Need A Bit Of Advice

callumburns · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:25

Hey guys

I am very eager about upgrading my system and have been for a while. I don't have a set budget & just plan to get a part when i can afford it. I plan to sell my 6870 for about £120 and get the Gigabyte 480 SUPER OC

. But just for future reference I would like to go SLI two of these bad boys but I don't know if my PSU would be up to it? I have an Antec CP850 powering my system.

I know if I were to go SLI I would have to go Intel, which would mean buying SB. Probably just end up getting a 2500K and overclocking it. But taking that into account. The question crops up again, will a CP850 PSU power 2 x 480's overclocked and a 2500K overclocked? Or would I have to buy another PSU? Hope I don't have to because I doubt I will get it sold to anyone lol.

Thanks in advance if you can help me out

Rroff · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:32

If your gonna go SLI with the 480 SoC you will have to buy both now, they are EOL and once the current stock has gone there will be no more (unless you can source one second hand later) - tho you can SLI with any other 480 but might have to compromise on clock speeds to match the cards.

The power supply is borderline - if you stay away from furmarks and the likes it will probably be ok for gaming, but with an OC SB and OC'd 480s you can easily hit 600+ watts in use.

Surveyor · 8 Apr 2011 at 19:39

A decent 850W power supply should be OK.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-480-3way-sli-review/25

Wouldn't it be cheaper overall to Crossfire 2 6950's and flash them to unlock the shaders?

callumburns · 8 Apr 2011 at 20:21

Well I hope to get one 480 very soon, as long as i can get my 6870 shifted too though. 850W is kinda borderline for two 480's but there has been a couple of reviews that the CP850 can handle about 920W load but then again I don't really want to chance it either.

Don't really want to go with stock 6950's loud reference coolers & AMD drivers are a PITA.