• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

GTX 480 SLI

Lordgrayone

Lordgrayone

Lordgrayone

Associate
Joined
20 Apr 2008
Posts
396
Hi,
Am thinking of getting another 480 to put them in sli and i currently have an Inno3d reference card with an EK waterblock clocked at a stable 825/1650 1900 clocks.
am i right in thinking as long as its a 480 and its running the same clocks it can be any 480? or does it have to be another Inno 3d one?
 
oooohh almost forgot.
i have a BFG 800 watts power supply but it only has outputs for a single card, apparently its an early model and they included 4 gfx card leads in the "limited edition" 2nd model so it can handle it but how am i supposed to plug my second card in? is replacing it my only option?
 
You don't need a bigger PSU per se, you just need a better one. A newer, more modern one, that dishes out a butt load of amps.

I think it's fair to say that a GTX 295 uses more power both in amps and watts than a 480, yet look at this.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/enermax-modu82-ii-625w-psu-review/6

These are the components used:

nForce 790i motherboard (has high power consumption)
Core 2 Quad QX 9770 Processor (overclocked to 3.6 GHz)
2x GeForce GTX 295 primary (4 GPUs)
1x GeForce GTX 280 (PhysX)
3 GB Memory DDR3 @ 1600 MHz
Optical Drive x1
HDD x1
Now two years ago we'd reach 750+ Watts power consumption with this setup, in fact I remember this setup peaking to 800W at one point with a PSU.

Making careful note of how much better newer PSUs are than older ones.

I know the above to be 100% fact because I had the same PSU, running two EVGA 295 co ops on the same motherboard with a Core 2 Duo OC to 3.4ghz.

It's not about watts, it's about amps, how many of them you have, and how they are delivered. Wattage is just the amps multiplied by something else.
 
Thanks for the help but I get the feeling I make thing harder for myself lol I'll explain.
I upgraded to a 800d case for the extra room, which is great loads of space so I stick a 360 rad in the roof and 1 in the bottom but it's a tight fit.......can you see where this is going?
I was looking at a 1200watt PSU but I dont think it's gonna fit, I don't even think a 1000 will fit, my current PSU is about 175mm
Oh the joy
 
You don't need 1000W to power 480 SLi! :rolleyes: :confused:

I ran overclocked GTX480 SLi and an i7 920 D0 @ 4GHz on a Corsair TX750 for ages. Running GTX580 SLi with an 850W unit at the moment.

Get yourself a nice XFX 850W or Corsair 850W and save some money.
 
Speed said:
You don't need 1000W to power 480 SLi! :rolleyes: :confused:

I ran overclocked GTX480 SLi and an i7 920 D0 @ 4GHz on a Corsair TX750 for ages. Running GTX580 SLi with an 850W unit at the moment.

Get yourself a nice XFX 850W or Corsair 850W and save some money.
Click to expand...

The thing is, that is going to run near the maximum of the PSU. It's not healthy. You need some headroom.

You can get good quality 1k PSU's for not a lot these days.
 
Speed said:
You don't need 1000W to power 480 SLi! :rolleyes: :confused:

I ran overclocked GTX480 SLi and an i7 920 D0 @ 4GHz on a Corsair TX750 for ages. Running GTX580 SLi with an 850W unit at the moment.

Get yourself a nice XFX 850W or Corsair 850W and save some money.
Click to expand...

no, you don't, but for £20ish more, why not!
 
Speed said:
You don't need 1000W to power 480 SLi! :rolleyes: :confused:

I ran overclocked GTX480 SLi and an i7 920 D0 @ 4GHz on a Corsair TX750 for ages. Running GTX580 SLi with an 850W unit at the moment.

Get yourself a nice XFX 850W or Corsair 850W and save some money.
Click to expand...

Of course you don't need a 1kw psu.

PSUs now are more efficient than ever. 80+ means, like, you know, that it can remain efficient at over 80+ draw.

How many rigs have you seen that pull 750w under load? :D
 
Cleeecooo said:
no, you don't, but for £20ish more, why not!
Click to expand...

There is that yes, but I tend to think it is money down the drain on marketing more than anything. A decent brand will easily supply a lot more than the number printed on the sticker.

Still have if you have the funds like you say why not. You'd still be looking at way over £100 for what I'd consider a decent brand though.

Bucko89 said:
The thing is, that is going to run near the maximum of the PSU. It's not healthy. You need some headroom.

You can get good quality 1k PSU's for not a lot these days.
Click to expand...

Yes headroom is nice but at the end of the day a GTX480 SLi system won't pull anywhere near 850W from the PSU. You'll have plenty of headroom.
 
Speed said:
There is that yes, but I tend to think it is money down the drain on marketing more than anything. A decent brand will easily supply a lot more than the number printed on the sticker.

Still have if you have the funds like you say why not. You'd still be looking at way over £100 for what I'd consider a decent brand though.



Yes headroom is nice but at the end of the day a GTX480 SLi system won't pull anywhere near 850W from the PSU. You'll have plenty of headroom.
Click to expand...

Correct I run 480 gtx sli on an ax850m with 2 pumps, 17 fans, 4 harddrives, fan controller etc etc, you will be fine.
 
Lordgrayone said:
Thanks for the help but I get the feeling I make thing harder for myself lol I'll explain.
I upgraded to a 800d case for the extra room, which is great loads of space so I stick a 360 rad in the roof and 1 in the bottom but it's a tight fit.......can you see where this is going?
I was looking at a 1200watt PSU but I dont think it's gonna fit, I don't even think a 1000 will fit, my current PSU is about 175mm
Oh the joy
Click to expand...

my be quiet 1200w and a 140.2 will fit in the bottom of an 800d as thats what ive got
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom