Do I need a new PSU?

[Osiris5217]

A PCIe graphics card requires 26A on the 12V rail for the whole system. You need a new PSU, or risk losing hardware due to damage.

What exactly is going to run 26A on one rail? I'm using my 12v1 to power my graphics card alone and I'm using the 12v2 to power the rest that require 12v.

Amperage required for PCIe cards varies, they're not all just 26a.

 

[Okedokey]

You have a high end requirement and you clearly don't understand how these things work. You asked if your PSU could handle it and the answer is no.

The ATX2.2 standard dictates that the 12V2 rail is DEDICATED TO THE CPU (not GPU). Meaning you have to power the whole of the rest of your system with 12V1 (17A) = insufficient.

Put it this way. 12V2 is only for the CPU. It cannot share the underutilised power. Therefore the graphics card, hard drives, fans and so on all require power from 12V1 which is rated at 17A. BTW at 17A it shuts down.

The 260 requires up to 15A just by itself according to nVidia. That leaves less than 2A for all the rest of your system bar the CPU.

The 500W minimum that nVidia suggests is misleading because your 550W PSU for example can only provide 17A to the system (minus the CPU), where as something like the Corsair 520W can deliver 40A to the 12V rail due to its EPS 2.91 certification which your PSU lacks. And the Corsair is rated at 30W less.

So as you can see, wattage is misleading, your PSU is underpowered and you need something like the Corsair I mentioned above. http://www.corsair.com/products/hx.aspx

 

[Osiris5217]

You have a high end requirement and you clearly don't understand how these things work. You asked if your PSU could handle it and the answer is no.

The ATX2.2 standard dictates that the 12V2 rail is DEDICATED TO THE CPU (not GPU). Meaning you have to power the whole of the rest of your system with 12V1 (17A) = insufficient.

Put it this way. 12V2 is only for the CPU. It cannot share the underutilised power. Therefore the graphics card, hard drives, fans and so on all require power from 12V1 which is rated at 17A. BTW at 17A it shuts down.

The 260 requires up to 15A just by itself according to nVidia. That leaves less than 2A for all the rest of your system bar the CPU.

The 500W minimum that nVidia suggests is misleading because your 550W PSU for example can only provide 17A to the system (minus the CPU), where as something like the Corsair 520W can deliver 40A to the 12V rail due to its EPS 2.91 certification which your PSU lacks. And the Corsair is rated at 30W less.

So as you can see, wattage is misleading, your PSU is underpowered and you need something like the Corsair I mentioned above. http://www.corsair.com/products/hx.aspx

I see, thank you, but wouldn't my current psu be supplementary for my current setup (9800GTX) as it only uses 11ish amps. Leaving 6A overhead for my HDD and fan?

Oh yeah, a mistake on the fan, it isn't 120mm, it's 90mm.