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PSU for 4870 crossfire

N

nurturedhate

Golden Member
Hello,

I have a question regarding my system.

I5-2400 at 3.6, stock voltage
Gigabyte P67A-UD3-B3
4gb 2133 ddr3 1.5v
2 seagate 7200rpm hdd
dvd burner
x-fi extreme gamer sound card
sapphire HD4870 1gb
Antec Basiq plus 550 watt psu

I have second 4870 (same make/model) and since the BF3 beta came out I have been running them in crossfire. I have used a few sites (http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine) that attempt to calculate max system power draw and keep getting figures around 480-490 watts under load. I would assume that a 550 watt would be able to handle this.

1) Is this (480-490 watts) roughly what my system would be using?

2) If accurate (480-490 watts) am I correct in assuming my psu is capable of powering this setup?
 
your system with completely stock 4870s would probably pull about 400-425 watts under full load. your psu is only rated for MAX of 444 watts on the 12 volt line where nearly all the power will need to come from. and it will only make that 444 watts when its brand new and under ideal conditions too. your psu is the LOW END for Antec and certainly is not made with all the higher quality parts found on their higher priced psus. bottom line is that you are probably pushing your luck for long term use IMO.
 
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Thank you for your quick response.

Three more questions,

1) Pretty sure I know the answer to this but here it goes, this psu shows 3 12v rails, modular design, can I designate 1 rail for the cpu/mobo and 1 for each video card? would this lessen the workload of the psu? (pretty sure all of this is a big no as it simply doesn't function like this)

2) http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371048 would this be a quality psu?

3) What would you recommend on a short budget?
 
You will want to choose a PSU that has at least the amount of pci-e power connectors you need. IF a 4870 has 2-6 pin. You want to get a psu that has 4 pci-e power connectors , to avoid using molex to 6-pin adapters.
I'm actually running Y splitters off the 2 pci-e connections on my psu to power 2 video cards that use 4-6 pin connections total.
On multi-rail psu's sometimes on the PSU it's listed what rails power what connections. Sometimes not.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812706014
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16812198016
 
Your PSU is not enough for 4870 crossfire, simple as that 🙂. You don't want to stress a PSU anywhere near its maximum labeled wattage, even if it's a high quality unit. All it will do is drastically decrease the lifetime of the PSU. For you I think the best thing to do would be to sell the 4870's and upgrade to a single 6870 which is about as fast as 4870 crossfire. Or 6950.
 
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These cards can overclock to 790/1050 (stock voltage) along with my cpu at 3.6. Would these 650w psu's be able to handle that also?

Another question, some of these psu's sat SLI/crossfire ready and other say certified. I would assume that they are one and the same and just a marketing word choice?
 
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