My PSU for GTX 480

steve jones

Bronze Level Poster
Just wondering wether or not my PSU will be compatible with the GPU i have purchased??.

Its a ATRIX ARX 800W +80 PSU.

Now trying to find the answer on google was frustrating!.

Can anyone help?.
 

Slurpak

Silver Level Poster
800W PSU for a GTX480 is plenty. even with 2 of them in your PC you would still only need a 600W PSU, maybe a 650W.
after you click proceed on the configure your PC it would come up with a message if your PSU was not enough.
i don't know if there is a better way than this, but if you want to know how much power it will need, just select a very low PSU (e.g. 350W), click proceed, and it will come up with the message that the PSU is not suitable and it will tell you how much power your PC will be using, and also which PSU would be most suited for your PC.
 

steve jones

Bronze Level Poster
Sorry i never made myself clear, the deal is im upgrading my GPU in my current pc and i know my PSU is a atrix arx 800 80+ PSU but i also know the zotac gtx 480 needs 1 6-pin connector and also a 8-pin connector and im wondering if anyone knows wether or not my PSU model has those connectors and if not what do i do to ensure it works?.

Thanks in advance.
 
Last edited:

Sleinous

Author Level
It needs 2x 6 pin connectors. Also, you would need way more than just 600W to power 2 GTX 480s + a standard pc. Youre talking in the region of 1000W. If you're PSU doesnt have 2 6 pin connectors, you can use the provided 2x 4 pin molex to 1x 6 pin PCIe power connector as one of your additional power inputs.
 

steve jones

Bronze Level Poster
It needs 2x 6 pin connectors. Also, you would need way more than just 600W to power 2 GTX 480s + a standard pc. Youre talking in the region of 1000W. If you're PSU doesnt have 2 6 pin connectors, you can use the provided 2x 4 pin molex to 1x 6 pin PCIe power connector as one of your additional power inputs.

Thank you for your help Sleinous, if the zotac gtx480 only needs 2 6-pin connectors then im pretty sure i should be ok, atm i only plan to run 1 card which should be more then adequate im sure.

So one zotac gtx480 + 800w psu means a happy pc? :p
 

Gorman

Author Level
Yes the I7 920 is fine, bottleneck is a word i may start introducing bans for.

To bottleneck a 3 x GTX 480 system you would have to be running an Athlon 3200 or something. No modern CPU is going to cause a bottleneck.

Sleinous is spot on on the other point though 600w for 2 x GTX 480 is PSU manslaughter, 800-1000w is whats needed. Your PSU will be fine, although as noted you may need some molex to PCI-E power connectors.
 

Sleinous

Author Level
haha I love the concept of bottleneck, maybe whats better is a mobo bottleneck as thats way more common. Especially if the bandwidth that the bus has is ridiculoulsy small in comparisonto the total bandwidth all the cards would use.
 

Gorman

Author Level
haha I love the concept of bottleneck, maybe whats better is a mobo bottleneck as thats way more common. Especially if the bandwidth that the bus has is ridiculoulsy small in comparisonto the total bandwidth all the cards would use.

Bottlenecks are quite rare, but more and more this year on various forums its being banded around like its the cause of every problem a computer can have, it aggrivates me. Are you back now then? to drift completely off topic.
 

Sleinous

Author Level
To drift even more off topic, about to hand in hotel keys for this night. Going to monacco today, not back yet, soon though :)

p.s. Now I know what to annoy you with :p *bottlenecks*
 

Sleinous

Author Level
You can still quite easily make a bottleneck occur on a low end board :D I will prove it to you one day :p Anyways, hopefully the OP's query has now been cleared up as I think we've sailed completely off course now xD
 

Gorman

Author Level
NO no NOO!

Then the problem isnt a bottleneck, its a low end board. A bottleneck is a symptom not a problem.
 

PCS

Administrator
Staff member
Steve Jones - I notice you've got an order on with us at the moment for a different spec, and assume that the PC with the Atrix PSU is an older spec bought from another retailer?

We used to sell Atrix PSU's a long time ago (2004 - 05) and we stopped selling these very shortly afterwards because the amperage output is over-rated (peak output rather than constant). I would strongly recommend you do not add a GTX480 with this PSU, as the likely outcome will be a loud bang within a few hours/days/weeks.

Consider buying a new PSU for this GPU.
 

steve jones

Bronze Level Poster
Which PSU would you recommend?.

Is the ATRIX 800W ARX really that bad?. I have been using it on my current GTS250 for over a year now and had no problems?.
 

steve jones

Bronze Level Poster
Which PSU would you recommend?.

Is the ATRIX 800W ARX really that bad?. I have been using it on my current GTS250 for over a year now and had no problems?.

I have just spent £90 on a HighPower 750 watt ATX it has the 6 pin and 8 pin connectors needed for the zotac gtx480 and the watts to run the card. Any opinions on this PSU?.

Thanks in advance.
 

Sleinous

Author Level
Well this highpower make seems reliable but one thing that concerns me is the capacity of a 750W PSU, you wont be able to add a second GTX 480 to your rig if your mobo can support it as your PSU will be letting you down again :( If you dont intend to ever add another 480 then all will be well though, Otherwise a Corsair HX1000W/AX1200W or Thermaltake would be reliable high power PSUs. The 1200W would be overkill for 2 GTX 480s but who knows how much power the next gen of GPUs will need :p We may all need wind turbines in our back gardens at this rate.
 
Top