Geforce 6800 - power cables

Elim · Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:07 pm Post subject: Geforce 6800 - power cables

Ok i'm thinking about getting a Geforce 6800 for christmas and i know that it needs an atx power connector aswell (agp version) does it matter if on the same atx cable there is a cdrom or a hard disk or does it need the whole cable to it's self? Will it slow down my devices if on the same atx cable?
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Plastic · l33t Joined: 24 Mar 2004 Posts: 649

Well, It really depends. I don't think it would do any harm to put it on the same connector as your cd-rom drive, the only real problems occur when you try to take away from the hard-drive. Mine is working real great on the same cable as the cdrom drive.

John5788 · Posted: Sat Nov 06, 2004 6:26 pm Post subject:

do you have any fans? or perhaps another power cable thats not being in used? ive got a powersupply and its got TONS of cables running off of it, i dont think ill ever need a splitter
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Elim · Posted: Sun Nov 28, 2004 7:23 pm Post subject:

well im gonna have to get a new psu as i dont have a spare cable which is not connected to another device. also its only 300 watt i think
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PSXPaul · n00b Joined: 17 Jul 2004 Posts: 40

I believe if you crack open most power supplies, you'll find that all of the 12V wires that come out, are soldered to the same point. I've seen many case modders actually use only one cable for all of the drives, in an effort to clean up the insides of the case.

I actually just capitalized on a black friday deal at CompUSA for a GeForce 6800. I haven't had a chance to install it yet, but the box does say at least a 300W power supply is required. Also, it came with a splitter in case you don't have any extra 12V molex connectors free.

PZoned · Posted: Mon Nov 29, 2004 12:25 am Post subject:

i got no problems with my 6800gt.... accually ATI reccommends splitting the power from the hard drive (thats kinda weird) and when i had a radeon9800 i did that and it was fine.
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Elim · Posted: Tue Dec 21, 2004 3:58 pm Post subject:

as it turns out i have got a 350 watt psu and i have a cunning plan:
I shall move the hard drives nearer the cdrom and then connect the hard drive & cdrom on one cable and then use a splitter so i have all my hard disks and cdrom all connected to the same cable and the 6600 gt has its own and is happy

thanks for the input guys. I love the linux community you can't beat it even a problem with power connectors they'll help you out

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linuxkrn · Posted: Wed Dec 22, 2004 7:57 pm Post subject:

You need a 450W or better for that type of card. They are real power hogs and you'll get lockups with just a 350w. Keep in mind that your PSU loses some of the power output in the conversion. A good PSU is around 70% efficiency or better. SO that said, assuming you have a 70% efficieny PSU, and a standard system.

.7 * 350 = 245W, then standard system config is about 150-175w under NO load. But when you start up a game, the system can jump to almost 290w. And as we see you're only at 245W max...with a good quality PSU.

Get a 450 - 550 (I use 550w) PSU.

BTW, the 6800 Ultra has two power plugs, standard 4 pin.
http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040414/images/card-molex1.jpg
More Details
http://www20.graphics.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040414/geforce_6800-20.html

PSXPaul · n00b Joined: 17 Jul 2004 Posts: 40

Wattage ratings on power supplies generally don't mean much. Your system draws current from the 12V, 5V, and 3.3V rails all in different amounts IIRC. The 12V rail is the most important one, since that's what is used the most. When I'm looking for a new power supply, the first thing I look at is the current rating on the 12V rail. More amps on that rail is better.

I've had some very good 300W power supplies, and some very crappy 500W ones. If you want a good PSU, just look at the better name brands, and stay away from the cheap ones like Sparkle.

Naib · Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 10:12 am Post subject:

Elim · Posted: Thu Dec 23, 2004 5:18 pm Post subject:

ok then what about a recommendation of a GOOD psu with a wattage of about 400-500 for less than £60
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