465 GTX card Power Supply Amp question

tweakthem

I have a 730W power supply that I got from my local shop. Because the card burnt the other one up that was in previously. The power supply is SLI ready. But the amps are only 24A maximum. NVIDIA recommends a 38A minimum. Does that hurt anything IE the card or the power supply itself. Or is it better to upgrade. The PSU is a 730W RaidMax RX-730SS. New to NVIDIA cards in general. So any help would be great. The PSU I bought. It seems to be running fine can run everything pretty much. Just need to know if its Ideal or probably best to get a different PSU. To keep the computer running in general. IE longevity.

Also not overclocking the card. And I have the fan at 70% all the time. Just to keep it cool. Which I don't have to do just that don't like 80C 

http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817152036 

Quizzical

It would seem that you're new to power supplies, too.

The only notable feature of the GeForce GTX 465 is its obscenely high power consumption.  It really doesn't make much sense to buy unless you find it at a clearance price, which today, roughly means under $100, though at launch, I could have understood paying $150 for it.  Regardless, if you're stuck with that lemon of a card, you'll need a power supply that can safely deliver a lot of power.

Which means you'll need a different power supply.  Raidmax isn't saying how much power the one you got can deliver.  Based on the power connectors, I'd expect about 500 W.  You might think, but it says 730 W!  But read more carefully:  if you add up the wattage along all of the rails that actually get used, that only comes to 714 W.  The +12 V rails are the only ones that particularly matter, and those likely end up short of 500 W.  It has two +12 V rails rated at 24 A each, but the proper total usually isn't obtained by adding them, and Raidmax isn't saying what it can really do.

Now, if you had a good quality 500 W power supply, that would be good enough.  But if it were a good quality 500 W power supply, Raidmax would sell it as such, and not claim it's really 730 W to try to convince people who are clueless about power supplies to buy it.

tweakthem

Well question for now is will it be ok to keep running at the GPU fan at 70% all the time with this PSU. Till I can get a new one. Cause I just bought this one. And regreting it a bit. Because of this. And the card is awesome compared to my last one. But really been a money sink since I got it as a gift. :P Killed the last power supply in 2 days. And that was a 680W with 33A lol.

Quizzical

Sure it's safe to run the card, so long as you don't play any real games on it.  The video card overheating isn't the main problem.  Overtaxing the power supply is your bigger concern.  If you pull too much from a power supply and kill the power supply, it's quite possible for the power supply to take other hardware with it when it dies.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371035

That should work and be more or less adequate to your needs.  It's cheap, too.  If you do get it, you should understand that you're not allowed to overclock anything in your computer, though.  It should be able to handle any reasonable video card you might get, though the GeForce GTX 465 wasn't a reasonable card to get, so that might not be a reliable guide.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371044

That one has more wattage, and plenty enough to handle any processor and single GPU video card.  It's still a reasonably good power supply.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207002

If you like rebates, that one is better yet.

Don't mess with bad power supplies.  If you can, then return the power supply you just got and get one that I linked above.  Otherwise next time, the power supply might not be the only component that you have to replace.

Evasia

PSU is more importend indeed then many realise so get at least a good PSU around 850watt minium and your ok for couple of years.

Ridelynn

I agree with Quiz here, your on borrowed time on that power supply. Sure it may seem to work just fine, but it's not really going to be adequate. At best, it works fine until you overtax it, then your computer crashes. At worst, it browns out your system, causing hardware failure (like the one you just experienced, which sounds more like a bad power supply in the first place). Power supplies, when they die, almost always take other parts with them: Motherboard, video card, and RAM and very common - you got lucky that it didn't fry anything in your computer.

It's like driving around on your spare tire: it's really only made to last long enough to get you to a garage to get your real tire fixed. Sure, you can still drive on it, but I wouldn't be planning any cross country trips, let alone driving on it any more than I absolutely had to.

A good power supply will have a current limiter circuit, which acts kind of like a fuse: if the power draw gets too high for the power supply, or the power supply starts to overheat, then it shuts off - just like pulling the power plug. This protects the power supply from damage of running over capacity, and protects your computer components from low voltage (which kills). Crappy power supplies will just run all the way into the ground, and let voltage droop all the way down, and sagging voltage (or brownout) absolutely kills electronics.

Good example of how marketing techniques mask poor engineering, you aren't the only one to fall for it, I see it all the time. It's a shame that companies are able to get away with it, particularly on something as important as a power supply. As you can see, the rated Wattage doesn't really mean anything, it's all about amps and rails, and how those are divided up. I am glad we are getting away from multi-rail systems, because those were just a mess.