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GTX 580 TRI SLI - Will a HX HX1000 do?

Craterloads

Craterloads

Craterloads

Soldato
Joined
26 Dec 2009
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Hi Guys,

Hopefully getting delivery on 2 more GTX on tuesday. Was wonder if my HX1000w will power tri sli?

2600k - OC 4.6GHz
3 x GTX 580
1000W Corsair
 
don't quote me on this but I think you'll be very lucky if it powers up. I know at full load, one card draws approx 300w, So I think it may be time for an upgrade, but there isn't a big market for +1Kw psu's
 
Not even safe to do GTX580 2-way SLI. Reason:

Just be careful with the HX1000 PSU, because it is essentially made of two 500W PSUs, and there is no load balance between the two +12V rails. Each +12V rail can only power up to 500W 40A, but the requirement for a single GTX580 in a complete machine is 600W 42A, which exceeds the requirement of your GTX580 which shares the same +12V rail as your CPU.

It might work fine. Many people have been running GTX580 SLI on HX1000 and never met any problem. However some unlucky people, including me, have encountered problems, mostly instability in such setup. It really depends on the quality of the specific sample of your HX1000 - if the +12V rail which is shared by your CPU and a GTX580 can overload some bit fine then it's fine.

If you decide to move to a new PSU, then the Corsair AX850 works great for GTX580 2-way SLI, because that PSU is a single rail, and you don't need to worry about load balancing between rails.

For TRI-SLI, the AX1200 or the HCP-1200 is the best choice. By overclocking with volt bumps to 1.15V on each card I saw my AX1200 drawing 1280W from the wall.
 
I'm still a little baffled by the whole single rail vs multi rail debate, have seen some single rail psu's obliterate hardware and visa versa. Very happy with my AX850 though.
 
JeffyB said:
I'm still a little baffled by the whole single rail vs multi rail debate, have seen some single rail psu's obliterate hardware and visa versa. Very happy with my AX850 though.
Click to expand...

Multi-rail is safer than single rail, if you can balance the load properly. The problem with the HX1000 is that it's a very old PSU, whose manual explicitly stated that you shouldn't connect a graphics card to different rails at the same time otherwise it might damage the graphics card.
 
arc@css said:
See how you get on with your current psu, though I would have thought you'd be looking at needing a 1200 as mentioned.
Click to expand...

I got one of my GTX580 blown by my HX1000 within 5 days (indeed the one shared the same +12V rail as the CPU) and returned it back to OcUK under DSR in order to avoid hassles / disputes. If the OP is fine with whatever RMA waiting then it's worth a try.
 
I thought it would be cutting it very close, plus if i overclock id surely be in trouble. Bloody sold my AX1200 about 2 months ago as i though i dint need the power!!

P67A-UD5 B3
 
Will even a 1200w unit cut it? i plan to OC all 3 of them, along with the OC on the CPU. IF they use 300w stock, overclocked they will be pulling more than 400w+ each and then theres still the rest of the system to power?
 
Craterloads said:
Will even a 1200w unit cut it? i plan to OC all 3 of them, along with the OC on the CPU. IF they use 300w stock, overclocked they will be pulling more than 400w+ each and then theres still the rest of the system to power?
Click to expand...

Yes, you will have about 350-400watts spare to play with for overclocking the cpu and graphics cards.

My system in sig not overclocked with the monitor plugged in too measures at full load 365-380 watts (Measured with a APC UPS (that cost me over £1200)). If I overclock the CPU to 4.8ghz and graphics card (can't remember what I set it to as a test, but was as high as it would go) the UPS stated I was pulling another another 105- 120watts more when overclocked and fully stressed. So my systems Max power use with the monitor plugged into the UPS too is 500 watts and without the monitor it's 420 watts.

I think your system is going to pull overclocked 920 - 950watts from your PSU. I would play safe and get the 1200watts, as stated above the 1000watt PSU you have is really 2 x 500watts and humm I don't like that fact. Get a single rail 1200watt PSU mate to be safe and gives you some headroom for adding more components later, eg water cooling, more fans etc etc.


Picture of my system without the monitor, showing the components installed.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=20343245&postcount=5594
 
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If your going tri sli you might as well get the silverstone strider 1500w which is the daddy of psus and is only about £40 more than the ax1200 which when spending over £200 on a psu is nothing to worry about
 
A decent 1200w is what u want to be looking at especially if u intend to overclock, the Corsair AX1200 and the Antec HCP 1200w are both very good psu's, benchmarking with some fairly high overclocks i have seen around 900w from the wall w2ith my sli 580 setup, with the psu running at around 90% efficiency thats about 810w so add a 3rd card and u can easily pull over 1000w.
 
Just get a 1200w-1500w psu, but cost effective. There ain't a loot on the market but I would certainly reocmmend the AX1200. I have a ax850 and its pretty darn good :P
 
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