Seperate PSU for Video card??

gibant1 · Post by **gibant1** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 3:32 am

After treating myself to a 30" monitor i found my old 7900GT didnt have enough power to play the latest games. So i purchased an 8800GTX Ultra (forgetting all the work i had done to keep my machine quiet).

This tornado sounding card forced me to buy a thermalright cooler which has made a big difference But....

when i play World of warcraft, 3 running at the same time (i use 3 accounts). The Seasonic m600, really ramps up. I was wondering wether it would be ok to buy another PSU and use it to power the VGA card and leave my seasonic to do the rest of the machine? or should i listen to my friend Ben Dover, and take it like a man. For self harming

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 4:54 am

Hello & welcome to SPCR,

The SeaSonic M600 has that little fan on the interior, right? That's the fan that won't slow down again once it is started? The new Enermax PSU would probably be quieter.

gibant1 · Post by **gibant1** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 5:56 am

Yes it does have the 60mm fan but i'm sure even the enermaz, while under the load my machine uses will still end up being too loud.

I was just wondering if there was any reason not to use 2 power supplies, both would not have much load and therefore should run very quietly.

lm · Post by lm » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:13 am

I have Q9450, 8800GTS 512MB, 8GB ECC DDR2 800MHz, GA-EX38-DS4, 1 hdd, 1 odd, and all the system draws from the wall is a bit over 200W when running 4 instances of prime95 and 1 instance of atitool. My Corsair VX450 runs this load easy, and doesn't seem to ramp up.

How much power does your whole system draw? What are the other components?

gibant1 · Post by **gibant1** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:38 am

I have a core duo 6600 o/c to 3.3Ghz. Evga 8800 GTX ultra Sc. 2 x 750 GB samsung F1 and a Sounblaster Xifi fatal1ty pro. M/B is Asus p5w DH deluxe. 4gb Geil ultra DDR 2.

It particularly ramps up when i run 2 and more so three version of world of warcraft. I have a thing where i can control all characters at same time (dual boxing).

I do play at 2560x1600 resolution and the card has to render all 3 copies at the same time. It must be sucking watts like a kettle lol

Unfortunately i do not know how much power the system actually draws but using the calculator off antec it says 378 but does only has the 8800gtx as a vga card not the ultra which is an overclocked ultra at that.

thx for you replies

chahahc · Post by **chahahc** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:06 pm

What are your case ambient temps and what case are you using? Maybe 8800 is raising the case ambient temps to the point where it causes the psu fan to ramp up.

gibant1 · Post by **gibant1** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:09 pm

I have and Akasa eclipse 62 case, 2 x 12 cm at front (1 bay adapter). a side 12cm (replacement side) and one at the rear. Atm i'm using Akasa amber silent fans running at 1200 rpm or less.

Ambient temp are only about 17c. Cpu heatsink is an scyth ninja b+. going off the m/b temps it seems fine now. When i first put the 8800 gtx ultra in, m/b temp went very high but i had less fans and running at a slower speed.

Post by **NeilBlanchard** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:10 pm

Hello,

The M12 unit is not very quiet when loaded:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article676-page5.html

The Enermax is much quieter at similar loads:

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article806-page5.html

breunor · Post by **breunor** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 7:29 pm

I think what everyone is getting at, is that a second PSU would not be a good option, rather pick up a better performing PSU that has a quiet fan. Even running 3 or 20 copies of WoW makes no difference, you can only run your system at 100% of cpu and gpu, so the key is determining if your airflow is set up well and if so getting a PSU that doesn't ramp up to jetliner levels.

One of the recommended power supplies from the recommended list should do the trick, and you could also try isolating your PSU air intake with a duct to a spare CD bay for example, to keep the existing PSU from ramping up.

gibant1 · Post by **gibant1** » Fri Jun 13, 2008 11:54 pm

I will try to try to improve the seasonics airflow this week to see if there's an improvement while i get the cash together for the new psu if it's needed.

Thanks for all your replies.

walle · Post by **walle** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 3:26 am

Another option could be to replace the casing, I guess you go woot?!?, well, the P18X for instance, has the power supply at the bottom of the casing which is very beneficial in that it only cools itself, ok, one or two hard drives but they donâ€™t tend to generate that much heat so it shouldnâ€™t pose a major problem. Iâ€™m to lazy right now to check out the price on one of those P18X, but I guess that the price difference between that casing and the modus 82+ wouldnâ€™t be that great, so, If I were you I would actually spend the money on a new casing instead, also, I guess (just guessing here) that you could disconnect that small 60mm fan should you have the power supply seated in a P18X, I really think that would be possible since the unit would not be subjected to that â€œheat pocketâ€

matcote · Post by **matcote** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 6:09 am

you can go with something like that:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.php? ... ROUP%20USA

Ant6n · Post by **Ant6n** » Sat Jun 14, 2008 11:29 am

Wouldn't it be possible to just get an external 12v dc brick, at 75+ watts, and wire it to the auxiliary power supply of the graphics card?
It would mean that the card gets that power even when the pc is off, but I don't know whether that is a big problem (probably not).

krille · Post by **krille** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 3:56 pm

gibant1 if you're worried about your PSU fan ramping up under heavy loads, try the Zalman ZM850-HP (the review is of the ZM1000-HP, but the ZM850-HP should be the same, the ZM750-HP is not however). A little pricey, but essentially inaudible at 400W load. It should give you headroom for SLI and some overclocking!

I know I'm getting one for my gaming rig.

edit: That would power your entire system of course.

Luminair · Post by **Luminair** » Mon Jun 16, 2008 8:23 pm

if your psu fan is ramping up it means your case is getting hot, not that you need another psu.

flow more air through the case and the temperatures will fall...