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Corsair TX 650w enough for dual 4870 Xfire?

Geckovich

Geckovich

Geckovich

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So, I currently have a single 4870 and a TX 650 which I'm perfectly happy with. However I've just been offered a second 4870 from a mate of mine for a very good price.

I don't want a new PSU and would rather not go for Xfire if it meant upgrading.

Does anyone know if this unit will be up to the job and if not is there a better list than the one on the ATI website which states that any xfire set up needs a gazillion Watts?

PS Does Xfire work with vista 64 yet?
 
Not actually sure power-wise, but does it have four six-pin PCI-E leads?

Yes, CrossFire works fine in Vista 64.
 
No, it only has 2 PCIe leads which is why I'm dubious.

I have seen people (on this forum in fact) running it from a HX620 though so that gives me hope.

Good news on the vista front though, last thing read about it said that Xfire results in no boot or BSOD.
 
http://game.amd.com/us-en/crossfirex_components.aspx?p=3#ATI Radeon™ HD 4870

AMD says no. That said, I'm sure it could handle it - it's just the lack of 6-pin connectors that is the problem. You would need to use converters, which both AMD and nvidia seem to dislike (I didn't have any problem running a GTX280 with connectors though).

You could consider the TX750. That has plenty of connectors, has 60A on the 12v rail, and is rated by AMD as capable of handling two 4870x2s.
 
I now have a new issue, my mobo's PCIe lanes go to x8 when both are being used due to the P45 chip.

Is this an issue or not? I'm guessing it's about a 10-15% performance hit.
 
Duff-Man said:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/crossfirex_components.aspx?p=3#ATI Radeon™ HD 4870

AMD says no. That said, I'm sure it could handle it - it's just the lack of 6-pin connectors that is the problem. You would need to use converters, which both AMD and nvidia seem to dislike (I didn't have any problem running a GTX280 with connectors though).

You could consider the TX750. That has plenty of connectors, has 60A on the 12v rail, and is rated by AMD as capable of handling two 4870x2s.
Click to expand...

Awesome thanks for that. It says my PSU is certified for 2 4870X2's :eek:. So glad I bought this PSU :D
 
Well my mate has given me a until the end of the week before he puts in on "the 'bay". If I do get it I'll post a follow up about my experiences with potentially underpowered Xfire set ups.
 
I ran a pair of 4870 cards with a corsair 620w modular and had no probs at all and the cards were overclocked along with the cpu.
Try it and see, if it won't have it then get a new psu with sufficient power, say 750w upwards.
 
if you go to corsair home page and they have a tester that lets you put in what your running and if overclocked and then it will show you which ones to go for
 
Hello Geckovich, unless you have overvolted your Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 quite heavily to reach that kind of speed you are running it at, I honestly can't see the Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU being a problem.

A single ATI Radeon 4870 will pull around 180 watts under full load which equals to 15 amps. Two ATI Radeon 4870 would be pulling about 30 amps from the +12Volt rail. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at 3.4GHz will be pulling about 150 watts which equates to 13 amps - This is obviously very much dependent on the sort of voltage you are pushing through your CPU but on average, I would say that's around the sort of power the Intel Core 2 Quad will be consuming. What sort of Vcore are you using to reach 3.4GHz on your Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600? Then add a couple of hard drives into the system rated at 1 amp each and then some for the extra headroom, you are looking at the above system pulling around 50 amps.

It would be very interesting if we had a list of the amount of voltage put through an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and compare it to the amount of power it would consume at that particular voltage.

The Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU is able to supply 52 amps on the +12Volt rail which is admittedly pretty close to what your system will be pulling. I personally wouldn't have any problems running your sort of system of that particular corsair unit but I can understand some people being slightly hesitant. If that is the case and you are wanting a slightly higher rated power supply unit, then the Corsair TX 750W ATX2.2 SLI Compliant PSU would be perfect. :)
 
Last edited:
Fire Wizard said:
Hello Geckovich, unless you have overvolted your Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 quite heavily to reach that kind of speed you are running it at, I honestly can't see the Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU being a problem.

A single ATI Radeon 4870 will pull around 180 watts under full load which equals to 15 amps. Two ATI Radeon 4870 would be pulling about 30 amps from the +12Volt rail. The Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 running at 3.4GHz will be pulling about 150 watts which equates to 13 amps - This is obviously very much dependent on the sort of voltage you are pushing through your CPU but on average, I would say that's around the sort of power the Intel Core 2 Quad will be consuming. What sort of Vcore are you using to reach 3.4GHz on your Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600? Then add a couple of hard drives into the system rated at 1 amp each and then some for the extra headroom, you are looking at the above system pulling around 50 amps.

It would be very interesting if we had a list of the amount of voltage put through an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and compare it to the amount of power it would consume at that particular voltage.

The Corsair TX 650W ATX2.2 SLi Compliant PSU is able to supply 52 amps on the +12Volt rail which is admittedly pretty close to what your system will be pulling. I personally wouldn't have any problems running your sort of system of that particular corsair unit but I can understand some people being slightly hesitant. If that is the case and you are wanting a slightly higher rated power supply unit, then the Corsair TX 750W ATX2.2 SLI Compliant PSU would be perfect. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks for the very concise answer.

The voltage of my Q6600 is 1.38.

I ran my full system, including the overclock and the addition of the second 4870 through an online power consumption survey which revealed that at 100% utilisation all components at full load would be using 520W.

I'm becoming more and more confident about this working.
 
Geckovich said:
So, I currently have a single 4870 and a TX 650 which I'm perfectly happy with. However I've just been offered a second 4870 from a mate of mine for a very good price.

I don't want a new PSU and would rather not go for Xfire if it meant upgrading.

Does anyone know if this unit will be up to the job and if not is there a better list than the one on the ATI website which states that any xfire set up needs a gazillion Watts?

PS Does Xfire work with vista 64 yet?
Click to expand...

If you look on Corsair's website it says yes for 650w and 4870 in Crossfire.
 
Geckovich said:
I now have a new issue, my mobo's PCIe lanes go to x8 when both are being used due to the P45 chip.

Is this an issue or not? I'm guessing it's about a 10-15% performance hit.
Click to expand...

I remember seeing a review on this compared to the X38 and X48 boards. It performed very similar to the X38, maybe 5% max behind it in some games and about 10% against the X48.
 
Just wondering if the HX520W would be good for 2x 4870? I'm considering picking a cheap one up eventually.
 
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