ATI 9800 Pro Power Consumption?

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Nic

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Hi,

I'm thinking of putting together a small PC with 200w PSU, and I need to know how much power (watts) a 9800 Pro, and 9600 Pro graphics card consumes. I plan on installing an Athlon XP 2600+, two hard drives, a DVD +/- RW, and a graphics card. I need to know if the 200w PSU supplied will be enough to cope with a 9600 Pro, or preferably a 9800 Pro along with the items mentioned.

I did email ATI regarding said info, but all I got was the usual winxp installation faq, which basically shows how poor their customer support really is, as they didn't even read my email. If anyone knows, or can provide a link to the info I require, then please post. Thanks in advance :=).
 
Look at this. Looks like you need a 300 watt minimum. I've got a 9700 Pro, and my Gateway has a 250 watt supply and it runs just fine though.
 
Thanks for being helpful olefarte. Check out this article ...

Shuttle XPC SN45G Nforce 2 400 Ultra

... The machine ran a Radeon 9800PRO with an external power plug fine, and with two Corsair DDR 400 memories. We send our compliments to the designers of the power supply unit, capable of powering all these devices ...

That PC has a 200W PSU and it managed to power a 9800 Pro without a hitch. The reviewer only had one hard drive installed, but I wish to install two hard drives. The hard drives I plan on using require around 12W of power each. What I need to know is if I drop from a 9800 Pro to a 9600 Pro, will I save 12W of power, and so be able to run this PC with two hard drives?

Unfortunately the manufacturers of graphics cards don't publish the min/max power consumption figures for their hardware.
 
I got a response from ATI today (after my second email). Apparently the 9800 Pro card consumes around 75W under 'normal' operation. They didn't provide a figure for the 9600 Pro card, but said that it was considerably less. One thing to note is that ATI will not provide support for the 9800 Pro if it is used in a system that does not meet the minimun power supply requirements (i.e. 300W PSU min).

One thing that I do find incredible is that the heatsink/fan on the 9800 Pro is considerably smaller than on a typical CPU of the same power rating (e.g. Athlon XP 3200+). Maybe graphics cards run a lot hotter, or some other 'magic' is going on in the background to keep the chip from becoming toast. :cool:
 
Why are you only using a 200w psu? Mini Tower/ITX?

Thats the probs with those mini cubes and stuff, the PSUs have to be the special tiny ones that only come in 200/250w max.
 
Its for a small portable mini PC with a 200W PSU. It looks like its going to be fine with my 9600 Pro :=).

Basically, I had some bits left over after a recent upgrade and decided to put together a 'mini' unit.
 
i got a 340 watts - 9800pro & 6 fans and its running fine and extremely hot. to the touch its a whole lot hotter then anything else in my comp. i have one fan blowing on it (hehhehe) from the side and i have a pci slot exhaust fan clearing out the air underneath but still that mother runs hot. they should have put on a bigger fan and heatsink like the xts.
 
NIC, Do yourself a favor. For what your going to probably pay for a 300 or 350 watt power supply you can go get a whole new case with a 400 watt supply or higher.
You may want to upgrade later and you'll just kick yourself for not getting it.
I go to a local Computer show every other month here and they carry cases w/ power supplysover 400 wattts for $30.00
even places like Tiger direct.com can help you there.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/Category/category_slc.asp?CatId=341
good deals!
 
Thanks for the advice PIOPNEER P, but I already have a gaming PC with 465W PSU. I want to put together a SFF mini PC that I can take with me on trips if required. The 9600 Pro card will work fine, and I know that even the 9800 Pro will run in that PC, but only if a single hard drive is fitted. As I am fitting two hard drives (I don't require a floppy) I have decided to go with the 9600 Pro just to be safe.
 
--agissi-- there are some SFF pc cases that come with 350W-380W PS. i think the Antecs SFF come with PS of around 380W.
 
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