My 950w PSU is dying and whenever I enable SLI, my game will crash within 30 minutes. I'm thinking of settling for an 850w to save some money instead of getting a 1000w psu if it's enough to run my 2x 580s.
I wouldnt, if you want the PSU to last a long time. + its not worth the risk of harming your hardware.
Yeah, the bare minimum would be 900w, 1000w recommended... Running sli on an 850w psu would be pushing it, plus there won't be any room for overclocking the CPU/GPU since it will require a few 100w more...
Generally, 850W is just about enough for 580 SLI, but I don't see a reason to save money here. Did you save money when you got your 580 SLI worth $1000, what about when you got 3930K for $600? And did you save money when you got your $400 Lian Li case? No. Then you shouldn't save money on the PSU, it is more important than any of the components mentioned above. This should be perfectly in line with the high-endness of the rest of your rig: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151105&Tpk=seasonic 1000w
There's a member here: aayman_farzand, he's running a 580 SLI setup with a 2500K at 4.5GHz, with a Corsair AX850- and its running fine I believe. Maybe it's your processor putting an extra toll on the PSU compared to vanilla SB systems, those SB-E are very power hungry IIRC. Honestly speaking I've seen many systems with 2x 580s with 800W units, but most of them were either 2500K/2600K's, guess that's what making the difference. Maybe snag of a deal on a 1kW, for future reference?
Thats not the point.The PSU will be wearing out fast. If it dies, the PSU warranty wont cover damage to other components and the downtime + effort sorting it out isnt pleasant either. As pointed out, it doesnt leave much headroom for overclocking and it will push the PSU very hard, wearing it out even quicker and possibly pushing it too hard so it fails. He hasnt tried the 850W, he is asking if its ok to get one.
A very high quality 850 should be enough. But judging by the cash you spend on hardware go for a 1000 wafted and have some headroom
sorry to hijack but am in/could be in the same boat. am tempted to see if my antec tp 850w can handle it...(i guess an antec tp quattro is decent).
2 GTX 580 = close to 500 watts (244 tdp ea), add your CPU @ 130 watts, a few fans, optical drive and a couple of Harddrives could easily be as much as 50 watts or so. So it's quite likely that your system takes 700ish watts at Stock --- as we all know, Overclocking can make your power consumption skyrocket. A quality 850 watt unit would probably be just enough, but if you get 10% or more capacitor reduction over time it may not be sufficient 3 years down the road. To sum it up, it's a little bit borderline, for overclocking that is. If you don't OC anything then I think it would be ok... just buy a top quality unit with lots of Amperage.
i have the 1000W antec tp quattro and that thing pumps out A LOT of heat after an hour of gaming 850W is cutting it close IMO.
I would go for at least a 1000w unit for OPs rig. Yes, an 850w could handle it, but a 1000w unit would run less stressed, cooler and therefore should have longer longevity. Just surprised his 950w wasnt up to the task. Looks it may have been an older unit that could have degraded somewhat over time.
Read my post again. Yes I know a 1kW unit would suit his system best, but a quality 850W like the AX850, HCP 850 will handle 2x 580s just fine, unless they are overclocked like mad. For power consumption, here's Guru3D's article for more reference: http://www.guru3d.com/article/core-i7-3960x-processor--msi-x79agd65-review/10 Granted a system won't use that many watts under normal circumstance(gaming?), but when stressing an OCed SB-E against a 2500K/2600K, that does make a lot of difference for a PSU ranging from ~750-850W. That is why I suggested the OP to get a deal on a 1kW for his system. But what I'm suprised to see like many others that his 950W wasn't up to the task.:3eyes:
My 480 SLI probably wore the 950w out when I had them, they were power hungry beasts. Also, what's the difference between the Corsair HX and AX series?
I've been running it for a couple of months now, and so far everything has been running flawlessly. I did not OC my GPUs though, cause it maxes out EVERYTHING at stock clocks @1080p You should get a 1000W just to be safe.
Were you folding with those 480s 24/7? AX = fully modular, slightly more efficient(GOLD), newer model, and the ~750-850 models are based on SeaSonic IIRC. HX = not fully modular, slightly less efficient(SILVER), old model, and is prolly based on CWT. I would suggest you to get a minimum 1kW as others have recommended. Look at the SeaSonic 1000W Platinum if money is no issue. It's dead silent, and features a hybrid fan mode which doesn't even spin up if the PSU is not loaded. Or an Enermax/Antec/Corsair/SilverStone/SeaSonic 1kW unit would do fine.
We are talking about how long the PSU lasts, not whether it works when new. Looking at the article you linked, the graphics card isnt under any load so it doesnt help your argument. Running the CPU full load consumes 200W without the gfx cards being put under load. Just a CPU overclock can make the system use 400W without the graphics cards being loaded. I wouldnt put SLI 580 in that system with an 850W PSU, even an AX. So you think its worth him buying a PSU that can be harmed or can harm his system when pushed hard. You didnt just suggest a 1KW PSU, you advised him that the risks you would take with an 850W are worth following. PSUs die through age, heat, stress etc... Its not surprising that PSUs die when pushed hard and here is evidence that his 950W PSU did just that!
The topic= is 850W enough for 2x 580, I don't mean no disrespect, but I was solely answering the OP about his two 580s according to what we are discussing here. What I wanted to note was that, vanilla SB systems are like 150-200W more efficient than SB-E which makes a difference for these PSUs and that's exactly what the link shows: 2600K vs 3960X. PSUs ranging from ~750-850 units, and under that falls the AX750-850, HCP, all the other renowned units from respective manufacturers. Only OCing the CPU won't need raw 400W, if we are talking about SB and not BD/SB-E. But that doesn't count here, which I stated at the very first, as the OP owns an SB-E system. There's already a member using his AX850 with 2 580s, not overclocked(not counting the CPU), and again I also pointed it out that it's fine if the GPUs are not overclocked. In my original post, I said that a quality 850W is fine for SLI, but try to "snag of a deal" for a 1kW unit. I didn't recommend an 850W, I said I've seen many systems with 580 SLI on 800W units, but try to *find a deal* on a 1kW for *future reference* as in for future upgradability(so that the system runs fine without hiccups even if you are upgrading), IDK if it's a word lol. Here's the ASUS Mars II review: Power Consumption http://www.guru3d.com/article/asus-mars-ii-review/8 If the OP subjects to test with FurMark, then it's also adviced that the system will/may take in an additional 50-100W more compared to traditional load(for e.g: gaming). My post: Sorry about the long post. And I do agree with you, but you are not really getting my posts. Maybe it's my writing style.
Those points have been covered. Not considering how long the PSU will last is negligent imo, especially when its been mentioned multiple times. Op, if you need further clarification, pls ask.
