Author Topic: Power question (Read 231 times)

Gunthr · « **on:** August 24, 2002, 11:31:09 AM »

Discalaimer: I'm an electrical retard. I have no clue what watts, amps, and voltage really means.

I've got an Antec mid-tower server case with Antec 400watt ps and a Shuttle AK31r2 mobo, with 512 mb pc2100 ram. Got a floppy drive, zip drive, 40 gig 7200 rpm HD, 5 gig 5400 rpm HD, and a cd/burner.

(2) 80mm fans pulling in the bottom front - molex direct to ps
(2) 80 mm fans blowing out top rear - molex direct to ps
(1) slot cooler exhaust fan under video card -molex direct to ps

Alpha Pal 8045 cooler with Hi Perf Sunon 80mm fan - molex direct to ps, on an AMD 1600+, stock.

Soon, I'm replacing my current video card with the ATI 9700 PRO, and I will be overclocking my cpu. I may have to go to a more powerful cooler fan.

I just happen to have an unused Antec 300 watt ps lying around. I am thinking about mounting this on the outside rear of my case and running the molex connector off the ATI 9700 out to the "auxillary" ps.

Is there any reason why I can't do this, or shouldn't do this? I feel like I'll be getting close to maxing out my 400 watt ps. Am I wrong about this?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #1 on:** August 24, 2002, 11:52:57 AM »

Gunthr, what video card do you currently have in that system? If it is a high end NVidia card, you probably will be ok. The 9700 power connector is really just there for motherboards who cannot supply the maximum AGP power to the video card.
The 9700 Pro card consumes between 48 and 50 watts, which is just a bit over the 48W AGP 2.0 specification.

That aside, you could use the other power supply, but you would need to be concerned about common ground.

I would just try the 9700 Pro and see if you have any issues. If you do, then you may want to get a 430Watt Tru-Power supply from Antec. If the supply in there now is an Antec, my bet, is you are going to be ok.

bloom25 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 24, 2002, 12:03:31 PM »

There's no reason to do that. A 400W power supply should have no trouble powering that rig.

Gunthr · « **Reply #3 on:** August 24, 2002, 12:15:59 PM »

Ok, that is good to hear.

I'm curious now if I should ever want to do that in the future, would running both power supplies off the same surge protector be equivilant to having a "common ground"? If not, what would you have to do?

Gunthr · « **Reply #4 on:** August 25, 2002, 06:01:43 PM »

Dual Power Supply rig w/common ground

Setup