In reference to graphic cards what does the power supply mean? How do I know how much power supply I have?

Question

How can I change the power supply if needed? What is this power supply used for? What happens if I install an nvidia geforce 8800 ultra without a required power supply?

Answer 1

The board has a power connector. There you can put in the same kind of plug you have going in a CD/DVD ROM drive
If you dont plug that in, the worst to happen would be nothing at all ...meanig the board doesnt work and you get an error message in windows.
If your computers devices use up all the power outlets you would need to unhook a fan or one of the supposed 2 CD/DVD drives you have and instead of that hook up the graphics board...or you could buy a bigger power unit...but thats a lot of work (taking out the old one hooking up all the cards and units etc...)

Answer 2

The wattage is usually printed on the power supply. Just open your case and take a look.

For the nvidia 8800 Ultra card your gonna need some juice! Most normal 8800s require a 425W PCI Express-compliant system power supply with a combined 12V current rating of 28A or more the Ultras have similar requirements. Make sure that you get a power supply that supports SLI like one of these:

http://www.gamegiants.net/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=sli&search_in_description=1&categories_id=13&inc_subcat=1&page=1&sort=3a

If you plan on ever adding another card for SLI make sure you buy the highest wattage power supply you can afford. And remeber to not skimp on case fans! Your going to need them!

Answer 3

First of all, the 8800 ultra is really bad. It costs a LOT more than the standard 8800 gtx (about $300 more) which is already a BEAST and it only performs about 10% better. You would probably be fine just using an 8800gts 320mb, or the 640mb if you play on 1600 x 1200 or higher. But as for your question, you need a certain number of watts and a certain +12v rail rating. If you have two +12v rails add their ratings together.You should have around 30A for a high end card, and I would recommend a 500 watt supply for the gtx, or a 450 watt for the gts. And by all means, DO NOT get the ultra. gtx at most, but you proly only need a gts, which is still an amazing high end card.

Answer 4

Newer powerful graphics card use a lot of electricity (more than the processor) that is why they need a higher rated power supply. The PCIe graphics slot in the motherboard can provide a maximum of 75W(assuming power supply is also capable). The 8800 series consumes more than 100W.

If you just plug an 8800 series to a PC w/ "teeny weeny" power supply, it will just not turn on.

Also do not rely on minimum power supply required to run the card. The power supply will just run HOT and be severely stressed because it is running at FULL load (esp. the +12V rail). It is better to exceed the minimum requirement. The power supply will run cooler and last longer.