Power Supply for SLI GTX 560 Ti

[awppsu]

Does anyone know what kind of Power Supply I should be running to support two GTX 560 Ti?

Other things in the case:
i5-2500k
Asrock Z68 Extreme 4
ASUS DVD-Burner
2 200mm Fans
1 120mm Fan
Cooler Masrer Hyper TX-3 CPU Cooler
Seagate 1tb 7200RPM HDD
Kingston V+100 96gb SSD
CoolerMaster HAF-922 Case

 

[theAnimal]

A good quality 600W+ PSU with 4 PCIe connectors, such as Antec True Power New, Corsair TX/HX, Seasonic, XFX.

 

[awppsu]

I don't think many PSU below 750W come with 4 PCIe connectors. Wouldn't the card itself come with 2 4pin Molux(sp?) connectors. Are those not good to use?

 

[theAnimal]

The 650W XFX have 4 connectors, as does the Corsair HX650. The Molex adapters can be used but it is generally better to buy a PSU that includes all the native connectors you need.

 

[awppsu]

The 650W XFX have 4 connectors, as does the Corsair HX650. The Molex adapters can be used but it is generally better to buy a PSU that includes all the native connectors you need.

I'll look into those. Why is it better to use native connectors though? I mean if someone doesn't want to upgrade their PSU would it still be ok to use connectors?

 

[Dark Shroud]

Native connections usually mean that rail has the proper level of amps to drive the video card(s).

 

[BoomerD]

From this graph:

It looks like a single card system will draw about 350 watts in Furmark, or about 310 watts in Crysis2. That's only a skosh more than my GTX460.
Since that's total system power, running two cards won't require double the wattage, but IMO, nothing less than 600-650 would be prudent. I don't like to push my PSU past 60-70% of its rated wattage though...and if it was me, I'd probably get a quality 750 watt PSU from one of the following companies:
XFX
Corsair
SeaSonic
Antec
NZXT (surprisingly, their HALE 90 units review VERY well)

 

[hardboy]

If I were you and was yet to buy a psu I would go for a 1000 watts though probably a quality 850 or supreme quality 750 might just do it, but I like to buy something with more than 30% headroom and to be able to last at least 2 years with no upgrade tensions in btw.

 

[stahlhart]

Does anyone know what kind of Power Supply I should be running to support two GTX 560 Ti?

Other things in the case:
i5-2500k
Asrock Z68 Extreme 4
ASUS DVD-Burner
2 200mm Fans
1 120mm Fan
Cooler Masrer Hyper TX-3 CPU Cooler
Seagate 1tb 7200RPM HDD
Kingston V+100 96gb SSD
CoolerMaster HAF-922 Case

The 750W Corsair was more than enough here. You'd probably be fine with 650W.

 

[Termie]

I think you guys are seriously underestimating the power draw of 560Ti SLI. HardOCP found that these cards, when overclocked with an older i7 processor, topped out at 628w: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/21/msi_n560gtx_ti_twin_frozr_ii_oc_sli_review/9. Now, the OP has a more efficient CPU, and he's not talking about overclocking, but I'd say he needs at least a 650w PSU, and really should probably go for a 750w PSU. Only the >$100 650w units will come with 4 PCIe cables, so I'd just go straight for a 750w unit, which probably will cost nearly the same (especially if the OP doesn't care about modular cables). Something like the Corsair TX750 v2 would work very well: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/04/27/corsair_enthusiast_series_tx750_v2_psu_review/. It's $100 after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021&cm_re=tx750-_-17-139-021-_-Product

 

[awppsu]

I currently have a 650W Corsair TX laying around.

I think for now I will stick with the single card, as I know you can OC it to 570 levels.

If I ever do jump to the SLI I'll probably upgrade to the 750W

 

[Termie]

I currently have a 650W Corsair TX laying around.

I think for now I will stick with the single card, as I know you can OC it to 570 levels.

If I ever do jump to the SLI I'll probably upgrade to the 750W

If you don't need the performance of SLI right now, then no need to push it. BTW, Anandtech tested the 560Ti SLI setup here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4239/nvidias-geforce-gtx-590-duking-it-out-for-the-single-card-king/16. Non-OC'd cards on a lightly overclocked i7-920 peaked at 500w in Crysis (and 570w in Furmark). So you probably could handle that on your TX650, but watch the overclock if you go that route.

