Overclocked CPU, 8800GTX SLI PC needs only 500w PSU

[Woofmeister]

The Inquirer builds an ultimate rig--overclocked Core 2 Extreme QX6700, Nforce 680i, Dual 8800GTXs in SLI and water cooling--and runs the whole thing with a 500 Watt PSU.

Sounds like 600 to 700 Watts should be more than enough for anyone.

 

[adairusmc]

As long as it is a -quality- 500w PSU, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

Never really messed with an MGE power supply though, so I do not know how it would stack up against my PC Power & Cooling.

 

[ayabe]

I'm glad they did this and hopefully people will take note and try to resist the hype around PSU requirements these days.

 

[JAG87]

Oh yea

lets trust the in'ass'quirer now.

 

[KeithTalent]

This is interesting, even though it is from the Inquirer. I am planning on upgrading to RD600 and an E6600 plus an R600/8800 card in the next month or two and was wondering if I would have to upgrade my 500W Seasonic PSU.

Not that I am going to take their word as law, but I will now investigate further rather than just assuming I need more juice, which is what I originally thought.

Thanks for the link OP. :thumbsup:

KT

 

[Woofmeister]

Originally posted by: KeithTalent
Not that I am going to take their word as law, but I will now investigate further rather than just assuming I need more juice, which is what I originally thought.

QFT

 

[Midwayman]

Originally posted by: adairusmc
As long as it is a -quality- 500w PSU, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

Never really messed with an MGE power supply though, so I do not know how it would stack up against my PC Power & Cooling.

yup. the stated requirements are to cover all the $40 crap PSU's out there.

 

[Soul Colossus]

And I was worried about my system not working on my 500w Enermax

 

[Howard]

Originally posted by: JAG87
Oh yea

lets trust the in'ass'quirer now.

Because your "experiences" are to the contrary, right? How did you figure out the power draw anyway?

 

[theprodigalrebel]

Maybe we should have a thread out here - Who has the most hardware with the least rated PSU.

Minimum requirements:
Core 2 Duo @ 3.2Ghz+
Multi-GPU R580/G71 setup or above
Stability: Orthos/S&M and 3D Mark 06 looped for 24 hours/Screenshot of PSU Voltage Rails

 

[CP5670]

I have been saying this for a while too. According to Techreport, a single 8800GTX actually requires less power on load than one X1900XTX. I've seen quite a few people using two of the latter card on 600W-ish units, and I know my system draws only about 230W on load with a single one.

 

[Lonyo]

I've been saying it too, after my own personal experiences using a kill-a-watt on my PC.
People seriously over-estimate how much power they need. Everyone says "oh you need loads of watts AND a good power supply".
Truth is, if you have a good power supply, you DON'T need lots of watts, that's the point of getting a good one.

 

[adairusmc]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
Maybe we should have a thread out here - Who has the most hardware with the least rated PSU.

Minimum requirements:
Core 2 Duo @ 3.2Ghz+
Multi-GPU R580/G71 setup or above
Stability: Orthos/S&M and 3D Mark 06 looped for 24 hours/Screenshot of PSU Voltage Rails

Why should you require that people have a Core2 Duo to participate?

 

[theprodigalrebel]

adairusmc: because that's what all the people with the insane-wattage GPUs usually have here!
Seriously, I would like to see a few tricked out rigs with great OCs and a G80 or two with a measly 500W PSU.

Then, we could sticky that thread and see the number of "is my PSU enough for (insert GPU name)" threads fade into oblivion.

 

[SunnyD]

If you notice their PSU load peaked at 431 watts. What the Inq failed to realize is that their PSU's 12v rail spec probably maxed out at 384 watts give or take. They ran their system for 2 days. I'd like to see how long that PSU would last under load for a month. I'm guessing it won't.

 

[happy medium]

I bet my my Enermax 350 with 26 amp 12v rail can run
duo 6600
8800gts
2 megs ram
1 optical
1 hard drive
3 fans
2 usb devices
LED lights on case
floppy drive

Any takers?

