didnt read the other posts, but: its totaly safe to use! You wont be able to bring this PSU to its limit with these hardware under normal conditions.
Myself, i was running an HD5850 with 1,17V and 950Mhz, the load of the full pc (inkl E6300@3,2ghz and 4gb ram etc) was about 180W.
Iam using a 400W PSU, so i would be able to fire 2x HD5850 even with oc with this psu.
Dont be scared, this psu will easy handle a single HD6950 with moderat oc (in my opinion even very high oc).
Topic: Is Antec 380 PSU enough for a Radeon 6950? (Read 2751 times)
I have 4 Antec VP450:
1) 1 of them is malfunctioning, it cant even hold a 5850 when oced past 840mhz whiout vcore increse... and the psu conected ONLY to the vga card.
2) the others works fine: they can hold 2x5850@850mhz each one, whiout vcore increase, 1 card at each 12v line (12v2 is only connected to the 4+4pin so some creativity is needed to be able to).
but its not enoght to hold 2 5850@[email protected].
3) i can connect a HD6950 unlocked and occed to 840 mhz and a 6850@940mhz at those too + system (Sempron 140). 6950@12v1 and 6850 at 12v2.
So the 380 it should be fine for a 6950 as long its working ok.
1) 1 of them is malfunctioning, it cant even hold a 5850 when oced past 840mhz whiout vcore increse... and the psu conected ONLY to the vga card.
2) the others works fine: they can hold 2x5850@850mhz each one, whiout vcore increase, 1 card at each 12v line (12v2 is only connected to the 4+4pin so some creativity is needed to be able to).
but its not enoght to hold 2 5850@[email protected].
3) i can connect a HD6950 unlocked and occed to 840 mhz and a 6850@940mhz at those too + system (Sempron 140). 6950@12v1 and 6850 at 12v2.
So the 380 it should be fine for a 6950 as long its working ok.
I would say go with an Antec Earth Watts 650 or something comparable. That way you will have headroom to add another 6950 down the road.
I wouldnt use less then a 400W PSU on a 69XX series card,
unless it's on a atom or zecate CPU that only uses 25 watts total for the entire mobo.
unless it's on a atom or zecate CPU that only uses 25 watts total for the entire mobo.
You're not running a 69xx series card, are you? As I said, it's because of the drivers that the 69xx series cards use. I recommend you take a look at some power consumtion benchmarks of a Sempron 140 before you comment.
Apparently I should, the Sempron 140 uses much more power at full load than I previously stated. I still think his PSU would be fine, though.
Absolutely not. Listen to the people who say you shouldn't have a problem and you'll end up with a burned out psu. We don't know how many fans or hdd's or other accessories you will be adding. Also your cpu is going to be at 100% while mining because of the way the drivers are for those cards. So that's an extra 100 watts. One more very important factor, you NEVER want to run a psu at 90% of it's capacity 24/7 so I suggest a psu with ample headroom.
I often see a lot of confusion on the web about what a PSU's rated wattage is. The "380W" you see is the continuous wattage, or what the PSU is rated to run at all the time. It actually has a slightly higher peak, or max wattage it can provide, albeit not continuously.
And, uh, the CPU mining at 100%? What are you talking about? Usually the OpenCL miners use 10-15% of a CPU, maybe 20%, but certainly not 100%, unless, of course, you set it to use the CPU. And the power consumption? Quad-core CPU's consume 100W, yes, but he is unlikely to have one of those. A Sempron 140 or low-end Athlon II won't consume more that 50-60W, even at full usage.
While it is generally a good idea to have some headroom, you should be just fine with that PSU as long as it is the only major power-using component in the computer.
You're not running a 69xx series card, are you? As I said, it's because of the drivers that the 69xx series cards use. I recommend you take a look at some power consumtion benchmarks of a Sempron 140 before you comment.
Depends.
I have a rig with a dual core Athlon X2, one harddrive, and one fan running two (very overclocked) 5830's on a 400w Enermax PSU. 400w Enermax is also not the same thing as 400w Chinacheap brand.
