Is 1000W enough?

[Rakehellion]

I have a 7900X, 4x GTX 1070, at least 4-8 DDR4 DIMMS. The GPUs are rated at 150W, the CPU is 140W but will get a mild overclock. Can I use a 1000W power supply?

 

[UsandThem]

You should be fine, but is this a mining PC that will be run 24/7 at full load?

Plus, the GTX 1070 cards can pull 150 each at full load. It just depends what you are doing with them.

 

[Rakehellion]

Not mining, but it is a server.

the GTX 1070 cards can pull 150 each at full load

At full load? I know the 1080 can go as high as 250W maxed out.

 

[UsandThem]

1080?

You have 4 x 1070 in your OP. As long as the cards are the GTX 1070s, and you aren't mining or pushing them with heavy overclocks, a quality 1000w unit should be plenty. You could even power limit the cards, and knock down your power consumption by a good 100w without affecting their performance, I would think. It's what I do with my cards when they are doing Folding@Home.

From what I have seen, a 1080 should never pull 250w. That should stay under 180w for the Founders Edition, while some overclocked add-in cards hit just a little over 200w. 250w is GTX 1080ti territory.

Anyways, for something that you want to run 24/7, you really don't want to go above 80% of the unit's rated capability, as it will cause it to have a shorter life as it will run hot. Some people might go higher than that, but truth be told I am a lot more comfortable staying around 70% of the max load.

 

[Rakehellion]

and you aren't mining

Why would mining be different than any other use?

 

[UsandThem]

Why would mining be different than any other use?

It's not "different", it's all about what load you are putting on your system. Depending on what is being mined, it can put a very high constant load on the PSU.

I'm just trying to narrow down how much your server will pull, based on your usage and the limited info I have. I'm still not clear if you have GTX 1070 or GTX 1080 cards, as you said 1070 in your OP, and then 1080 in your first response.

I fold with GTX 1070, 1080, and a 1080ti cards, so I know what they pull with a decent constant load on them, however I power limit them to 75% which reduces energy usage, and reduces the heat.

 

[Red Squirrel]

It might work but I'd say it's cutting it close. With cards and cpu alone you're already at 740 watts. That's not counting the motherboard/ram itself (not really sure how much watts that usually uses? around 100? Just a guess) and then any other components like hard drive and fans etc. It will most likely be under 1,000 though so I'd say with a high quality PSU you should be ok.

 

[UsandThem]

It might work but I'd say it's cutting it close. With cards and cpu alone you're already at 740 watts. That's not counting the motherboard/ram itself (not really sure how much watts that usually uses? around 100? Just a guess) and then any other components like hard drive and fans etc. It will most likely be under 1,000 though so I'd say with a high quality PSU you should be ok.

Yeah, it's tough to figure out without knowing all of the details.

When I play a game on my PC, they use quite bit less power than when I do Folding@Home. For example, my GTX 1080ti pulls 220w - 280w (total system load) while gaming, but when Folding (and power limiter set to 75%) it pulls a constant 335w - 350w (total system load). I have 7 case fans, and they really pull next to nothing power wise. A person would really only have to worry about the power they pull if they were using a fan like Delta or Noctua Industrial which use a whole lot more power than standard case fans.

So if this user actually has GTX 1070 cards and not GTX 1080 ones, and they are pulling a normal gaming load (which will never max out the card's max power draw), they should be fine with plenty of headroom left over.

However, if they doing something similar to Folding or mining, and pulling a constant heavy load, then I would personally move up to a slightly bigger PSU.

 

[Rakehellion]

it's all about what load you are putting on your system

I want to be able to use my system normally without having to worry about loads. I bought a 1200W.

 

[ΔΗΜΗΤΡΙΟΣ ΑΡΒΑΝΙΤΑΚΗΣ]

yes is more than better

 

[BonzaiDuck]

My understanding was that a PSU with a high wattage spec, operating at below 20% capacity, is operating less efficiently than one operating at 40 or 50% capacity.

In my own case -- mindful of what someone had said earlier about wanting to stay within 80% of the PSU spec -- the extreme tests and calculations put me within 100W of the PSU spec. But even intensive gaming or other demanding loads will never get me there. The "extreme case" will never occur in real use.

 

[Mr Evil]

My understanding was that a PSU with a high wattage spec, operating at below 20% capacity, is operating less efficiently than one operating at 40 or 50% capacity...

Peak efficiency is usually around 50%. It tends to stay reasonably high over a wide range around that, but can drop very quickly below 20% for some PSUs. The 80+ Titanium spec addresses that by specifying minimum efficiency all the way down to 10% load, whereas previous versions only dictated efficiency down to 20%.

This is why I used to like the reviews on SPCR, since they measured efficiency at power levels all the way down to what normal PCs use at idle.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Peak efficiency is usually around 50%. It tends to stay reasonably high over a wide range around that, but can drop very quickly below 20% for some PSUs. The 80+ Titanium spec addresses that by specifying minimum efficiency all the way down to 10% load, whereas previous versions only dictated efficiency down to 20%.

This is why I used to like the reviews on SPCR, since they measured efficiency at power levels all the way down to what normal PCs use at idle.

See, a lot of times, we don't pick up all the details about a purchased product that was nevertheless a wise purchase. All my good or important machines now use Titanium PRIMEs. This is good to know. And -- I agree -- the SPCR reviews are enlightening.

 

[Batboy88]

Well it depends on unit in question. And many Forget about Peak loads...so yes I would say Largely you are probably fine. It's not new, a lot did it often and Pulled a little more from some of the Bigger units and they handled it too.

 

[SlowBox]

Hes gonna barely make it with 4x 1070's. How much does each pull. 200 watts per video card ? That would be 800 watts if Im correct and Im not saying I am correct fyi. So theres 200 watts left for CPU and mobo and all your devices. Your gonna barely make it and might run into issues. Good Luck

 

[Organik]

We need to figure out exactly how much wattage does each card deliver. Im guessing 250 watts or around there. 4x of those cards cant live off a 1000watt PSU. You can try your rig with 1000w if it works I would honestly be shocked.

 

[UsandThem]

We need to figure out exactly how much wattage does each card deliver. Im guessing 250 watts or around there. 4x of those cards cant live off a 1000watt PSU. You can try your rig with 1000w if it works I would honestly be shocked.

250w is around what the GTX 1080ti pulls. Four GTX 1070 cards, even heavily overclocked, will never come anywhere near that amount.