ATI Radeon X1900 XT, will my PSU handle it?

polobunny · June 13th, 2006

I've been looking at this little monster there for a good time now, and i've been wondering if my PSU was good enough to run it. It's an Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W delivering 17A on the first 12V rail and 19A on the other one. I have the system in my sig, however most of the time I run my CPU @ 2750mhz 1.45v instead of 3Ghz 1.6v. Normally i'd recommend a better power supply for my clients but I just bought this one not so long ago. :P

That said, do you think it's worth it? I've been pushing this poor X850 XT to it's limit lately. I've been checking the 7950 GX2 also, but barely better than the X1900XTX on a few tests while on others the X1900XTX is far in front. I guess the X1900 XT can reach the XTX speeds without much problem, but i've read that it wasn't an overclock monster either, some weird lock appearing somehow so it couldn't go as high as the XTX can overclock. *breathes*

Soon enough i'll be adding a dual core in the computer too, something like an opty 165 probably.

Thanks for your time, much appreciated.

**gvblake22** · June 13th, 2006

I think the X1900XT is a good upgrade. It is a very powerful card with a lot of extra features the X850 doesn't have (like Avivo and PixelShader model 3.0).

I think your PSU should be able to handle it, as long as you are only running the single card.

And I bet the reason why they aren't amazing overclockers is because they put out a lot of heat and it's hard to get really beefy cooling for video cards because of the size constraints. If you could mod some kind of CPU cooler onto it, you would probably be better off (talk to RangerXLT8).

Tyreal · June 13th, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by gvblake22

I think the X1900XT is a good upgrade. It is a very powerful card with a lot of extra features the X850 doesn't have (like Avivo and PixelShader model 3.0).

I think your PSU should be able to handle it, as long as you are only running the single card.

And I bet the reason why they aren't amazing overclockers is because they put out a lot of heat and it's hard to get really beefy cooling for video cards because of the size constraints. If you could mod some kind of CPU cooler onto it, you would probably be better off (talk to RangerXLT8).

As Blake said, I think that the power supply will be able to handle it as well.

Whatever you do, don't use the VF900 on it. The X1900XT/ XTX generates way to much heat for it to handle.

**One4yu2c** · June 13th, 2006

That's a total of 36A across the +12V rails - I'd be surprised if that Antec choked on that videocard.

**Capper** · June 13th, 2006

You'll be perfectly fine I use an Antec 550W on my test bench and at various times have run far more power hungruy systems without a single issue

polobunny · June 14th, 2006

Ah ok, thanks for your opinion guys I just got slightly worried there seeing how the X1900's eat more power than 2 7900GT. :) Also that my PSU is now SLI certified and what not.

gvblake22, what I meant is the XT doesn't overclock like the XTX. They're basicly the same card, but everyone is having issues overclocking the XT somehow. Even after falshing the bios.

June 13th, 2006	#1
polobunny T-Rex Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 5,101 Blog Entries: 6	ATI Radeon X1900 XT, will my PSU handle it? I've been looking at this little monster there for a good time now, and i've been wondering if my PSU was good enough to run it. It's an Antec SmartPower 2.0 500W delivering 17A on the first 12V rail and 19A on the other one. I have the system in my sig, however most of the time I run my CPU @ 2750mhz 1.45v instead of 3Ghz 1.6v. Normally i'd recommend a better power supply for my clients but I just bought this one not so long ago. :P That said, do you think it's worth it? I've been pushing this poor X850 XT to it's limit lately. I've been checking the 7950 GX2 also, but barely better than the X1900XTX on a few tests while on others the X1900XTX is far in front. I guess the X1900 XT can reach the XTX speeds without much problem, but i've read that it wasn't an overclock monster either, some weird lock appearing somehow so it couldn't go as high as the XTX can overclock. breathes Soon enough i'll be adding a dual core in the computer too, something like an opty 165 probably. Thanks for your time, much appreciated.

June 13th, 2006	#5
Capper We take both criticism and positive comments very positively Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 6,070 Blog Entries: 6	You'll be perfectly fine I use an Antec 550W on my test bench and at various times have run far more power hungruy systems without a single issue INTEL QX9650 // Gigabyte EP45 Extreme // 8GB PC2-8500 // BFG GTX260 MaxCore // DD Torture Rack // Seagate 750GB HDD // OCZ Vendetta // PC Power & Cooling 620W PSU

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June 13th, 2006	#2
gvblake22 Modder-ator Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Tempe Desert Posts: 6,480 Blog Entries: 1	I think the X1900XT is a good upgrade. It is a very powerful card with a lot of extra features the X850 doesn't have (like Avivo and PixelShader model 3.0). I think your PSU should be able to handle it, as long as you are only running the single card. And I bet the reason why they aren't amazing overclockers is because they put out a lot of heat and it's hard to get really beefy cooling for video cards because of the size constraints. If you could mod some kind of CPU cooler onto it, you would probably be better off (talk to RangerXLT8).

June 13th, 2006	#4
One4yu2c I don't know how to put this, but, I'm kind of a big deal. Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Land of the Lounge Lizards Posts: 2,735 Blog Entries: 3	That's a total of 36A across the +12V rails - I'd be surprised if that Antec choked on that videocard.

June 14th, 2006	#6
polobunny T-Rex Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 5,101 Blog Entries: 6	Ah ok, thanks for your opinion guys I just got slightly worried there seeing how the X1900's eat more power than 2 7900GT. :) Also that my PSU is now SLI certified and what not. gvblake22, what I meant is the XT doesn't overclock like the XTX. They're basicly the same card, but everyone is having issues overclocking the XT somehow. Even after falshing the bios.