Happy but sad day i just got 2 geforce 8800!

[YarisSedan]

BUT THEY WONT FIT! =( Not even one sadly enough. Its been about 7 years since i hand built a machine from scratch. I would like some input of the computer geeks on here. On what power supply i will need type of case motherboard etc....

These things are massive and take 2 slots a piece. I was gona try to build a machine to run dual sli. Unless someone knows of a cheap prebuilt such as dell that will be able to fit both of them.

[YarisSedan]

http://features.cgsociety.org/stories/2007_12/2007_retrospective/images/Geforce_8800_GTS_320MB_01.jpg

[yarisitis]

You bought them without even knowing if they were compatible or not? You always want to make sure everything is compatible before you fork up money.

How much power you'll need depends on your other hardware too, but if you want to run two of them I'd say you'll need at least a 600 watt PSU, it really depends on what other hardware you're running though.

Corsair has a good power supply calculator:

http://www.corsair.com/default.aspx

It's on the bottom of the page.

[yarisitis]

800 watt PSU might be overkill.

According to the power supply calculator, you can run an Intel i7 with the two video cards he already has and 2 hard drives with a 650 watt PSU.

Don't spend more money on parts that you're not going to take full advantage of, what's the point of buying an 800 watt PSU for $100-150 more when you're fine with a 650 watt PSU? It's a waste.

Also I highly recommend you get a Corsair PSU. I recently built my new computer and did a lot of research and their PSU's are probably the best ones out there.

[IllusionX]

650w is PLENTY.... There is enough power with a 300w to run a core2duo E6400, 4 ram dimms (dual channel 3gb), 1HD, 1 optical and an ATi HD4870..

i just setup an over kill system with SLI 8800ultra, and at full load, it takes up to 567w only.

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

spec:
- core2quad extreme QX9775 3.2ghz
- 6x DDR3 dimms
- high end board
- 2x high rpm HDD (aka velociraptor!)
- 1 optical
- 4 fans
- 10% capacitor aging..

[YarisSedan]

Well i had bought one from a friend for 40 bucks and then i found another so i offered 70 for both. I figured i would get one for my computer and use the other for my brothers.

[Gideon]

650w is PLENTY.... There is enough power with a 300w to run a core2duo E6400, 4 ram dimms (dual channel 3gb), 1HD, 1 optical and an ATi HD4870..

i just setup an over kill system with SLI 8800ultra, and at full load, it takes up to 567w only.

http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

spec:
- core2quad extreme QX9775 3.2ghz
- 6x DDR3 dimms
- high end board
- 2x high rpm HDD (aka velociraptor!)
- 1 optical
- 4 fans
- 10% capacitor aging..

+1, go with a 750 if it makes you feel better, but unless you're overclocking and adding in multiple drives, anything more is just a waste.

I rocked a 750 with my old SLI 8800 rig and never ran into any problems. This is with a heavy overclock on an older Core2Duo too. :smile:

[yarrr]

lol who runs one HD and one optical....

PK is right

[Gideon]

^ Why would you need two optical drives? Most people don't.

If you look at what Illusion posted that's with two HD drives and 10,000 RPM drives at that. Besides, with 1TB drives, how many drives do you really need to cram in a computer these days?

[yarrr]

^ Why would you need two optical drives? Most people don't.

copy disc to disc....

If you look at what Illusion posted that's with two HD drives and 10,000 RPM drives at that. Besides, with 1TB drives, how many drives do you really need to cram in a computer these days?

Solid state/high speed for program/OS, slow HD for storage.

You're talking 20 bucks to not be under 90% load all the time... I don't even know why were having this conversation.

[Gideon]

Solid state/high speed for program/OS, slow HD for storage.

You're talking 20 bucks to not be under 90% load all the time... I don't even know why were having this conversation.

Proof that he would be 90% load on a 650w PS with so far one confirmed component? LOL

Anyways, that's still two drives, which a 650w can handle more than adequately. We're having this conversation because a member who had no idea that he could even use an 8800 bought one and is now asking for advice for building a cheap system to use it.

Just trying to help him get the most bang for buck, if he can save a few dollars on a PS, that's free money that can go towards RAM/Mobo/Processor. A power supply should really be at the bottom of his list for allocating funds TBH, when was the last time you heard of someone frying their powersupply due to overload? It's really not that common so long as you go with a good manufacturer.

[Gideon]

in addition if you are overclocking a machine you will need to cool it properly, and that takes fans, pumps and other solutions that require power
don't forget most of cooling solutions use the PSU for power also, so for example a water cooling pump for the pc will take anywhere between 8 to 12W of power , now if you add all these items together you will quickly find out that your PSU is struggling if its not properly rated.

