For Those Who Told Me Installing a Graphics Card Was Easy....

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Sassy Romano wrote:

Czari, go back and re-read what I said about adequate power on a single 12V rail.  You just want to make sure that the power supply isn't dividing it's total power between multiple rails.  Although you're not likely to run into a problem, go for quality, not just the cheapest "hi-power" one that you're presented with.

Oh, the good ones are also usually very efficient (cheaper to run!) and have entered into voluntary certification.  Read here for more details 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/80_Plus

In simple terms, if you have an 80% efficient power supply, 20% of the power from the wall socket is just being converted to heat.  Draw 200W and that's 40W doing nothing but warming the room slightly but you're paying for that and getting only heat from it.  My PSU right now is reporting 97% efficient, that's just 8W warming the room from 249W drawn.

A very highly efficient PSU, while not being the only factor, should be a further guide as to the design and quality.

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This does bring up a consideration for Czari's current power supply. If it has completely separate 12V rails, feeding different pigtails, it may not be possible to "Y" two of them together into the single six pin connector using the harness that came with her GPU board.

Czari, can you give us the make/model of your PSU so we can make sure you're able to use two 12V Molex connections to power the GPU?

Also, there's no need to upgrade your PSU if it's actually capable of powering the new GPU along with the rest of your computer. It may look nicer to have a 6-wire cable going directly from the PSU to the GPU, but once the hatch is closed, you won't see it.

[Sassy Romano]

She said that it was difficult to get to and would require removal to see the label but yes, if it's capable and budget is a concern, there's movitation there

[Czari Zenovka]

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Sassy Romano wrote:

She said that it was difficult to get to and would require removal to see the label but yes, if it's capable and budget is a concern, there's movitation there

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Thank you Sassy & Maddy (has a nice ring to it ) for your wonderful info.  Yes, my PSU has no info on the side that I can see and I can't see the other side of it just by taking the side panel off, there is another metal "wall" that I assume is connected to the MB and I'm not about to mess with that.

I have been hoarding Christmas gift money until I could decide what I really, really wanted to spend it on.  It is just enough to get a decent 650W PSU.  Since I'm going to make sure I buy one with a single 6-pin connector to the graphics card, do I still need to be concerned about "rails?"

 

[Alicia Sautereau]

Nope, don`t worry

Just get a modulair one to cut on the spaghetti mess

[Madelaine McMasters]

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Czari Zenovka wrote:

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Sassy Romano wrote:

She said that it was difficult to get to and would require removal to see the label but yes, if it's capable and budget is a concern, there's movitation there

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Thank you Sassy & Maddy (has a nice ring to it

) for your wonderful info.  Yes, my PSU has no info on the side that I can see and I can't see the other side of it just by taking the side panel off, there is another metal "wall" that I assume is connected to the MB and I'm not about to mess with that.

I have been hoarding Christmas gift money until I could decide what I really, really wanted to spend it on.  It is just enough to get a decent 650W PSU.  Since I'm going to make sure I buy one with a single 6-pin connector to the graphics card, do I still need to be concerned about "rails?"

 

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I'll guess that your current PSU is basic and has only one 12V rail. So paralleling two molex connectors should not be a problem. It's just a matter of being sure the PSU can handle everything. If all you have is the motherboard, GPU, one hard drive and one optical drive, it's probably big enough.

More sophisticated PSUs with 6 and/or 8-pin connectors may power each connector with different 12V circuits, so the GPU vendors must allow for that if they use more than one 6/8-pin connector. Your GPU has only one 6-pin connector, so there is no worry.

The GPU should never draw more power than the 75W allowed over a 6-pin connection. Similarly, the PSU should be designed to provide at least 75W over that connection. The 8-pin connections are specified for 150W.