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A8N-SLI power requirments?

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Celeron_Phreak

Member
Joined
Mar 28, 2003
I ordered an ASUS A8N-SLI (just the regular model) today, since I recieved my state tax refund. I was wondering if I will need to upgrade my power supply from the Fortron 530W, or will I be safe with a 24-pin ATX power adapter and the PCI-Express six-pin video power adapter?

~C.P.
 
You should be fine as long as your +12V Rail has at least 18A. More would be better, and dual or tri +12V rails would be the best.
 
Hmm, the Fortron 530W does have an 18V rail. I don't know if I want to chance sability with the 7800GT, two optical drives and two hard drives though.

Would it be that bad if I kept my 3000+ and bought the 7800GT and a new power supply, excluding a CPU entirely?
 
I'm running a 500W Antec Dual 12V PSU on 2 Opticals, 1 HDD, and a 7800GTCO by EVGA all on the A8N-SLI Premium. That is a great and inexpensive PSU if you do decide to switch. (Not to mention all my fans have LEDs on 'em)

I'd see it as less risky to go to a native 24-pin power supply design, despite the A8N's EZ-Plug (which I believe is meant to circumvent the 20-24pin issue, if I read the manual correctly). It will also be SLI Ready, and the Dual 12V Rails would definately offer more stability in such a case if you do wish to upgrade to Dual Video in the future.

I believe in the dual 12V Rail system 1 rail goes to the 4-pin +12V connecter which handles your CPU and then the other rail handles all peripheral connections.
 
I don't see the 24-pin power adapters as a risky component at all. If they were unsafe, they wouldn't sell them.

I've got my mind made up on a SeaSonic 600W if I do upgrade. I'm going for quiet, cool, and power effecient. The SeaSonic lands in all of these areas.

Looks like no CPU until I get the cash to upgrade it.
 
Sure they're not unsafe, but they're not the best part to get the job done. Native is always better IMO. I was definately more worried about the 7800GT not getting enough juice from the PSU. Your processor should handle everything you throw at it right now anyways. You'll definately see the bigger performance graphically by the video upgrade as the CPU you have won't bottleneck it at all. I myself went from a 3.0GHz P4HT to a 4400+ X2 and I've seen at least 10% load time decrease and much better multitasking, but I'm sure my load times will really go down once I get my two 250GB WD Caviars in a RAID0 :). CPU is definately one of the last things I would look at for upgrading right now anyways.
 
i run a ocz powerstream sli in my rig and with my overclock in my sig my 12v rail is still rock steady from the factory settings. 12.22 idle and 12.29 both cores fully loaded playing games and what not. Awesome PSU IMHO!
 
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