New AGP Graphics card

Davey_2

Hi all
Recently my Nvidia 6800 gpu went bang so im in the market for a new graphics card. Im thinking about spending a bit of money and getting one of the best agp cards available (or so im told) a HIS ATI Radeon HD 3850 Pro Turbo 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI/HDMI (AGP).
However as its a while since i last upgraded my pc im after some info as to wether my power supply will handle it. Its a 600watt unit but im confused with all this talk about 12v rails and how many amps???? Here are the details off the side of my power supply:

ATX(V2.03+12V)
MODEL 600ATX
INPUT AC220V 7A 50HZ, 110V 15 A 60HZ
DC OUTPUT +3.3V 24A O -5V 0. 5A W
+5V 35A R -12V 0. 8A B
+12V 27A Y P.G GRAY
+5VSB 2A P PS-ON G

will this run the graphics card im after?
Any help on the matter would be most welcome

totalsolutions

Just the one card should be fine. Do you have the any cables hanging unused with a 4pin (square) plug or might be in the box a 4pin inline plug just like the floppy drive power plug.

If your m/b goes, the video card is out of date for any use in a new pc. They now use pci express and a new one also out now! Dont spend to much, an £80 AGP card might do for you.

Davey_2

Yeah I've got a couple of 4pin inline power connectors free in there, one used to plug in to the 6800. I was thinking about upgrading to a pci express board but i'd rather get another couple of years out of this one before i make the switch. I need a high spec graphics card as i do quite a lot of high end gaming. How do i work out how many amps in on a 12v rail, im guessing its quite simple once you know the formula.
Thanks for your help

totalsolutions

amps=volts/resistance but that will not help here. Current is drawn from the 12v supply rail, it takes what it wants not restricted in any sense that you have 12volts.....

Also check the AGP voltage support there is a low voltage, around 1.5v data line some are 3v. There might not be any ultra high spec cards now on AGP due to speed req. by PCI express bus

[Deleted User]

What's the rest of your system specs?

If you're still using AGP and wanting to play high end games then you could be wasting your money on the card you're looking at if the rest of your system is going to cause a huge bottleneck on performance.

frogman_2

Davey, this was over at G3D,

"12V Combined Ratings Methodology:

To find the maximum combined 12v rating the first place to search is the label on the power supply itself. There is a standard for labeling but not everyone follows it. The standard label will display a table of figures and the fourth line down in the table is the Maximum Combined Wattage ratings. Where some people go wrong is they look at the line above that which lists the maximum current for the individual rails and then add the rails together (two 12v rails with a current limit of 18amps each added together for 36amps total), but this is rarely the case. The maximum combined rating is usually a bit less than the number you get this way.

Anyway, you want to look for a figure that has all the 12v rails combined in one box and that figure will usually be written in watts. Divide by 12 for the amperage.

Another fairly common but non-standard way they will publish the rating on the label is under the table there may be a line of text that reads something like this:

12v1 + 12v2 combined load 480 watts

So again we simply divide 480 watts by 12 to find the amperage.

Some units will have labels that say something like this:

3.3v + 5v combined load 200w
3.3 + 5v + 12v1 + 12v2 combined load 560 watts

In this case we can subtract 200 from 560 and divide by 12 to get 30amps. However, all we can say for sure is that the amperage is at least 30...it may be more but they aren't saying.

If the label has none of the above type of listings then the next best place to look is at the brands website or at the website of the manufacturer who makes them. Sometimes you'll find one of the formats listed on the products page and sometimes you can find it by downloading the product specifications sheet. Sometimes it's simply not given and you'll need to contact a representative. "

Needless to say, you'll probably need to check the PSU manufacturer website.

Hope this helps!