Time to upgrade Corsair TX750?

[d4a2n0k]

Hi all,

I am running a Corsair TX750 with the following system:

I7 920 @ 4 GHZ
6GB RAM
1 x Vertex SSD 120GB
1 x WD Black 1TB
1 x WD Green 1TB
1 x Bluray burner
HAF932 with a bunch of fans
GTX 460's in SLI (Palit Sonic Platinum, stock @ 800 memory, Overclocked to 900 right now)

I thought I was good to go but recently plugged the PC into Kill-a-Watt. While playing games, it pulls ~550-600 watts from the wall. Then I fired up Furmark and Linpack at the same time and it bounced up to 850-900 watts and you could hear the PS struggling. I know running Furmark and Linpack at the same time is unrealistic use but now I am concerned I might need a new PS. I could hear the fans slow down a bit when under full load.

What do you guys recommend? Thanks

 

[Zap]

I recommend you stop running Furmark and Linpack. If in your "normal" day to day usage gaming is the most you will stress your system, then it is fine.

 

[Jd007]

That seems awfully high for a pair of GTX 460s. A pair of GTX 470s with an i7 @ 4Ghz will only pull 541W, albeit in 3dMar06 Batch Render test and not Furmark + Linpack.

Also note in the article where it says "after extensive testing, we have found that simply plugging in a power meter to a wall outlet or UPS will NOT give you accurate power consumption numbers due to slight changes in the input voltage".

 

[TemjinGold]

Why would you upgrade based on an unrealistic scenario? Nothing you do normally can even come close to sucking up that much juice. If you want to upgrade because cash is burning a hole in your pocket, that's one thing.

Jd: His 460s are OCed...

 

[Ayah]

I recommend you stop running Furmark and Linpack. If in your "normal" day to day usage gaming is the most you will stress your system, then it is fine.

^ QFT.
Building your computer to sustain running Furmark and Linpack at the same time is like preparing yourself to write with all your limbs simultaneously.

 

[Jd007]

Why would you upgrade based on an unrealistic scenario? Nothing you do normally can even come close to sucking up that much juice. If you want to upgrade because cash is burning a hole in your pocket, that's one thing.

Jd: His 460s are OCed...

Yes I noticed. But I think even with the OC, the GTX 460s shouldn't consume *that* much more power than a pair of GTX 470s? After all the GF104 core is much more power efficient than the GF100 core.

 

[Kenmitch]

Then I fired up Furmark and Linpack at the same time and it bounced up to 850-900 watts and you could hear the PS struggling

Whle exteme as it sounds it's an overclocking torture test and I've done it before. I'm on water running a single loop so I wanted to see how much it would effect the temps while both cpu and gpu where getting hammered

Just in case you are wondering the temps didn't change much at all. Only a couple of degrees.

 

[RaiderJ]

Aren't the 460's about the most power-hungry graphics cards you could ever get? If so, then I don't see a reason to upgrade, sounds like you're at your peak power usage anyway.

 

[d4a2n0k]

Yes I ran the programs at the same time just to see the maximum the system will pull. It ran for maybe ten seconds.

I just wanted to know if I am supposed to size the PS to the max amount the system would pull or not. I was surprised to see that Furmark and Linpack needed an extra ~300 watts to run. I knew it was an unrealistic test but damn thats a lot of extra juice.

The 480's would be the most power hungry single GPU cards. The 460's at stock speed are actually quite frugal.

 

[TemjinGold]

You don't need to size to that because those 2 progs actually draw way more than the normal max. In order words, under normal use, it is impossible to come close to that kind of draw. That's kind of like testing your cpu cooler inside a volcano to determine how much cooling you need.

 

[OCGuy]

Wait...I used that PSU for 2X Overclocked 280s, and a E8600 @ 4.3...and I NEVER saw more than 530 from the wall.

I think 280s pulled a little more power than 460s........


Something doesnt sound right here....

 

[OCGuy]

Aren't the 460's about the most power-hungry graphics cards you could ever get? If so, then I don't see a reason to upgrade, sounds like you're at your peak power usage anyway.

Not even close....

In fact..here is Anand's review of total system draw with GTX460s in SLI...

So @ 80% effeciency, at max that would register 520 from the wall on a kill-a-watt.*

(*The CPU is clocked a little lower than the OPs)

 

[theAnimal]

So @ 80% effeciency, at max that would register 520 from the wall on a kill-a-watt.*

AFAIK the numbers in the review are at the wall.