450w psu + 5970?

[HAL9000]

Hi everyone,

I've got a 5970+ 5870 crossfirex set up, with my 5870 connected to my computers PSU and my 5970 connected to a 450W 5.25" PSU my performance is lacking in some areas and I'm wondering if it's the powersupplys fault...? Thanks in advance.


Moved to PSU forum.

Super Moderator BFG10K.

 

[tviceman]

A 450w power supply is going to have an extremely difficult time driving a 5970 by itself. A very easy google search shows me that AMD recommends a 650 watt power supply for a 5970. You are going to likely permanently damage one/some of your computer components if you continue to operate your PC with as is with a 450w power supply.

 

[HAL9000]

Really? Because the power supply is only connected to the graphics card, nothing else, for my. Computer I've got a separate 1KW supply...?

Also a 5970 at stock speeds uses about 300w..? I assumed that AMD were recommending for a PSU that powers the entire computer.

 

[tviceman]

Really? Because the power supply is only connected to the graphics card, nothing else, for my. Computer I've got a separate 1KW supply...?

Also a 5970 at stock speeds uses about 300w..? I assumed that AMD were recommending for a PSU that powers the entire computer.

You did not make any of this clear in your first post.

 

[Rhoxed]

Really? Because the power supply is only connected to the graphics card, nothing else, for my. Computer I've got a separate 1KW supply...?

Also a 5970 at stock speeds uses about 300w..? I assumed that AMD were recommending for a PSU that powers the entire computer.

450W should be fine for the card alone, what sort of performance issues are you experiencing?

 

[HAL9000]

450W should be fine for the card alone, what sort of performance issues are you experiencing?

Ok well in things like furmark I do really well but in say 3dmark vantage I get like 19k ish which docent seem that great, in Mafia 2 I get 50 fps or there abouts, in Crysis warhead I get about 34 fps average, with settings up max, no AA at 1080p...? And it seems that in crossfire things are worse (but that I'll look at more after I fix the 5970 solo issues...)

 

[tweakboy]

Oh heck no there is no way a 450watt cheap PSU can handle a 5970


You need mutliple rails and and 72amps and at least a 600watt psu.

Its slow because the PSU is huffing and puffing being your bottleneck.

If you can spend 500 on a 5970 by all means you can upgrade your PSU.. gl

 

[HAL9000]

Oh heck no there is no way a 450watt cheap PSU can handle a 5970


You need mutliple rails and and 72amps and at least a 600watt psu.

Its slow because the PSU is huffing and puffing being your bottleneck.

If you can spend 500 on a 5970 by all means you can upgrade your PSU.. gl

Even though the PSU is only connected to the graphics card and I have a separate 1000w psu for the rest of my computer?!

 

[exar333]

How many amps is the 450w PSU?

 

[HAL9000]

How many amps is the 450w PSU?

I have no idea it's this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-044-_-Product

 

[SlowSpyder]

It's not the power supply. (*edit - It might be the power supply ) A 450 watt unit that powers only the 5970 should be enough. Hell, if you have a 1k watt unit you could probably power the whole computer (with the graphics cards) without too much trouble.

I think tri-fire has improved, but I would try using just the 5970 and see how things perform. Keep a monitoring program like Afterburner or Rivatuner open and play some games, use your 1k watt power supply. Monitor your temps and 12v. My guess is everything is working fine, but tri-fire scaling at 1080P might not be all that great. A 5970 can probably run just about anything at 1920x1080, for whatever that's worth.

What does the rest of your system look like... specs?

*edit - I just looked at that 450 watt power supply you linked. It doesn't say much about it, but it's $20. I wouldn't use a $20 power supply on my $600 card. Just use your 1k watt unit and monitor how it runs.

 

[exar333]

I have no idea it's this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-044-_-Product

The manufacturer page lists only 38 max amps for this PSU, thats probably not enough for the 5970. I would concur to run this on the main 1kw PSU, you should be within specs unless you are running a ton of peripherals alongside the GPU.

Bottom-line, don't cheap-out on a PSU for a top-of-the-line GPU. Is a $20 PSU worth blowing a $600 GPU?

 

[HAL9000]

It's not the power supply. (*edit - It might be the power supply ) A 450 watt unit that powers only the 5970 should be enough. Hell, if you have a 1k watt unit you could probably power the whole computer (with the graphics cards) without too much trouble.

I think tri-fire has improved, but I would try using just the 5970 and see how things perform. Keep a monitoring program like Afterburner or Rivatuner open and play some games, use your 1k watt power supply. Monitor your temps and 12v. My guess is everything is working fine, but tri-fire scaling at 1080P might not be all that great. A 5970 can probably run just about anything at 1920x1080, for whatever that's worth.

What does the rest of your system look like... specs?

*edit - I just looked at that 450 watt power supply you linked. It doesn't say much about it, but it's $20. I wouldn't use a $20 power supply on my $600 card. Just use your 1k watt unit and monitor how it runs.

Ok great, very comprehensive reply, I'll have a go at changing power supplies and see how it goes. I don't think it's the rest of my system:

Two Xeon x5355s 8 cores at 3.2 ghz 1600fsb 1.313v.
Could be my ram 12 GB 800mhz ddr2 FB-DIMM Kingston...
I've got a three SSDs for different things...

