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PSU for 2 x GTX 295 (Quad SLI)

mike2801.lee

mike2801.lee

mike2801.lee

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Joined
14 Feb 2009
Posts
28
I purchased a Corsair TX850W PSU from overclockers a few weeks back for a new gaming / design rig that I'm building.

I asked a member of staff in the shop and they told me that an 850W PSU would be sufficient to run 2 GTX 295 cards in Quad SLI.

I was surprised by this but decided to take their word for it, however upon doing some further research a lot of people seem to think that you would need at least 1000W to do this.

Is there anyone who can confirm for me whether the 850W Corsair would do the job or not, and if not would overclockers be able to swap it for one that can? (I will be running an Intel i7 920 and overclocking it using a Noctua Cooler, 6GB DDR3 RAM, 1 DVD-RW Drive, and 2 SATA HDD's).

I am buying and installing the parts as I can afford them, so I have installed the PSU into my Antec 900-2 case already, along with the Motherbaord, CPU and CPU Cooler. Would this pose a problem with regards to returning the item?


Many Thanks,

Michael Lee.
 
Around 8 months ago my brother was sold many components and a case from the shop by some blonde girl that when he got home it only took micro atx despite her saying it would all fit together no problem don't worry.

We went back to the shop and swapped it with no issues.
 
I reckon it would be fine, but I would still spend a little more and get a 1000W PSU, just for some tolerance. The less load you put on the PSU the better. Since you are already spending a lot of money on 2 295's, you might as well put in the little bit more for the higher wattage power supply.
 
Yeah I went in looking to buy a 1000W PSU but was talked into buying an 850W Corsair as it would "apparently" be all that I would require. I'll take it back and see what they say.
 
I have just noticed that with my OCZ 1000W psu (now dead) that the manufacturer has updated their website with now says that it is okay to run two GTX280 in SLI but not two overclocked/watercooled GTX280 in SLI due to the high power demands.

If manufacturers are putting that on 1000W supplies, I figure your 850W isn;t going to be enough especially if you are going to overclock.
 
Yeah but manufacturers allways over rate the gpu in terms of wattage.
850w will be plenty for a GTX 295 in SLI with i7 920 OC'd to 4GHZ.
The system won't use more then 700w on full load, a 1kw is a overkill..........
 
Linx said:
Yeah but manufacturers allways over rate the gpu in terms of wattage.
850w will be plenty for a GTX 295 in SLI with i7 920 OC'd to 4GHZ.
The system won't use more then 700w on full load, a 1kw is a overkill..........
Click to expand...

I would agree that it might be a marketing ploy to get you to buy a bigger and more expensive one from them except OCZ don't make anything any larger so by putting that up they are actually saying buy one for 2 GTX280's but if overclocking then don't buy one of ours, go buy one of our competitors.

That can't be good business and a company would only say that if it really was an issue.

Also you have to think about efficiencies of psu's and the fact they don't like to run at 100% load all day long either.

If 700W is a true usuage I would rather be running at 70% of a 1000W psu capacity than 82% of a 850W psu capacity.
 
Last edited:
How are you people comming to the conclusion of what his rig will draw :confused:

Have a look at post 2, my answer is based on FACT...

I will pick on you Linx, how do you know his system wont use more than 700w?
Mine uses less than his will and mine uses 861w!
This is not guessed, calculated or simply made up like most peoples answers seem to be, it is MEASURED.
 
I wouldn't listen to that calculator site myself, it says my system is pulling 1330w yet my PSU is only 850w.

Jamrowls - What did you measure that with and where? I was hoping to add another 280 to my system at some point but now you have me worried.
 
Measured with a plugin power meter.

As it happens that calculator site is only 5w off for me.

Dont forget im talking 100% load. The only thing to do that to the CPU is prime etc, and the only thing to do that to the GPU's is furmark.
 
jamrowls said:
Have a look at post 2, my answer is based on FACT...

I will pick on you Linx, how do you know his system wont use more than 700w?
Mine uses less than his will and mine uses 861w!
This is not guessed, calculated or simply made up like most peoples answers seem to be, it is MEASURED.
Click to expand...

861w drawn from the plug yes but you need to factor in the efficiency of PSU which is typically 80%.

So 861w x 80% = 688.8w actual wattage used by components.

But yeah if the OP is running heavily oced i7 then 850w would be cutting it too close for 2x GTX295s in SLI.
 
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