PSU Questions

Razorbacx · Post by **Razorbacx** » Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:14 pm

I posted under the NVidia forum a particular problem that I have had with my 6800 GT Video Card... http://forums.legitreviews.com/viewtopic.php?t=4477
I am considering a new PSU that I hope will stabilize and allow me to play with the OC'ing abilities of my rig. Can anyone give me an honest review of a Thermaltake W0093RU 500W Power Supply? It will be replacing the CoolerMaster 350W Extreme Power PSU that came with my Cavalier 1 case. Newegg has it listed for $79.99 with a $15.00 mail in rebate. This fits well within my price range.

Thanks in advance.

Razorbacx

Post by **Apoptosis** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 2:20 pm

The Thermaltake W0093RU 500W Power Supply ($82 @ MWave) is in the TR2 Power Supply Value Product Line, so it's not a high end part.

This 500W PSU has a combined 12Volt rail of only 29 Amps...

My Antec TruePOWER 2.0 430W has a combined 12Volt rail of 34 Amps
The OCZ Power Stream 600W (What I use on the test bench) has a 12Volt rail of 38Amps.

Since high end PCIe video cards use the 12Volt rail this is now the most important rail on PSU's. Try to get the highest 12V rail you can. To me 29Amps on the 12V rail wont cut it.

SAMSAMHA · Post by **SAMSAMHA** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:02 pm

FOR AROUND 65, I woudl suggest go for antec's psu (such as http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103937).

the enermax are also goo pus:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103464
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6817103457

infinitevalence · Post by **infinitevalence** » Mon Feb 13, 2006 8:05 pm

My recomendations are as follows:

http://legitreviews.shopping.com/xPF-PW ... 0W_AX500_A
http://legitreviews.shopping.com/xPC-OC ... LI_520W_RT
http://legitreviews.shopping.com/xFS?KW ... s&FD=96452

The SilverStone Zeus and OCZ PowerStream are both very good PSU's, if you hunt around you can find them for just under $100. The Fortron is a decent PSU better than the enermax, or thermal take.

Razorbacx · Post by **Razorbacx** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 1:21 pm

Thank you for the advice. Looks like I need to do some shopping.

Razorbacx

Razorbacx · Post by **Razorbacx** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 9:29 pm

I do have one additional question and would appreciate it if someone would please offer up an explaination to me.

My 6800 GT requires a separate power connector, at least that is what Leadtek is telling me. Does that mean that I need a PSU with two (2) separate 12V cables or will one 12V cable with several connectors on it work?

Thanks,

Razorbacx

Post by **Apoptosis** » Tue Feb 14, 2006 11:11 pm

The 6800GT needs a PCIe power cable It's a cable that some power supplies have, but if you don't have the 6-pin connector don't worry as you can get an adapter that goes from 2 normal 4-pin molex connectors to one 6-pin PCIe connector for the video card.

All ATX 2.0 and newer power supplies have at least one 6-pin PCIe connector for video cards.

Razorbacx · Post by **Razorbacx** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:29 pm

Apoptosis, the card that I have, 6800 GT (Leadtek A400 GT TDH), is the AGP version and requires only a 4 pin connector like my HD and Optical Drive. I should have made that more apparent in my original post and apologize for that.

My Video Card gets its power from the 3rd of 4 molex connectors located along this one cable. The other two connectors are providing power to my DVD Drive and HD with one connector floating free. So, back to my original question, do I need to track down a PSU that offers two (2) separate 12V cables to safely operate my Video Card?

Thank you,

Razorbacx

kenc51 · Post by **kenc51** » Wed Feb 15, 2006 12:52 pm

Most if not all power supplies have more than 1 cable.....there mayby a few connnectors on each cable

You should use 1 cable to connect the GFX card and plug nothing else onto that cable........or if you must make sure the device you connect doesn't use much power....

EVERY cable coming from the PSU has 12v......it's the yellow cable.......