If these cards run ok on 300 watt PS why do manufacturers recommend 350W or even 450 on some of them?

look at the nVidia website, i'm sure they'rerecomending a 650w for s system that runs a 4890

I've been poised to go out and buy bigger PSUs if my ATIs didn't work, but so far they have been running OK.

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Milkyway is the most efficient project in terms of joules/credit for CPUs, it is just an order of magnitude better for the good GPU's.

If someone chooses to do MW on their CPU they will be getting the best credit per joule they can than on any other BOINC project.

There should be no arguement about this.

Live long and BOINC!

At this present time there are no Projects that pay (nor will pay in the future) for the energy that I use.
So, as long as I'm the one paying the bills and I can afford to spend my money on the voluntary work that I do, I will continue.

If the day comes when I cannot afford it I will stop.

I don't place any relevance to the efficiency arguement. It's my choice.

If crunchers are so concerned about the cost of running systems 24/7, then maybe they should have a rethink!

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If these cards run ok on 300 watt PS why do manufacturers recommend 350W or even 450 on some of them?

look at the nVidia website, i'm sure they'rerecomending a 650w for s system that runs a 4890

Right now my i7-920 running @ 3.6GHZ & 3 NVIDIA 200 Series Video Cards is using 432 Watt's running under full load, included in the Case are:

1. i7 CPU & 3.6 Ghz
2. 3 NVIDIA GPU Card's (1-295 1-280 1-260) all Overclocked
3. 2 SATA Hard Drives
4. 1 DVD Recorder/Player
5. 7 120mm Case Fans on High Speed
6. 1 240mm Case Fan on High Speed

I run a 950 Watt 85+ PSU in the case, but as you can see it doesn't need any where's near that if it's only using 432 Watt's. But I insure more reliability I think by running a 950 PSU over say a 500 PSU & this is why the Manufactures usually recommend a much higher Watt PSU than you Probably need.

Another reason I put a 950 Watt in the i7 I built is for the Future, who knows what new hardware might come out or what I might want to throw in it if that new hardware does come out. It had a 900 Watt PSU in it until a few days ago, that PSU just up & Died on me so I went with a little better one this time & hope it lives longer than the last one ... :)

5. 7 120mm Case Fans on High Speed
6. 1 240mm Case Fan on High Speed

Can you hear me now?

What do you think you're pushing as far as dB / SPL? 60-70?

At this present time there are no Projects that pay (nor will pay in the future) for the energy that I use.

You know, that's what I find so funny about some people that have posted here on these forums...saying that they "can't afford" having their systems sitting idle. Ummm...yeah, you can afford that more because they're not consuming as much energy. By "afford" though, they mean the intangible "cobblestones" that they're not getting, thus it's about the points...

We need to come up with a song that's similar to "It's All About the Benjamins"...

...

We need to come up with a song that's similar to "It's All About the Benjamins"...

OMG...don't give Benjamin a big head!

5. 7 120mm Case Fans on High Speed
6. 1 240mm Case Fan on High Speed

Can you hear me now?

What do you think you're pushing as far as dB / SPL? 60-70?

Never gave it much thought really since there's a mess of other Computers in the room with it with just as many Fan's as the i7. It's noise to some people but it's Music to my Ears :>

I have a ToughPower Thermaltake 650W PS.
Like I said I have a gaming rig and is of the type of guy that upgrade at least once a year one component or another.
I probably don't need all that power but I have piece of mind. I won't need one unless it goes in smoke like the last I had.
It was a stock PS 500W in a Apevia case and 2 days after installing my now defund 8800GTX it went on me.
Probably just a bad PS from manufacturer. In any case I just chose this particular one which I felt would suit me for a couple years.

As far as crunching like a madman whether on GPU or CPU I am quite content the way my 2 rigs crucnh.
I remember not so long ago that it took me 2 years to crunch 11000 credits on a celeron at S@H.
I upgraded in the summer of 97 to a C2D E6850 for 1 and to a Q6600 in the other computer. In one year they crunched over 1 million credit. Needless to say I was happy.
And happier when they came with CUDA and GPU technologies.
My preferences are S@H being with this project since 2004 and MW.
Allthough I occasionally run another project or 2.
After all this is for science's sake.
We should just be happy to be able to be here and living while other are forced to their hospital bed all day long or worst.
Being a steel worker I have a good salary and is therefore able to afford some upgrade.
I was not that fortunate at one point. But I still crunched S@H at a crawling pace and I was happy to help.
In Tibet they say "One thousand priest, one thousand religions"
Of course some of us will want to be first in credit and so on. This is just our nature. When I game online with 15 other people around the world I am very competetive and wants to be the first.
But I never forget my origin which in fact were quite humble. I never forget also that at one point I did not have money to spend on a rig.
If you crunch, just be proud to be helping a higher cause whether you get 3 credit/day or 150000 credit/day.

Have a great day all and just smile

Martin Chartrand

5. 7 120mm Case Fans on High Speed
6. 1 240mm Case Fan on High Speed

Can you hear me now?

What do you think you're pushing as far as dB / SPL? 60-70?

Never gave it much thought really since there's a mess of other Computers in the room with it with just as many Fan's as the i7. It's noise to some people but it's Music to my Ears :>

Yeah, the other thing that strikes me as funny are people who post low ratings on Newegg for the Vantec Tornado fans or any other of those high RPM (and high CFM) fans because they are "LOOOUUUUUD!!!!!". No kidding Sherlock. Ya think you're going to move that much air and not hear it at all?

