2nd graphics card is running hot while the other is fairly cool?

fseal said:

It's not just the total wattage, you need to look at the amps supplied by the 12v rails. Especially if one of the rails is lesser amps than the other. With two video cards it can be a particular concern. If each card needs 22A max and you only have 38A of 12v...

(Of course the cards don't need their rated amps all the time, you can actually get away with it for a while but when specifically running a stress test or a game that fully unilizes the card then you could be over drawing the PSU)

I dont know how to answer you off the top of my head, where can I look to find the answer to the info youre requesting?

The video card specs and your PSU specs (on psu it's usually on a sticker on the PSU itself) should list the ratings for the amps for the 12v lines.

So if one card requires 22 amps, x2 means the PSU has to supply at least 44 amps (and some spare for other devices).

fseal said:

The video card specs and your PSU specs (on psu it's usually on a sticker on the PSU itself) should list the ratings for the amps for the 12v lines.

So if one card requires 22 amps, x2 means the PSU has to supply at least 44 amps (and some spare for other devices).

Ok took a look at the PSU & it has 12v1, 12v2, 12v3, 12v4 & all are listed as 20A

Looking for the specs for the Nvidia 9800GT, but havent found them yet.

That probably means that each of the single video card power connectors is 20 amps. If you can only hook one to the card then the card will only get 20 amps total. If you can connect two you can then get up to 40 possibly (can sometimes be hard to tell how they wired those connectors internally)

Edit:

Looks like that card needs +12V rating of 26 amps. So if there is only a single power connector on those cards, then your current PSU is underpowered to run them at full bore. If you can connect two power connectors to each card then you should be ok...

fseal said:

That probably means that each of the single video card power connectors is 20 amps. If you can only hook one to the card then the card will only get 20 amps total. If you can connect two you can then get up to 40 possibly (can sometimes be hard to tell how they wired those connectors internally)

Edit:

Looks like that card needs +12V rating of 26 amps. So if there is only a single power connector on those cards, then your current PSU is underpowered to run them at full bore. If you can connect two power connectors to each card then you should be ok...

Yes each card has its own 6 pin power connector (no splitters or anything)

Dont I add up all of the 12v to get the total amps? So it would be 80 amps total?

So each card is getting 20 amps?

Someone said this on the nvidia forums:

To get the total number of amps on the +12v rails, add all the digits.

The 9800GT needs at least 26A total on the +12V rail(s)

So even if both cards needed 52 amps total, I'm still well above that with my 80amp 12v rail correct?

Am I understanding this properly?

Well I could be wrong but I was under the impression that the full 80 amps is not available on all connectors...

But if what you read is correct then yes you are definately good.

Now I have to tear apart one of my spare PSUs to determine exactly if that's true or not

fseal said:

Well I could be wrong but I was under the impression that the full 80 amps is not available on all connectors...

But if what you read is correct then yes you are definately good.

Now I have to tear apart one of my spare PSUs to determine exactly if that's true or not

I cant say from my ownself, but like I said, it was from a member on Nvidia forums with about 8k posts (assume he knows what hes doing by now) and he said exactly: To get the total number of amps on the +12v rails, add all the digits.

Hopefully someone will come along and verify this.

I dont know what the other 12v cables are plugged into though? (I dont know if they are also 6pin like the two I have into each graphics card?)

So either way, I'm good to go right?

I did a lot of research when I first built this thing & this PSU was picked because it was going to be able to handle everything I wanted in a HTPC. Which included 4 monitors :)