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680 SLI Power Draw

Rusty0611

Rusty0611

Rusty0611

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There was a discussion a while back regarding the power draw of 2 Kepler cards in SLI and there was talk of needing an 850W PSU "to be safe" and that you will run close to the limit with 750W and as such limit the life of your PSU.

Well I have just tested with a power monitor and with both cards fully going for it with 99% usage in BF3 in Surround, power usage was:

450W

While I can clearly see and agree with the argument that you should buy a good quality PSU, to say you need greater than 750W is incorrect as even with 750W there is a large headroom there. :)
 
Very good for a high end SLI setup.

I tested my system with with a overclocked 920 & 480 GTX and managed to get 615w ~

My current system - Overclocked i7 2700k & 670 GTX WF card I get 330w from the mains.
 
With gtx 470's (oc'd at 750mhz) and an i7 920 @ 4ghz, i was seeing power draw at the wall of 630w. Albeit my monitor was connected to the power meter as well as the pc. Same rig with a 670 showed a draw of 420w. Havent checked it yet with the 3570k. Furmark on the 920 and sli setup was 740w, furmark and p95 simultaneously was 860w when i stopped it. Corsair hx 850w psu.
 
RJC said:
Very good for a high end SLI setup.

I tested my system with with a overclocked 920 & 480 GTX and managed to get 615w ~

My current system - Overclocked i7 2700k & 670 GTX WF card I get 330w from the mains.
Click to expand...

Indeed. It's crazy how little power they use. :)

I'm not worried about being efficient or anything like that it just shows that 750W is more than enough from a decent manufacturer.
 
Just checked my current setup, 3570k @4.2ghz, gtx 670wf. Idle power draw displayed is 131w, (monitor included). Will need to check with a game running. A major drop compared to my old rig even at idle.
 
setter said:
Just checked my current setup, 3570k @4.2ghz, gtx 670wf. Idle power draw displayed is 131w, (monitor included). Will need to check with a game running. A major drop compared to my old rig even at idle.
Click to expand...

Nice one. Looks like your monitor is around 30W ish as my system while idle is...

107W
 
331w @ load incl monitor, (benq fp241w 24"). Quick blast of bf3, gtx 670 at 1320mhz core, 7586mhz memory. At idle the old sli 920 rig sat at 299w. At this rate, i could easily go tri sli, though finances say NO.:D
 
whyscotty said:
680FTW 4GB Sli

Idle=260W

[email protected] Bench overclock=780W

[email protected] 24/7 overclock=575W

Heaven run thread settings

Power draw measured by Corsair AX1200i
would have done TriSli but one cards poorly
Click to expand...

You have got me a bit worried I must be getting a bit close to the maxinum when I oc. The CPU is using a lot more at 5.0ghz than I thought.

I use an AX1200 the older version.
 
I've mentioned it a few times that the max power draw i've seen when I had 670 SLI was 410W in Crysis 2 (@1080). I'm a little surprised that you are only seeing 40W more with 680's and an i7 at a higher resolution.

As far as having PSU headroom is concerned I like to think of it more about having the PSU working at it's peak when stressed. I believe they all have the best efficiency characteristics at 50% of the rated load so the top of the line 80+ rated PSU's can do something like 96% efficiency when under 50% load.

I should test it again with a single 670, my 850W AX seems way too overspec'd now :p
 
Kaapstad said:
You have got me a bit worried I must be getting a bit close to the maxinum when I oc. The CPU is using a lot more at 5.0ghz than I thought.

I use an AX1200 the older version.
Click to expand...

Wouldn't have thought so as iirc your Gpu's are around 300w each,
so for 2 = 600 plus CPU 5ghz (400w ish inc other bits) approx 1000w max all in.

There's a review on Hexus with roughly the same spec as yours
built by a Unmentionable using your PSU.
So if they spec that I should imagine your quite safe.

Its not as if its your 24/7 overclock
 
The reason I say Im getting close is when I oc the cards Im pretty sure their using a lot more than 300w each when oced.

As you say for 24/7 I run them at stock and the CPU @4.0
 
Bear in mind that PSUs are not 100% efficient, and other components in the system will have a power draw as well. I'm not sure I'd want to run a 750W PSU with 450W proven load from just the graphics cards, but that's just me.
 
james_2k said:
My i7 920 is at 4.4 ghz and no issues at all running the 690 over clocked with both stressed on my tx 650 psu.....
Click to expand...

Durzel said:
Bear in mind that PSUs are not 100% efficient, and other components in the system will have a power draw as well. I'm not sure I'd want to run a 750W PSU with 450W proven load from just the graphics cards, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

James_2k is a man that lives on the edge. :cool:

:D
 
Durzel said:
Bear in mind that PSUs are not 100% efficient, and other components in the system will have a power draw as well. I'm not sure I'd want to run a 750W PSU with 450W proven load from just the graphics cards, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

450W was the reading from the wall where the PC was plugged in so that's the total system load.

So the point definitely still stands :).
 
I like to live on the edge ;)

I'm running two 670's in SLI (an EVGA FTW and Gigagbyte windforce) on a 650 watt PSU.

It's an antec TP trio, and is about 6 years old at least. No problem so far. When both cards are getting 90%+ usage (eg heavily modded skyrim enb) the PSU fan spins up a lot and it's loud, which worries me a bit. Will see how it goes...
 
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