If anyones wondering what 3x 7970s draw in a watercooled rig...

[Stu @ MSD]

Hi everyone,
I have read all sorts of power figures for a trifire 7970 setup in mags and on websites so decided to buy my own meter and measure it myself to ensure PSU was not causing any bottlenecks here, so the answer is....

Tests were:

Heaven 2.5 @ 1920 x 1080 with everything at full and that never saw in excess of 850w.

3D mark 11 on extreme didnt exceed 935.

3D mark vantage interestingly was the one that will repeatedly peaked at almost a kw on the return to jerico scene.



Rig of course is totally relevant, so here it is:
Mobo: Asus Maximus Extreme IV - Z
CPU: Intel Core i7-2600K
GPU: 3 x Sapphire Radeon 7970's
RAM: 16GB of Corsair Vengeance 1866MHz
SSD: 2x OCZ Vertex 3 Sata 6 SSD
HDD 2x 1TB Western Digital Velociraptors
PSU: XFX Pro 1250w Black gamer Edition
Optical: Pioneer 12x Blu Ray Combo Drive
Pump: Alphacool VPP655 - D5 Pump
Fans 120mm: 3 x Scythe Gentle Typhoon 1850RPM - AP15s on the radiator.
fans 140mm: 3x Corsair 140mm fans around the chassis.
Lighting: LED's and a UV inverter so far.

Just thought it may help people in future who are wondering the same thing.

Eyefinity testing at 5760x1200 in battlefield three with all settings at ultra will be the next test... if we ever get a driver that lets me run trifire with BF3.

**Edit**
Sorry, to add, the CPU is running at 5.2ghz and the GPUs all at 1125 with ram @ 1575

 

[Stu @ MSD]

pics of rig please

This!

Interesting stuff; I have seen figures from a conservative 700w to over 1300w quoted in various places so top job OP

Me too, was constantly wonderuing if some of my overclocking walls were due to inadequate PSU so just had to find out once and for all. Well worth £20!

Build info here:
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18381447

 

[Stu @ MSD]

Remember to account for the PSU efficiency (Gold for that one) so its roughly 90% of that figure.

Whilst I totally understand what you are saying, N-Power would disagree with you come bill time. In the real world, the "PC" as a whole, is consuming 991W peak.

However, if you get a more efficient PSU, say 90%, yes, you could tweak that figure down somewhat to maybe 900w.

 

[Stu @ MSD]

That is a really impressive rig,sick with envy.
If you can afford a build like that Im sure the electriciy bill is of no concern lol.Great to see a member posting real results of psu use.
Again,smashing setup.

Thank you.

Try Crysis 2 and see if you get over 1000!

Trying exactly that tonight.

Your PSU is Gold rated so should operate at approaching 90% efficiency at high loads.

The PSU is only outputting around 90% of what you see at the mains so only around 900W of its 1250W at the highest reading you've recorded.

But it's still drawing close to 1000W from the mains at your highest reading and that's what you'll be paying for.

Yeah, I do totally understand you mate, For the purpose of this topic I am trying to report the electricity used by the PC as opposed to the energy actually used by the PC components themselves after the PSU.

 

[Stu @ MSD]

Well... made it to 1.1kw.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18384587