Is he going to overclock it?

Is he going to watercool it?

Based upon what HE wants we can make a recommendation, but if none of the above apply, why bother? :iono:

[yarisitis]

He said the last time he built a PC was 7 years ago which probably means he's not constantly upgrading to have the latest in hardware.

Like Gideon said, the dude doesn't sound like he's an overclocker, water cooling, must have all the most expensive bad ass top of the line parts and have 2 or 3 of everything.

To justify having two optical drives for the purpose of avoiding caching to a hard drive and using more system resources for copying discs, you better be copying 100 discs a day. Otherwise most users, like the OP seems to be, will suffice with just one. Having two in most cases is stupid and a waste of money.

[YarisSedan]

Okay so this is my plan i was able to cram the video card into my current prebuilt dell. Took a bit of work i had to bend the front bracket to get it to fit and hammer it a bit to wedge it into the only pci express slot. Then i had the issue the cable for the hard drive was not long enough to extend over the huge video card. so i had to relocate the hard drive. then the cable for the cd drive wouldnt either so i temporarliy disconected it.

Then the cables for the front usb had the same issue this thing takes up so much space.

Finally i boot up the computer and it makes this loud beeping noise. I look on google and apparently it takes so much power it requires an external power source a 6 pin connector which my power supply dosnt have. But either way its only 300 watts which i dont think would cut it anwyays. So i orderd on newegg a 460 watt power supply for 30 bucks that has the connectors i need and some new cheap sata cables to reach. Hopefully this works. If not im going to try building a new computer and cannbilize the hard drive and ram off my current one and obviousely already have the video card /cards.

So just need to purchase a case and motherboard and chipset. My budget im looking to spend is no more than 600 hopefully.

[yarisitis]

$30 for a 460 watt PSU? Is it some cheapo brand? What is it?

[Gideon]

$30 for a 460 watt PSU? Is it some cheapo brand? What is it?

lol, that's what I was thinking but a quick look at what Newegg shows a few Coolermasters of that wattage and at that price. (They go up in price after those two) A quick look at both show 36A on the 12v line, which is well within what Nvidia recommends (26a IIRC).

Though if you throw that second 8800 in there, you'll need to go bigger.

[IllusionX]

26A??

WTF, most 500w PSU come with dual 14Aor 18A.

anyways... the Dell pc takes so little power.... the 300w ran the ATi HD4870 (8800GTX equivalent??)
just had to cut some wires out and fitted the 6pin PCI-E plug.. haha

by the way.. according to the 'extreme PSU calulator'... a core2duo, 2x ddr2 ram, 1hdd, 1 optical, 3 usb devices and a 8800gts 1024mb takes 286w with 15% capacitor aging.

300w is plenty imo.

[YarisSedan]

26A??

WTF, most 500w PSU come with dual 14Aor 18A.

anyways... the Dell pc takes so little power.... the 300w ran the ATi HD4870 (8800GTX equivalent??)
just had to cut some wires out and fitted the 6pin PCI-E plug.. haha

by the way.. according to the 'extreme PSU calulator'... a core2duo, 2x ddr2 ram, 1hdd, 1 optical, 3 usb devices and a 8800gts 1024mb takes 286w with 15% capacitor aging.

300w is plenty imo.

Thats what i was hoping for. From what i googled online 300w can run the setup i want. Also power supplys are usually underated. But either way i didnt have the c pin pci plug i never though about cutting and spliting my own plug lol. Oh well new power supply should be here thursday hopefully it all works out.

[YarisSedan]

Okay i got my new power supply which is a coolmaster 460w Plugged everythign in and it works but now when i get to windows it gives me this error that says my video card has inssuficient power and is running at a lower quality now as a result.

What gets me as this should be more than plenty power. I downloaded all the latest drivers and updated my bios.

[yarisitis]

What hardware do you have in your computer right now? What kind of processor, how many hard drives/optical drives, how many case fans and anything else like PCI cards and stuff.


Stupid question but you did plug in the PCI-E power cable from your power supply into the the video card right?

[YarisSedan]

I have a athalon dual core with 4 gigs ram and 1 dvd drive. I made sure the power cord was plugged in. It wouldnt boot up til it was.

[yarisitis]

That is weird, 460 watts should be more than enough like you said.

Is this the PSU you bought:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817171046

Under the specs it says it has 18 amps for the +12v rail.

If you look here at this video card which is like the one you have:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16814130082

It says under the specs that it requires a PSU with a +12v rail of 26 amps.

However your PSU has 2 +12v rails both at 18 which gives you 36 total but I don't know if the card requires only 1 +12v rail at 26 or higher rather than 2 separate ones. It's confusing.

This is why it's best not to go cheap on a power supply.