Best way to determine wattage?

**maxxell** · 04-21-2005, 06:00 PM

Check out the specs on the bottom of my signature. I've been toying with the idea of putting in a second lilliput dedicated to navigation. For that, I've been thinking about an ATI Radeon videocard with dual-VGA output and 64 megs of VRAM. I think that it will not only do the job, but the visualizations on the main screen will be even better.

I've learned that the lilli can be counted on to take up 8 or 9 watts, but I cannot find a good place to learn the wattage of the video card, nor of the rest of my devices. Well, some (ram = 10W, fans = 1W each (x2). And I've read in places that a normal PCI videocard runs 30W !! Would my Opus 150 be able to handle that? Would there be any power savings on the mobo?

I know there are power wattage calculators around, but I've yet to see one that matches my settings, so I think we should have a sticky or something for the wattage of the most common CarPC hardware. Maybe have wattage ratings for everything mp3car.com has available in the store, that would be a good guideline at the least.

Thoughts? Thanks!

**HybridFox** · 04-21-2005, 06:18 PM

do er and if you have problems then your opus cant handle it

**xdjxklusivex** · 04-21-2005, 06:26 PM

try it if it dosnt then get a bigger one lol trial and error works the best :-D

**rando** · 04-21-2005, 06:28 PM

Could you call the manufacturer and ask them about the power consumption of their card?

**maxxell** · 04-21-2005, 06:38 PM

I'd hate to order a videocard just to see if I can use it. What if I cant? Waste of money! Plus I dont plan on ordering the lilli just yet. I'd hate for the vcard to put me within 8W of the max of my Opus.

Anyone with any more ideas?