Warning: Undefined array key "HTTP_ACCEPT_LANGUAGE" in /var/www/minitokyo/www/includes/common.inc.php on line 360 How much watt do I use ? - Minitokyo

How much watt do I use ?

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I'd like to know how much watt I am using at the moment and if this could be the cause of my 6800gt card not working properly ( very poor performance , equally to my radeon 9600xt )

Here's the list of what I got in my computer with a 360watt power supply.

HDD Maxtor 40gb 5200rpm ATA
HDD Maxtor 160 gb 7200rpm SATA
NEC DVD burner
DVD player
Floppy drive
A bracket where I can put my school's hdd in ( usually empty )

Now the outside

Logitech X-530 (5.1 speaker set)
Logitech MX510 (mouse)
A wireless keyboard
Microsoft Sidewinder Force Feedback 2
Labtec Webcam
17inch CRT screen ( adi m700 )

So.. could it be that i'm already using this much watt that the 6800gt cant get enough power to function at it's fullest 100% ?
Thanks in advance !

eiyu

eiyu

Procrastinating Otaku

6800gt needs at least 400W , get a large PSU and that should fix the problem

Ok.. im thinking about getting a 450 watt .. so.. when i get one like that you think the 6800gt will deliver me stunning good and fast graphics ? =))

Quote by gazeeboOk.. im thinking about getting a 450 watt .. so.. when i get one like
that you think the 6800gt will deliver me stunning good and fast
graphics ? =))

Getting a higher wattage PSU does not make your graphic card run faster. It just makes
it more stable. Also other hardware insider your PC can play a important role to your gaming
experience. Your hard drive is too slow, it's only running at 5400rpm. This will decrease the performance of the game. If your SATA drive is the main drive then it should be fine.
Other things to look for is your processor and how much ram you have.


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I have an amd athlon xp 3000+ and 2x 512mb ram in dual slot.
The 5400rpm harddisk is my windows disk and my games and other important things are installed on the 160gb sata drive.

I have however read that installing a higher wattage with higher amps will cause the card to be able to run faster and thus increase the performance... however that was my question here and i'd like some confirmations and/or other tips/ideas on how to imrprove the performance of the videocard (and no i wont buy a new hdd )

First get the new PSU and see how your graphic card runs. Worry about the rest
later on.

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I already turned in the graphics cards because im not spending over 230 euro's on a graphics card wich doesnt improve my performance at all heh. that's why im asking here =)

well i say use @ least a 350w, but 400+ would be ideal... just dont overload ur comp too much! with other stuff...

If ur gonna use lots of power then i say get mroe than 400W

I'm running an AMD X2 3800+, 2x512MB RAM, ATI Radeon 9800Pro, 250gb 7200rpm HD, 2x optical drives, 1x FDD, 1x soundcard and 1x Wi-fi card ...

...on a 330W PSU. And everything's running stable. Proof that higher wattage is not always better.

If games run stable in your system (albeit slow), that indicates a problem outside power. Check that the mainboard chipset driver (esp. the AGP driver - if you have an AGP system) has been installed and that you have a reasonably recent driver for the 6800. Check that the rest of your system config are properly setup too (RAM timing, RAM bandwith, PCI latency, AGP rate - if you are not confident with this, simply reset your mainboard BIOS to default values, which should set everything right). This might sound stupid, but do ensure that you have plugged in the molex connectors into your graphic card.

Cheers!

But you dont have a 6600gt / 6800gt ... both cards need at least a 400 watt power supply.
They both need a power plug on the board otherwise they dont get enough power from the AGP slot. So if my power supply cant supply enough power then the card wont function properly.

Quote by gazeeboBut you dont have a 6600gt / 6800gt ... both cards need at least a 400
watt power supply.
They both need a power plug on the board otherwise they dont get enough
power from the AGP slot. So if my power supply cant supply enough power
then the card wont function properly.


X-Bit Labs
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/ati-powercons/9800pro_power.gif
http://www.xbitlabs.com/images/video/ati-vs-nv-power/6800gt.gif

There is not that much difference in power consumption between the two cards (about 7-8W only, at stock speed). It is a general misconception that everything nowadays need high wattage PSUs.

Your problem looks to originate from a bad setting in your system, rather than the PSU. As I already said, if there is insufficient power, your system will be unstable, not slow! I suggest you look into fixing that bad setting first before spending money on a new PSU (and discovering that the same problem still occurs).