 

[SlowSpyder]

Ok great, very comprehensive reply, I'll have a go at changing power supplies and see how it goes. I don't think it's the rest of my system:

Two Xeon x5355s 8 cores at 3.2 ghz 1600fsb 1.313v.
Could be my ram 800mhz ddr2 FB-DIMM Kingston...
I've got a three SSDs for different things...

I don't know a ton about Intel systems, but seeing as you have two Xeons, is this a work station motherboard? I am not familiar with Xeon 5355's and am too lazy to search. But, seeing as this board has a FSB I know it's the old Core2 based stuff. If this is a workstation board, is it possible that something with that possibly slowing gaming down a bit? Do the older Intel boards have two 16x PCIE slots, or might one be 4x and hurting performance? If the slot that is 4x (assuming that's the case) has the 5970 that could slow things down as that PCIE slot is feeding two GPU's.

Sorry, I could be way off on all of this, I just am not very familiar with Intel stuff.

 

[HAL9000]

I don't know a ton about Intel systems, but seeing as you have two Xeons, is this a work station motherboard? I am not familiar with Xeon 5355's and am too lazy to search. But, seeing as this board has a FSB I know it's the old Core2 based stuff. If this is a workstation board, is it possible that something with that possibly slowing gaming down a bit? Do the older Intel boards have two 16x PCIE slots, or might one be 4x and hurting performance? If the slot that is 4x (assuming that's the case) has the 5970 that could slow things down as that PCIE slot is feeding two GPU's.

Sorry, I could be way off on all of this, I just am not very familiar with Intel stuff.

Your right it is a workstation motherboard, it dosent have three 16x vie gone for 8x/8x but I could switch that to 16x/4x with my 5870 in 4x, but even if I do I can't imagine that it will make to the solo 5970 will it?

 

[TemjinGold]

OP: Your 1kW should be able to power your whole rig without you needing this extra thing unless you have a crap model. What brand and model is your 1kW PSU? If you're using something quality like Corsair, Antec, or Seasonic, I wouldn't even bother with the extra 450w thingy.

 

[HAL9000]

OP: Your 1kW should be able to power your whole rig without you needing this extra thing unless you have a crap model. What brand and model is your 1kW PSU? If you're using something quality like Corsair, Antec, or Seasonic, I wouldn't even bother with the extra 450w thingy.

Ok well the reason I was going for the extra PSU is that I didn't have enough ports on the power supply and i didn't want to run the power cables from my optical drive molex cables.

 

[Absolution75]

Hooking up some molex -> PCI-E (you can use molex splitters too, but not recommended really if you don't have too) is more troubing then installing a second PSU?

What make/model is it? How many amps on the 12v rail(s)?

 

[HAL9000]

Hooking up some molex -> PCI-E (you can use molex splitters too, but not recommended really if you don't have too) is more troubing then installing a second PSU?

What make/model is it? How many amps on the 12v rail(s)?

I didn't really want to get into my PSU manufacturer/ motherboard manufacturer, as it's a Mac, and I knew everyone would either start saying buy a pc, or telling me that it's all apple problems so if you can get round that then i'd like some help.

It's a Mac Pro.

 

[jaydee]

I have no idea it's this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-044-_-Product

I wouldn't trust that power supply with my toaster.

 

[Vdubchaos]

Dual GPU solutions (rather it's dual on one card or CF/SLI) always seem to have sketchy results.

Personally I have a rule of thumb, 1 GPU only.

Also it's not like 2x give you DOUBLE the performance. I could never justify going CF or SLI to be honest.

PS. That power supply is certainly not "known" and is most likely the issue. Hook it up to your 1k PS assuming it's any good.

 

[HAL9000]

Dual GPU solutions (rather it's dual on one card or CF/SLI) always seem to have sketchy results.

Personally I have a rule of thumb, 1 GPU only.

Also it's not like 2x give you DOUBLE the performance. I could never justify going CF or SLI to be honest.

PS. That power supply is certainly not "known" and is most likely the issue. Hook it up to your 1k PS assuming it's any good.

Ok guys assuming it is the psu, two questions can I use an external psu, I.e. If i buy a power supply and plug it in outside the case. Secondly are there any optical drive bay power supplies you can recommend.

 

[HAL9000]

Ok guys figured out the problem,my 5970 is designating itself as GPU 2 and my 5870 thinks is GPU 1 no matter what pcie port I put it in... Any suggestions?

 

[Arkadrel]

I ll recammend selling the 5870

Be happy you have a 5970... that alone is like 480+50% performance, which means you ll still be faster than people with a 580/6970. Amd/ati say the 5970 is supposed to be able to tri crossfire with a 5870... but it seems alot of people have problems with it.

 

[HAL9000]

I ll recammend selling the 5870

Be happy you have a 5970... that alone is like 480+50% performance, which means you ll still be faster than people with a 580/6970. Amd/ati say the 5970 is supposed to be able to tri crossfire with a 5870... but it seems alot of people have problems with it.

I agree, and I would sell it buuuut as my computers a Mac I need the 5870 for when I boot into OSX as my 5970 is not supported in OSX, If I could get this working I'd have no more problems...