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Nvidia gtx 260 / gtx 280 power consumption

v12dock

v12dock

Block Caption of Rainey Street
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Hello,
I'm interesting in finally upgrading my x1950xt, but I was wondering how much power the GTX 260 or GTX 280 use's.
 
wat psu do u have?
 
What Peet said.
 
v12dock said:
Hello,
I'm interesting in finally upgrading my x1950xt, but I was wondering how much power the GTX 260 or GTX 280 use's.
Click to expand...

The GTX 260 uses about 300W at load.
The GTX 280 uses about 340W at load.

BTW: Welcome to TPU!
 
It would be stressing the 12V rail(s)...do you know more about your PSU? Also depends on the rest of your system, whether or not you OC or not, how many fans, hdd's, etc you have connected.

If you had a really good quality 400W PSU you'd probably be okay for a 260, but if it's a budget or cheapo 400W you're asking for a problem. I would really recommend getting a better PSU in the 500-600W range, don't skimp in PSU quality...you could end up paying dearly for it.

:toast:
 
the system in my sig (just everything in the case) draws 365w Peak at the socket.

a generic 400w psu cannot supply the amperage for that, nor could it sustain 365w for long.

my reccomendation as a bare min for a single GTX260 is a good 520-550 with strong 12v rails, remember i say bare minimum, my personal choice even for a single would be in the realm of 600-650 with at least 40-50 amps. you can never bee toooooo sure with power supplies.

my psu is rated at 850, and max output across the 12v rails is rated at 768w and about 220w for the rest, which is way over 850. then there's the 12v rails rated to 18A-18A-20A-20A-18A-18A sustained. (naturally this psu wont be needed if multi gpu is not a path you want to walk, i dont have multi gpu now, but t least i wont need a new psu if i do)

the motto of the story is, the power supply is one of the most crucial parts in a Good system, choose it wisely, and don't skimp. you really don't want to regret that someday.
 
Wingo101 said:
The GTX 260 uses about 300W at load.
The GTX 280 uses about 340W at load.

BTW: Welcome to TPU!
Click to expand...

you are very wrong my friend!!!

image034.png


what you thinking of is full power consumption.. whats being drawn from the psu.. not just what the gtx 280/260 is drawing

tom's hardware said:
1,400 million transistors engraved at 65 µm... It augurs heavy power consumption for the card. Let’s look at the variations in consumption at the power supply (which includes the consumption of the entire configuration plus 20% in power-supply losses).
Click to expand...
 
nosboost300 said:
you are very wrong my friend!!!

image034.png


what you thinking of is full power consumption.. whats being drawn from the psu.. not just what the gtx 280/260 is drawing
Click to expand...

Cool it man! We have two different sources.

I stated in my post that the LOAD is about 300W for GTX 260 & about 340W for GTX 280.

BTW: There is only a 30W difference between our Sources, so I think I gave a very good estimate!
 
Alright, I was thinking of getting a 9800gtx+ I was using my buddies and it ran fine.
 
v12dock said:
Alright, I was thinking of getting a 9800gtx+ I was using my buddies and it ran fine.
Click to expand...

Have you made sure! Did you put your computer under full load without any problems?
 
Last edited:
Hey, try this link once. I won't say it gives you the exact wattage needed, but you can definitely get an idea about your power requirements.

http://www.antec.outervision.com/

And ofcourse you will need a PSU with sufficient amps on 12V rails.
 
Wingo101 said:
Cool it man! We have two different sources.

I stated in my post that the LOAD is about 300W for GTX 260 & about 340W for GTX 280.

BTW: There is only a 30W difference between our Sources, so I think I gave a very good estimate!
Click to expand...

lol i'm sorry i thought you were saying the card alone used that much power :p

my mistake i misunderstood ur original post!!!

i've had too many times i've see people saying the card alone takes 300+ watts .. and that was just outrageous!
 
I used the Antec tool anyone know how accurate it is? Plus the 9800gtx+ takes less power than the 9800gtx and thats why I tried it on. Not sure if the card was under full load I just did some game play and everything seemed fine.

I also don't have any cd drives + Just a cpu fan, and one hard drive so not to much is taking up power.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121284

That was the card I was looking into
 
yea i myself was looking at a GTX260 but money got cut short so now i'm looking at the HD 4850, thought about 9800GTX+ but i think the HD 4850 edges it out. but if you still want a 9800GTX+, this 9800GTX+ is cheaper by 14 bucks and it's free shipping, stock cooler but since you don't have many case fans i'd want the heat pushed outa my system.
 
Yeah that looks nice, maybe I will also invest in some fan.. lol

I would go with a ATI but after my x1950xt i've had it with them.
 
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