Re: K8S-LA (Salmon) Video card compatibility, Radeon X1950 pro, GeForce 7600GTGT
- From: Paul <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2007 09:56:09 -0500
mkdud wrote:
Hello,
I have a K8S-LA mainboard in a compaq presario SR1365CL with a AMD
Athlon 64 3700+ (socket 754) and 2GB PC3200 ram. I was wondering if
anybody was able to use the Radeon X1950 pro or GeForce 7600 on this
board, as I am thinking of getting either provided they will work with
my machine.. Also, this machine has a Bestec ATX-250-12Z power supply,
with only one +12 rated at 14 amps. Does anybody have any experience
installing either of these cards on this board? I'm guessing this poer
supply is weak for these cards?
Any help would be appreciated,
Thank You,
Michael Kelley
The processor is rated at 89W and draws from +12V. 89/12*(1/0.90)=8.24A
at an assumed Vcore conversion efficiency of 90%.
A hard drive draws 12V @ 0.6A at idle. (And 5V @ 1A, but who is counting.)
A CDROM or DVD might draw 12V @ 1.5A with media present. (It may have a
label which states otherwise, like perhaps even more current.) On my
current CDROM, I've measured the 12V consumption at 1.0A, when the
media is spinning flat out.
The system fans may be drawing 0.5A from the 12V rail.
So far, that is a base load of 10.8A from 12V.
An X1950Pro is 65.7W. The entry here is probably for the PCI Express
version, and the AGP version needs a few watts more for the Rialto
bridge chip. Say 70W. 70W/12V = 5.83A
http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/x1950pro-gf7900gs_6.html
So now we're up around 16.6A. The Bestec just fainted. And I also
haven't worked out the total power. 12V*16.6A = 199W. Add to that
another 50W to cover miscellaneous motherboard power, runs the PSU
at 250W right there.
There are several models of 7600, some drawing less current than
the ATI card. Who knows, with careful selection of a low enough
power card, you might just come right up to the 14A total mark.
So I'd say, yes, you are right to be concerned about the
power supply. Is there room to put a standard ATX supply in
there ? If it is a microATX supply, it is hard to make a lot
of progress in the power department. The last time I looked
at microATX supplies on Newegg, they uniformly looked to be
dodgy. You really want to see a good number of reviews for
the product, to get some idea how many months they last.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2010320058+1131310094&Subcategory=58
There are seven reviews on this one, and one report of a failure.
And seven reviews is too small a sample size. And the list of
hardware the guy was using, shouldn't have stressed it.
Athena Power AP-MP4ATX40 MicroATX Ver 2.2 400W 115/230V
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16817338008
You can see here, that the 3.3V is pretty weak, at 12A. And I have
no way of estimating what the 3.3V load might be.
http://images10.newegg.com/NeweggImage/productimage/17-338-008-04.jpg
The K8S-LA only has switching conversion for Vcore, and I don't see a
separate single phase switcher for the DDR memory. That means the
memory could be running from a linear regulator from 3.3V. The chipset
might also be running via linear regulation from the 3.3V rail. I suppose
you can guess at the 3.3V, by seeing what the label on the Bestec is
rated for. Then checking to see if the new supply can supply at least
that much.
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?docname=c00257657&cc=us&dlc=en&lc=en&jumpid=reg_R1002_USEN
One of the reviewers for that Athena Power supply, mentions this one.
It is a lot more expensive. But at least it has a combined rating
of 210W for 3.3V and 5V. You can search around and see if you can get
a better price somewhere. Chances are the fans are loud on a thing
like this (because it will be similar in design to the lower power
one on Newegg).
AGPB/Athena AP-MP4ATX45 450W P4V12 Micro ATX $75 5"(W) x 2.5"(H) x 5.5"(D)
http://www.aicmicro.com/productdetail.asp?id=26846
The specs for the MP4ATX45 are here. This is enough for a regular desktop.
3.3V @ 22A, 5V @ 28A, 12V @ 26A, +5VSB @ 2A, -5V @ 0.5A, -12V @ 1.0A
http://www.athenapower.com/sub/mp4atx45.htm
So with the MicroATX supplies, it is hard to tell which ones are
going to be winners. More of a crapshoot than with normal ATX supplies.
At least the specs for that one are impressive, but considering the
total power rating, the fans would probably have to be pretty loud
to keep it cool. Also, verify the dimensions and screw holes, to
make sure it is going to fit.
Hmmm. Here is another picture of a different retailer's version of
the same part number. Notice that this one has less 12V and more
3.3V and 5V. So I guess that part number is a "moving target".
Wouldn't hurt to verify with the seller, what ratings are on the
label. This is not nearly as nice for what you want. Maybe this is
the latest version, and the one on the AICmicro site is an older
version. I think this would still work, but with little margin
on +12V.
http://www.plinkusa.net/products/MP4ATX45-4.jpg
Good luck,
Paul
.
- References:
- Prev by Date: Re: P4P800-E Deluxe CPU upgrade question.
- Next by Date: Re: Will A 480w Power Supply Do The Job?
- Previous by thread: K8S-LA (Salmon) Video card compatibility, Radeon X1950 pro, GeForce 7600GTGT
- Index(es):
Relevant Pages
|