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: ayabe
I'm glad they did this and hopefully people will take note and try to resist the hype around PSU requirements these days.

So we don't need 700watt+ power supplies? Would a quality Seasonic 500Watt handle this load though? I've never heard of the power supply they were using.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: happy medium
I bet my my Enermax 350 with 26 amp 12v rail can run
duo 6600
8800gts
2 megs ram
1 optical
1 hard drive
3 fans
2 usb devices
LED lights on case
floppy drive

Any takers?

2 megabytes of ram?
edit: You don't want to push a 350watt power supply that hard continuously, that's saying that it would work to start off with.

 

[Smartazz]

Originally posted by: theprodigalrebel
Maybe we should have a thread out here - Who has the most hardware with the least rated PSU.

Minimum requirements:
Core 2 Duo @ 3.2Ghz+
Multi-GPU R580/G71 setup or above
Stability: Orthos/S&M and 3D Mark 06 looped for 24 hours/Screenshot of PSU Voltage Rails

Already ahead of you. I wonder who would win the competition. Since most people with that kind of setup have great power supplies, anybody is free to enter. Text

 

[DaveBC]

Crazy ain't it? Power configurator says I only need 380W if I overclock CPU and my GTX's. I suppose if you add a buch of HDD, USB devices you might need 500 - 600 W.

 

[Ayah]

Not all 500W PSUs are equals.

 

[trOver]

i was thinking about getting a 500watter for a system much less than than, and i was having doubts, well now i know im fine!

 

[Elfear]

The results sound plausible but I wouldn't want to run that rig for long with that PSU. If you decided to voltmod the gpus and up the vcore on the proc there is no way that PSU would live. Here is what I recorded with just a C2D and very few extra system components:

System consists of:

E6600@3.6GHz 1.42V
X-Fi Fatality
320GB Seagate sata drive
2GB Patriot PC5300
3- 120mmx38mm Sanyo Denki Fans
2- 80mm Thermaltake Smart Case II fans
600W Enhance PSU
50Z waterpump (only 8W draw)


X1900XT Crossfire

With cards at 710/840 1.525/1.15/1.15/1.5V

4.89A
586.7W at the wallplate
~440W draw from the components


7600GS

2.15A
258W at the wallplate
~180W draw from the components


8800GTX

3.28A
394W at the wallplate
~292W draw from the components


As others have mentioned the 12V rail would take a serious beating unless the 500W PSU had one one manly 12V line.

 

[hans007]

Originally posted by: Midwayman

Originally posted by: adairusmc
As long as it is a -quality- 500w PSU, that wouldn't surprise me at all.

Never really messed with an MGE power supply though, so I do not know how it would stack up against my PC Power & Cooling.

yup. the stated requirements are to cover all the $40 crap PSU's out there.

well on a good sale an antec 500 watt neo he is $39.99 at frys after rebate.


the key to power supplies for sli, is to get an atx 2.2 one. the neo 500 is one of those and it has 18amps on 3 12v rails. which should be enough for 2 8800gtxes

atx 2.0 would only require something like 26 amps total 12v amps for 500 watts. and a atx 1.2 would be probably lows 20s. atx 2.2 i think the spec is something like 38 amps total load or something high lik ethat on the 12v lines which cpu and vid cards use.

 

[ayabe]

Originally posted by: Smartazz

Originally posted by: ayabe
I'm glad they did this and hopefully people will take note and try to resist the hype around PSU requirements these days.

So we don't need 700watt+ power supplies? Would a quality Seasonic 500Watt handle this load though? I've never heard of the power supply they were using.

Some people do, but most don't need anywhere near that much. I would consider whether or not SLI is in the picture and how many optical/HD's are involved.

Otherwise, sane people would do just fine with a 500w Seasonic or the equivalent. I wouldn't buy a bobo 500w PSU and expect the same results, but as long as it's efficient, you should be gtg.