Where do I look at the Amp?

Euklid

Member
My graphics card requires:

475W PCI Express®-compliant system power supply with a combined
12V current rating of 26A or more.

These are the details for my PSU:
17-341-019-07.jpg

Does that mean my PSU is only outputting 18A to my graphic card
right now?
 
These minimun requirements are for the average system as a whole if your running that video card. The card doesnt pull 475W and 26amps. Your Power Supply total on the 12V rail has around 56 amps. The listing on the rail of 18 amps is just the limit any one rail can pull.
 
. Your Power Supply total on the 12V rail has around 56 amps. The listing on the rail of 18 amps is just the limit any one rail can pull.

You sure?

Looks to me like that PSU pulls 18A x 4 ( 4 - 12 volt rails ) = 72Amps

I'm still learning here - but that's my understanding from what I've learned so far. Add up the 12 volt rails for the amp total of a PSU.
 
You sure?

Looks to me like that PSU pulls 18A x 4 ( 4 - 12 volt rails ) = 72Amps

I'm still learning here - but that's my understanding from what I've learned so far. Add up the 12 volt rails for the amp total of a PSU.

Nope, you just dont add the rails up. Thats the max. any (one) rail can pull before it trips the power supply.
 
I'd like to see a link to the documentation about the Amperage ratings,
and why 2+2 doesn't equal 4...

To lazy to look it up. But (most) Power Supplies are not true multi rail. They are connected to a single 12V line and each line has a limit it can pull off the main 12V rail ( hence the amp limit on each rail) Kinda like a circuit breaker. But it doesnt mean that all the rails can pull there max. at the same time. The main 12V line just doesnt have that many amps. Be best way to get a average amount of amps total. Is to take the total amount of watts. on the 12V rail and divide it by 12.
 
The PSU states 675 watts total available to the 12v rails.
I=watts/volts and that equals 56 amps can be drawn in total. (not allowing for inneficiency)
Each of the four rails is current limited to 18 amps but you cannot draw more than the PSU can provide off the single rail feeding them which is 56 amps.

If you added the 4 x 18 amp rails together it would amount to 864 watts and that is way above the PSU's capacity.

 
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Your fine with the OCZ and the requirements for your card. Its just you need atleast 26 amps for the whole system.

From what I have saw the 9800GTX+/GTS 250 just pulls around 10 amps max. just by itself. As far as watts. A PCIe slot depending on the version can supply 75/100W, the PCIe 6 pin power connector can supply 75W. So the most watts the card can pull is 150/175W. Or if it has 2 PCIe 6 pin power connectors it can pull up to 225/250W.
 
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