one rail though, i dunno if i should get that one or a dual rail one!! This is all so confusing, why cant they all just do the same thing?

Sorry to go on about the PSU issue, guys, but i dont wanna end up spending a whole load of money on a new PSU only to find it doesnt run my new, very expensive, card!

Ollie

 

[xnox202]

I don't know if this helps, but I'm running my PC X1950 AGP with Enermax Liberty 500W version and it runs fine so far. 32A on both rails total. Haven't got any feeling of 'lack-of-power' or getting weird lags under load. See my specs for details.

ATI just probarbly recommend such numbers maybe for a headroom for some little upgrades we might do, like extra hard disk and such?

 

[Namslas90]

Well I've just installed my 550w Rosewill psu that has 17/18A on the rail and it's doing fine (much more stable than before). I'm sure that you'll be able to run it on the Thermaltake psu without any problems... and I'd suggest giving up looking for a psu that has 30A per rail... if you think about it, it's not possible unless the wires are huge (bigger wires = more cost for the manufacturer = they probably wouldn't make one with 30A ).

They do make them, and the wires are a little thicker gage. The only problem is they cost more, and are not readily available in Austrailia. Enermax is a good brand, the 600watt and ^ Noise Taker II's meet requirements, as do the liberty and Galaxy series.

 

[anticlutch]

They do make them, and the wires are a little thicker gage. The oinly problem is they cost more, and are not readily available in Austrailia. Enermax is a good brand, the 600watt and ^ Noise Taker II's meet requirements, as do the liberty and Galaxy series.

I stand corrected
If only Newegg delivered worldwide people around the world would be so much happier. :|

 

[Namslas90]

Ok, did a little more digging and its a little more expensive, but check out what i found...

http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=37&pPath=157&productID=160

Apparently has 34A on the 12V rail, which meets ATI's ridiculous claims.. It only has one rail though, i dunno if i should get that one or a dual rail one!! This is all so confusing, why cant they all just do the same thing?

Sorry to go on about the PSU issue, guys, but i dont wanna end up spending a whole load of money on a new PSU only to find it doesnt run my new, very expensive, card!

Ollie

It look like it's going to take a while for suppliers in your area to "catch-up" with the available technology. That kind of sucks, but what are you going to do, either wait or pay the shipping from the states or UK; if you can find somebody willing to ship it!

 

[Stikk]

Thanke everyone for your replies and help! I have narrowed it down to two PSUs that i like, they're not THAT expensive, they're prolly gonna be around $150 AUD each plus shipping from places within the country, but i was wondering if yuo guys could gimme a recommendation on which one i should get.. here's the first one:

http://www.pcmods.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=328_30_359&products_id=29
It's an Ultra X-Connect 500W. It has a single +12V Rail with 34A, apparently..

The second one is...

http://www.pcmods.com.au/product_info.php?cPath=328_30_360&products_id=35
Again, its an Ultra, but it's an X-Finity and it's 600W. Effectively same price, but its got dual rails with 20A and 18A on the +12V rails..
http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=52&pPath=383&productID=388

Im pretty sure thats the same PSU in those two links above, one is manufacturer, the other is retailer.. The one i REALLY like is this one:

http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=52&pPath=383&productID=467

37A on the 12V rail but i cant seem to find an aussie retailer and shipping is extortionate!

Let me know what you guys reckon

Thanks
Ollie