Running the 8800GTX on a potentially "underpowered" PSU?

impseth

So I got a 8800GTX from BFG, that one that's only slightly overclocked. I also checked out the nvidia and bfg site looking for spec info on the power supplies for this card. According to the bfg site I should have a ~450W power supplies with a combined 32A on the 12v rail. Well, I got 520W with ~32A on the 12v rail. I plugged everything in, installed Oblivion and about 10 minutes later the computer turned itself off. Power button did nothing, I even fiddled with it and still no response. Disconnected everything from the motherboard and the CPU fan made only the tiniest amount of motion. "funny", I said. Plugging the power supply into a different mobo produced the same results. So I decided the power supply was bad and took it back to the store but I won't get it back till tomorrow.

So, I have a power supply that is 550W with a seemingly combined 20A on the 12v rail. Before thinking about it too hard I checked the power supply requirements for my previous X1900 GT card and it wanted a combined 25A on the 12v rail. I'm replacing it because of overheating problems and it's old.

So, could I potentially permanently damage my shiny BFG 8800GTX card if I used my 550W power supply with only 20A on the 12v rail?

Edit:

Rook is right, after some extra research I found this site: http://news.softpedia.com/news/8800GTX-Power-Analysis-40450.shtml</html&gt;
Which explains it nicely. Thanks rook! This thread can be locked as it is solved.(and I have forgotten all of my bbcode)

Rook

impseth wrote: »

The title might not mean what you think.

So I got a 8800GTX from BFG, that one that's only slightly overclocked. I also checked out the nvidia and bfg site looking for spec info on the power supplies for this card. According to the bfg site I should have a ~450W power supplies with a combined 32A on the 12v rail. Well, I got 520W with ~32A on the 12v rail. I plugged everything in, installed Oblivion and about 10 minutes later the computer turned itself off. Power button did nothing, I even fiddled with it and still no response. Disconnected everything from the motherboard and the CPU fan made only the tiniest amount of motion. "funny", I said. Plugging the power supply into a different mobo produced the same results. So I decided the power supply was bad and took it back to the store but I won't get it back till tomorrow.

So, I have a power supply that is 550W with a seemingly combined 20A on the 12v rail. Before thinking about it too hard I checked the power supply requirements for my previous X1900 GT card and it wanted a combined 25A on the 12v rail. I'm replacing it because of overheating problems and it's old.

So, could I potentially permanently damage my shiny BFG 8800GTX card if I used my 550W power supply with only 20A on the 12v rail?

Nope. Card manufacturers tend to over-estimate a lot about the power ratings required due to the number of cases that come pre-installed with shitty generic PSUs that don't really run anything near their ratings.