AMD 790FX chipset might only consume 8W

[devguy]

Source: Inquirer- Read beware (http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/11/amd-790fx-eats-8w)

http://images.vnu.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/11/amd-790fx-eats-8w/8w_rd790.jpg

Look How tiny that northbridge heatsink is! I'm excited for AMD.

Here's a new Nvidia chipset motherboard:

http://images.vnu.net/gb/inquirer/news/2007/10/11/amd-790fx-eats-8w/48w_c72nb.jpg

Looks like outside of the high-end heatpipe theme park boards, these will need to be actively cooled on north and south bridges...

I've always been an AMD/ATI processor and video card man, but I always chose Nvidia for their Nforce chipset. I'm really gonna consider trying out an AMD chipset this time around...

[Batou1986]

my god thats small hopefully we see this trend turn to the rest of amd's products as as things are looking now most new computers are gona cost like an extra 50 bucks on your electric bill a month with these 1000w psu's and other nonsense

if 5 years ago you would have told me that we would be using 1000w psu'' to power our computers i would have said that your retarded back then if we had a 300 w psu it was pure overkill

i think alota ppl will agree that the current trend of hotter more power hungry chips is not the way to go from any standpoint performance or cost wise. smaller cooler quieter and more efficient is the way things should be going not the opposite hopefully this is the beginning of a new trend just like intels 45nm penyrn

[panchoman]

amd's really working on the power saving stuff huh? their new cpu's were like 8w. i think it was the athlon 3800 that ran at 8w, wonder if anyone has tried ocing that yet.

anyway, i think this needs to go in the news section?

[Grings]

If it wasnt for all these power munching GPU's, PC's would probably need lesser power supplies than they did a few years ago, pretty crazy really considering 500w is now low/avarage for a psu

[hat]

Meh, 400 watts is fine on a rig with a 4400+, 8600gts, 2GB DDR800, 1 5.25" drive and 2 hard drives. Overclock, don't overvolt.

[devguy]

Meh, 400 watts is fine on a rig with a 4400+, 8600gts, 2GB DDR800, 1 5.25" drive and 2 hard drives. Overclock, don't overvolt.

I fully intend to get a new AMD motherboard, Phenom (probably x2 because the x3 are a ways off), 4GB DDR800, SATA DVD burner, 2x80GB RAID 0 HDDs. And for the video card, I may go with a low end RV670, or if that will be too much, then I'll hold off for a 2650XT card. All this on the Enermax 400W DXX listed in my specs. And I don't believe I'll have any problems with it.

[panchoman]

how many combined amps do you have on the 12v+ rail?

[hat]

tooooo much

[devguy]

how many combined amps do you have on the 12v+ rail?

It has 2x 12V @ 20Amps rails. I'm not sure how they are combined, but I think I remember it being in the 32-34 Amps combined area (don't hold me to that).

Anyways, this power supply is a beast. It is designed to handle a quad core and hd 2900xt and a few hdds on the 400W version. I wouldn't do that myselft and would get at least the 500w version for comfort, but it is designed with a machine like that in mind. In fact, it even has a a 6 pin pcie connector, and a 6+2 pin pcie connector. Here's a video of it in action. (http://www.enermaxusa.com/current/?p=66) (note, that video was made by Enermax, so it may have been a little biased).
However, being able to take that and do fine is a good sign for my future build. If the RV670 should use half the power of the 2900xt and the new AMD chipsets will only use about 8W, I have no concerns.

I have it rock stable on my machine right now, and having an active PFC (read from Kill-a-watt as .98 PFC) is much nicer than the old .69 PFC ratings I was getting on my old PSU from Kill-a-watt.