8800 GTS (G92) Power Requirements

[farfromhome]

I'm thinking about getting a 8800 GTS 512 MB (G92), but am a little concerned about the power requirements. I have the Thermaltake ToughPower 750W, which should have plenty of juice, but the 8800 GTS takes nearly as much power as the 8800 GTX in some reviews, but only has a single 6-pin power connector. Yet in the review of my power supply (http://www.jonnyguru.com/review_details.php?id=17&page_num=2), only 12 amps were able to be drawn from any single 12V rail in the hot box without it shutting down. So that would give 144W from the power supply and 75W from the PCI Express slot (correct?), and thus 219W in all.

Is my analysis correct? Was the power supply in the review an anomaly or is the 12V per-rail limit an unfortunate fact of the power supply? How much power does the 8800 GTS 512 MB alone take? Thanks. :)

[jonnyGURU]

It's not because there was more than 12A on a +12V rail that the 750W shut down in the hot box. It's because there was more than 48A on the combined +12V rail while in the hot box. You could draw up to 18A per rail on the 750W without a hitch, cold or hot. You just wouldn't be able to draw that much from all of the rails at the same time. ;) But that's normal.

Your 750W is more than enough for an 8800 GTS.

[farfromhome]

Ah, that makes sense. I knew that the 750W would be enough, just didn't know if they would be distributed in a good way for it or not. So now I know that I had just been misinterpreting your review. Thanks for the quick reply! :)