Quad SLI and Corsair 1000HX

Elganja

Platinum Member
May 21, 2007
2,143
24
81
For those of you who run QUAD SLI, or even TRI sli, how do you recommend the rail division?

here is a pic of the rail plug design (keep in mind, the atx 20 pin and CPU power is on V1 and the 2x 2+6pin is on V2):
DSCF0031.jpg


Other things i have in my PC:
-5 120mm fans, 1 240mm fan (these are running independent of a 4pin molex connection)
-1 Velociraptor Drive and 2 F1 Spinpoint Drives
-1 DVD Burner


Why bring this up? I was having random crashes where my PC would turn off and I couldn't figure out why, until I took a second look at the rail design. What did my noob ass do? I connected everything to V2 (i.e. both video cards and all accesories).

Changes I have made thus far which seems to be very stable?
V2
-All accessories (don't have a choice here)
-1 295 V2
-1/2 295 (i.e., 1 out of the 2 power connectors)
V1
-CPU Power
-20 Pin Power Connector
-1/2 295 (i.e., 1 out of the 2 power connectors)


Is this the recommend way to do this? I'm trying to balance out the load on both rails as good as possible.
 

mpilchfamily

Diamond Member
Jun 11, 2007
3,559
1
0
Your main power draw is from the video cards and the CPU. The PSU manufacture is going to already have those connections devided up resonably so you won't overload anything. But when your using splitters to make up for connections that aren't already there you can run into problems like this. Its best if you use a PSU that comes with the number of connectors you need so you don't have to worry about this sort of thing. Sure the 1K PSU has the power you need but look at the problem you ran into.
 

Elganja

Platinum Member
May 21, 2007
2,143
24
81
i'm not using any splitters... the psu has many 6+2 connectors.

I got a good answer from the evga forums... this what they told me:

V1 (Rail #1)
-CPU
-GTX295 #1/6 Pin Connector
-GTX295 #2/6 Pin Connector

V2 (Rail #2)
-GTX295 #1/8 Pin Connector
-GTX295 #2/8 Pin Connector
-Accesories

This passes the OCCT PSU stress test, so I should be golden
 

HOOfan 1

Platinum Member
Sep 2, 2007
2,337
15
81
Just note that the manual suggests that you do not mix hardwired and modular connectors on the same cards...
 

Elganja

Platinum Member
May 21, 2007
2,143
24
81
Just note that the manual suggests that you do not mix hardwired and modular connectors on the same cards...

I went back and read the manual here is what it says:

"If your video card requires two PCI-E connectors do not connect a hardwired PCI-E connector and a modular connector to the same video card. It is recommended to use either fixed mount cables or modular cables but not both on the same video card."

It is a recommendation, not a "big no no" (A big no no would be using the detachable 4pin for other things as there are multiple bolded warnings for this). It also seems like they make the distinction not to mix modualr cables and hardwired, not the mixing of rails, but maybe I am just reading it wrong.

I guess I will just push my luck... hell if something bad happens it will give me an excuse to upgrade :p
 

cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
126
Corsair forum recommended to plug Card #1 to the hardwired connections and Card #2 to the other rail via modular cables. This way you have One card on Rail 1 with your CPU and rail 2 handling the other card and the HDDs etc.

40A can easily handle a GTX 295 and an overclocked CPU on 500w. However, if splitting the power to the card works for you then that's great.
 
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