Spend some time learning about Wattage/Amperage/Voltage. Then estimate the power draw of all your factors (and at which voltage!) and make sure the stated ratings on the PSU sticker have enough comfortable headroom.
I have a rig with a dual core Athlon X2, one harddrive, and one fan running two (very overclocked) 5830's on a 400w Enermax PSU. 400w Enermax is also not the same thing as 400w Chinacheap brand.
Spend some time learning about Wattage/Amperage/Voltage. Then estimate the power draw of all your factors (and at which voltage!) and make sure the stated ratings on the PSU sticker have enough comfortable headroom.
OP, im running a rig with a 380 antec, its powering a mobo that is running 3x 5850 + 1x 5830 , its only powering 1 cards pci-e 6 pins though, the rest are running on other PSU's, so yes, it will be OK
Absolutely not. Listen to the people who say you shouldn't have a problem and you'll end up with a burned out psu. We don't know how many fans or hdd's or other accessories you will be adding. Also your cpu is going to be at 100% while mining because of the way the drivers are for those cards. So that's an extra 100 watts. One more very important factor, you NEVER want to run a psu at 90% of it's capacity 24/7 so I suggest a psu with ample headroom.
I often see a lot of confusion on the web about what a PSU's rated wattage is. The "380W" you see is the continuous wattage, or what the PSU is rated to run at all the time. It actually has a slightly higher peak, or max wattage it can provide, albeit not continuously.
And, uh, the CPU mining at 100%? What are you talking about? Usually the OpenCL miners use 10-15% of a CPU, maybe 20%, but certainly not 100%, unless, of course, you set it to use the CPU. And the power consumption? Quad-core CPU's consume 100W, yes, but he is unlikely to have one of those. A Sempron 140 or low-end Athlon II won't consume more that 50-60W, even at full usage.
While it is generally a good idea to have some headroom, you should be just fine with that PSU as long as it is the only major power-using component in the computer.
Absolutely not. Listen to the people who say you shouldn't have a problem and you'll end up with a burned out psu. We don't know how many fans or hdd's or other accessories you will be adding. Also your cpu is going to be at 100% while mining because of the way the drivers are for those cards. So that's an extra 100 watts. One more very important factor, you NEVER want to run a psu at 90% of it's capacity 24/7 so I suggest a psu with ample headroom.
Even though it will only pull 200w or so, remember you have a CPU, MoBo, drives, fans, etc to power! You would be getting very close to running the limit for that PSU! IMHO, too tight!
Not really. The motherboard, fans, and HDD consume about 30W max. A sempron processor will consume 45W.
A 6950 consumes roughly 200 watts while mining at stock clock frequency so a 380W PSU is more than enough.
The requirements on the package are just a suggestion.
Hell, it says on the 6990 box that you need a 750W power supply to run the card which isn't true. It takes 375W stock.
Even an OC'ed core i7 system with top components doesn't take 750w with a 6990, not even 600w.
Hard drives only pull a significant amount of power when they start up (or wake up), but if you replace that hdd with a usb stick (if mobo supports boot from usb) that could give you some more breathing room.
375W is enough for me with 5830
[sarcasm]1200W enough for me with Radeon HD5450[/sarcasm]
375W is enough for me with 5830
Should be fine. Depending on what the other components are, but with a 95W CPU and other stuff your 100% load will be ~350W at most. Remember while you're mining, the CPU isn't at 100%, or if its a sempron, it will only pull 45W. I think you'd even be able to put catalyst power control to +20...
Even though it will only pull 200w or so, remember you have a CPU, MoBo, drives, fans, etc to power! You would be getting very close to running the limit for that PSU! IMHO, too tight!
Does it have two 6 pin PCI-E connectors? I can't imagine an old PSU like that would.
This is the specs for the PSU (True 380S model). The PSU is from about 2003 or so.
http://www.antec.com/specs/true380_spe.html
Does it still look ok?
Thanks!
http://www.antec.com/specs/true380_spe.html
Does it still look ok?
Thanks!
Assuming it's not the absolute lowest model, you should be fine, as the other poster said .. 200W.
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