Regards.

Well I have no idea what "settings" could be causing this because I have done a fresh windows install about 2 weeks before I got the card.

Quote by gazeeboBut you dont have a 6600gt / 6800gt ... both cards need at least a 400
watt power supply.
They both need a power plug on the board otherwise they dont get enough
power from the AGP slot. So if my power supply cant supply enough power
then the card wont function properly.

6600GT does not require a auxilary plug, the 6800gt does.

Most people say the higher the wattage for a PSU the more components you can plug in,
it's true, but if don't have a lot of components inside your rig, then you can use a lower wattage PSU. Similar to Shuttle XPCs they use a PSU of around 230-250w, but they
can still run a 9800pro graphic card, when the minimum PSU requirement for the card is 300w.

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Can you tell us the complete configuration of your system and also what settings you use when playing games (and what constitutes your definition of "performance")?

6600gt DOES need an extra power plug. How do I know ? Because I had both cards , 6600gt AND 6800gt. Both need an extra power plug connected from the psu to the card. (We're talking about the AGP cards here.. not PCI-E)

For configuration see above I guess...
and for performance ? well... 2 friends of mine have got the same rig as me (except 1 has an pentium 4 3ghz, and the other an amd 64 3500 ) and they can play World of warcraft on the maximum settings to get a FPS of 60. In order for me to get an FPS of 60 I have to set nearly all settings to the lowest.

I tried with both cards ( 6600gt and 6800gt ) and i couldnt get an FPS of 60 with any settings set a little higher then the settings i had with my previous card.
In fact.. I got the same FPS as I had with my previous card.. perhaps 2 - 5 fps higher.

The same story goes for Battlefield 2.

Oh and my previous card ( the one im using now ) is an Ati Radeon 9600 XT 256mb.
So.. it's either my PSU cant supply enough amps/watts or there's something else going on in my computer..

I also heard that some people format their computer when switching from ATI to Nvidia because they drivers might interfere. however i unstalled the drivers of ati , rebooted , installed nvidia drivers , rebooted and then started testing.

Have you installed the latest driver for your mainboard chipset (amd, nForce2, ATI, VIA, etc.) as well as that for your graphic card? Is it possible tha WoW maxes out at 60fps? What VGA cards do your friends use and have you seen their fps rating (and graphic settings used) with your own eyes?

It's not very relevant in real-life games, but you could fire up 3DMark with your 6800gt and the 9600xt, and compare the benchmark results. The numbers will give a rough figure on whether your 6800gt is indeed lagging or not.

Regards.

"So.. it's either my PSU cant supply enough amps/watts or there's something else going on in my computer.."

How many times must I keep repeating myself? You don't need a new PSU as much as you need to fix whatever is wrong with your system! Or are you just that itcing to spend your money on a new shiny stuff? :)

Yes i have installed all the latest drivers, wow doesnt max out at 60fps ( i've had it on 100 once by going into the dark and putting everything to the lowst possible ) and yes i have seen their ratings with my own eyes.

and i dont have the cards anymore.(only my original 9600xt)
with aquamark 3 im getting a score of 31.53fps.(i dont have 3dmark)

and yes.. i like to get a new psu hehe.. especially since my current one isnt game specific .. its just a standard one that comes with the case .. i got a chieftec case. prolly a model of 1 to 2 years old

How is a PSU supposed to be "game-specific"??? Can you elaborate on that?

Nevertheless, since you are dead-set on getting a PSU, I suggest going for a respectable brand. Names like Antec and Seasonic come to mind.

Regards.

I was more of thinking getting an ASUS one. i heard it has good quality etc.

and... some psu's that are "game specific" (dunno if its truth.. just rumours etc. i heard ) suppose to be faster and cause less heat and are more silent etc.
anyhow.. thanks for all your time..
ill figure this out some day heh.

Quote by gazeebo6600gt DOES need an extra power plug. How do I know ? Because I had both cards , 6600gt AND 6800gt. Both need an extra power plug connected from the psu to the card. (We're talking about the AGP cards here.. not PCI-E)

]

Ohh I see, PCIe version of 6600gt does not require a auxilary plug.
Although the PCIe version of 6800gt does.

Also apg8x runs at a aprox of 2.1GB/s
While PCIe x16 (used for graphic cards) runs at a aprox of 8GB/s

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400 watts is ample enough for 4 fans so it should make ur 6800 work better (i think)

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