Very interesting -- most of the specs for various 48xx cards indicate the need for a 450W or greater PS. The thing is, I'm running 95W and 125W CPU's (AMD 9600/9850/A940) and wondering if that changes the numbers a bit.

hello all,
i am power supply only 450w, and running GPU "milky" and 100/100 CPU in other project,
and no problem for power :)
regards,
laurent

Hi laurant & BarryAZ. I have ATI HD4870 and HD4850s all running in boxes with a power supply of no more than 330w. All these also crunch CPDN with CPU. They were all going full pelt when I was up to a RAC of 150,000+ not so long ago and I haven't experienced any PSU problems with them (yet).

What sort of ATI GPU's are you running? I'm guessing older lower power cards (Radeon x550 and the like).

As for 450W - all my ATI's are happy with around 300W - so far...

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Very interesting -- most of the specs for various 48xx cards indicate the need for a 450W or greater PS. The thing is, I'm running 95W and 125W CPU's (AMD 9600/9850/A940) and wondering if that changes the numbers a bit.

The first ATI card I put to work, a Sapphire HD4850, and therefore the longest I have had crunching on MW, is in a PC with PSU output of 250W, max surge (10 sec) 270W.

The highest PSU output I have for a ATI HD4850/70 crunching MW is in a PC with PSU output of 330W.

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I think they recommend higher wattage PSUs because cheap, brandless PSUs generally overstate the wattage they can actually do. It might also have to do with the amps they draw per rail, but I'm no expert.

That makes sense -- I've been using Rosewell Power Supplies of late, actually found them a bit more reliable (and a better value) than the Thermaltakes I have deployed. The various Rosewell's I have run from 400W all the way up to 600W (the higher watt versions typically get picked off on sale at NewEgg). I am running a mix of AMD X2 CPU's, Phenom X3 and X4, and one recent Phenom II 940. The X2 CPU's run from 65W to 125W, the X3 and X4 are 95W and 125W, the 940 is a 125W CPU. Other power use considerations are the memory being used, in most cases I'm running DDR2 800 memory at stock 1.8v, but if one is trying to run DDR2 1066 memory or overclock DDR2 800 memory, then the voltage required runs to 2.0 - 2.2 and that takes more power. In most cases I'm running embedded video (ranging from the older nVidea 6200 to the newer ATI 3300). In some cases I have ATI 1250's or 1550, or nVidea 7200GS, 8400GS and a couple 9400GT.

I'm looking into the 4830 GPU along with some mid range newer Nvidia -- but I'm not in a big hurry for that -- need some free $ to do that. But it does sound like I may be able to avoid upgrading Power supplies when I push the video envelope.

I think they recommend higher wattage PSUs because cheap, brandless PSUs generally overstate the wattage they can actually do. It might also have to do with the amps they draw per rail, but I'm no expert.

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hi,
i am GPU saphire HD4830, AMD ATHLON 7750 2.69 ghz dual core
2go ram G.SKILL, HDD 500 GO, pc home made, for 430 euro
this PC is only for crunch BOINC :)

5. 7 120mm Case Fans on High Speed
6. 1 240mm Case Fan on High Speed

Can you hear me now?

What do you think you're pushing as far as dB / SPL? 60-70?

Never gave it much thought really since there's a mess of other Computers in the room with it with just as many Fan's as the i7. It's noise to some people but it's Music to my Ears :>

Yeah, the other thing that strikes me as funny are people who post low ratings on Newegg for the Vantec Tornado fans or any other of those high RPM (and high CFM) fans because they are "LOOOUUUUUD!!!!!". No kidding Sherlock. Ya think you're going to move that much air and not hear it at all?

I used to run the Vantec Tornado Fans but they got to loud for even me, I still run one on a Box that has a small Radiator but I have a Fan Regulator hooked to it and keep it just below the point where the Tornado Fan begins that high pitched whine their noted for ... :)

can we all just shut up and let the stuff crunch for science!!!!! pick a project or a dozen if that makes you feel happy that you are contributing. just let whatever you have (cpu only, cpu + ATI, CPU + Nvidia) CRUNCH!

can we all just shut up and let the stuff crunch for science!!!!! pick a project or a dozen if that makes you feel happy that you are contributing. just let whatever you have (cpu only, cpu + ATI, CPU + Nvidia) CRUNCH!

I run a 950 Watt 85+ PSU in the case, but as you can see it doesn't need any where's near that if it's only using 432 Watt's. But I insure more reliability I think by running a 950 PSU over say a 500 PSU & this is why the Manufactures usually recommend a much higher Watt PSU than you Probably need.

Partly it is reliability, partly efficiency and some other technical I am too mushy brained to attempt to explain today. There are graphs of electronic technobabble that in summary means you made the right choice.

Put it another way, 45 foot yacht, tow it with a mini-pickup, or a full size? The 4 cylinder engine in the mini might be able to do the job, but it won't be pretty getting up those hills ...

look at the nVidia website, i'm sure they'rerecomending a 650w for s system that runs a 4890

I'm still wondering why nVidia will say what PSU to use on a competitor's videocard. Should you then believe the information that's there? It's like ATI/AMD telling you you need a 1150W PSU on a GTX 295. ;-)

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Jord.

The BOINC FAQ Service.

My computers don't need a power supply at the moment.
They are all switched off as there is no work to keep the ATI GPU's busy.
Saving electricity is good.
The CPU in the computer posting this message runs other projects as well as MW. MW resource share set at 1 and it still waits for work.

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