Power required for gtx470/480 & gtx285ocx

[sap]

Hi,

I am planning to buy another video card but I want to keep my bfg gtx285 ocx as a phyxs card. The other card will either be a gtx470 or the gtx480 depending if my current PSU can supply the required energy. My actual PSU is the tagan 900w. Do you think I will be able to power up my system (cpu i7 920)?

Thanks for your feedback.

[Zero82z]

Your current PSU is enough for everything.

[mkultra]

more than enough, i have a 950w enemax and with a 480+5450(lol)+980x i never seen my killawatt reaching 600w with my setup fully loaded

[_dangtx_]

well, first of all welcome aboard.

and then we get to the juice.

lets look at the 12v demands..

a 480 will eat some 260 watts under normal gaming mode, and over 300 when furmarked. overclocking will add some.
a 285 oc'ed will probably eat some 175-185 watts or perhaps 200.
lets add some 200-300 more for the rest of the system.

since your psu can do 800 watts or better(not sure which model you got) on the 12v rail? you will be pretty fine :)

[Delavan]

Maybe it's just me, but a GTX285 factory OCed for PHYSX is way overkill isn't it? I remember discussions leading to the fact that more is not always better when PhysX comes into play.

I wonder if it would be better to just sell the card (or keep it as a spare), and install a 240GT or something of that nature for PHYSX processing for lower power draw, less heat in the case and all..

[mkultra]

dangtx
the 285 won't be fully loaded as a physx card nor a "gaming load" either, and yes it's totally overkill

[_dangtx_]

yes sir, but just in case. i saw some graphs about power usage on...200 series i believe. something like 50%, but i dont remember if it was based on full furmark load or regular gaming mode.

[rjbarker]

^^^ Throw GPU's that are less powerful than a 285 at Mafia II w Max PhysX enabled and you'll realize their is nothing overkill at all using a 280/285 as dedicated PhysX card....why sell it just to replace with a cheaper PhysX Card that doesn't perform as well....
....no need to concern over the heat being generated by the 285 as PhysX dedicated because it doesn't have anywhere near the same load as it would have as dedicated GPU..(Max maybe 45% utilization)..way less power consumption n way less heat generated.