 

[awppsu]

If you don't need the performance of SLI right now, then no need to push it. BTW, Anandtech tested the 560Ti SLI setup here: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4239/nvidias-geforce-gtx-590-duking-it-out-for-the-single-card-king/16. Non-OC'd cards on a lightly overclocked i7-920 peaked at 500w in Crysis (and 570w in Furmark). So you probably could handle that on your TX650, but watch the overclock if you go that route.

How much lower would that be since I have an i5?

From what I understand the i5 draws a lot less power then the i7?

Though I do plan to OC the i5 a lil bit as my board has some pretty nifty built in OC presets.

 

[Termie]

How much lower would that be since I have an i5?

From what I understand the i5 draws a lot less power then the i7?

Though I do plan to OC the i5 a lil bit as my board has some pretty nifty built in OC presets.

Hard to be certain, but based on this review, I'd say the i5-2500k will use about 50w less than AnandTech's 3.33Ghz i7-920 system used in the gaming tests above: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/21. So your system with 560Ti SLI would probably pull about 450w in Crysis. In regard to overclocking, I'd worry more about OC'ing the 560s. They'll jump fast in power consumption, but the 2500k won't go up as quick.

 

[awppsu]

Hard to be certain, but based on this review, I'd say the i5-2500k will use about 50w less than AnandTech's 3.33Ghz i7-920 system used in the gaming tests above: http://www.anandtech.com/show/4083/...core-i7-2600k-i5-2500k-core-i3-2100-tested/21. So your system with 560Ti SLI would probably pull about 450w in Crysis. In regard to overclocking, I'd worry more about OC'ing the 560s. They'll jump fast in power consumption, but the 2500k won't go up as quick.

When OCing if you don't increase the voltage does that keep power consumption down? Would it be good to find an OC level where voltage increase is not necessary, as I know I can get that with the 560 Ti.

And really I don't think I will OC the 560 ti to much as from what I've seen basic SLI 560 Ti beat a 580 soundly.

 

[Termie]

When OCing if you don't increase the voltage does that keep power consumption down? Would it be good to find an OC level where voltage increase is not necessary, as I know I can get that with the 560 Ti.

And really I don't think I will OC the 560 ti to much as from what I've seen basic SLI 560 Ti beat a 580 soundly.

I can't find anything concrete for you, although this review shows how high one 560Ti can get when overvolted: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/01/galaxy_geforce_gtx_560_ti_gc_overclocking_review/. About an 80w increase.

You're right that avoiding overvolting will also avoid huge spikes in power consumption, but even stock voltage overclocking will increase power draw to some extent, probably in the range of 15-45w (per card). My HD5850 at stock voltage can gain 100MHz with about a 30w rise in power consumption. Getting another 100MHz with extra voltage takes another 60w, so the power increase roughly doubles for MHz gained. This is not directly comparable to your card, but I mention it to illustrate the point.

 

[awppsu]

I can't find anything concrete for you, although this review shows how high one 560Ti can get when overvolted: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/01/galaxy_geforce_gtx_560_ti_gc_overclocking_review/. About an 80w increase.

You're right that avoiding overvolting will also avoid huge spikes in power consumption, but even stock voltage overclocking will increase power draw to some extent, probably in the range of 15-45w (per card). My HD5850 at stock voltage can gain 100MHz with about a 30w rise in power consumption. Getting another 100MHz with extra voltage takes another 60w, so the power increase roughly doubles for MHz gained. This is not directly comparable to your card, but I mention it to illustrate the point.

Gotcha! Thanks for the info.

 

[stahlhart]

I think you guys are seriously underestimating the power draw of 560Ti SLI. HardOCP found that these cards, when overclocked with an older i7 processor, topped out at 628w: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/02/21/msi_n560gtx_ti_twin_frozr_ii_oc_sli_review/9. Now, the OP has a more efficient CPU, and he's not talking about overclocking, but I'd say he needs at least a 650w PSU, and really should probably go for a 750w PSU. Only the >$100 650w units will come with 4 PCIe cables, so I'd just go straight for a 750w unit, which probably will cost nearly the same (especially if the OP doesn't care about modular cables). Something like the Corsair TX750 v2 would work very well: http://www.hardocp.com/article/2011/04/27/corsair_enthusiast_series_tx750_v2_psu_review/. It's $100 after rebate: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139021&cm_re=tx750-_-17-139-021-_-Product

The most I've ever been able to draw at the wall with the build below is about 600W with TessMark -- but I like your reasoning in support of 750W.