GTX660 and SLI. Is PSU enough?

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darkrebelion

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Dec 27, 2012
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I recently just upgraded my setup with a MSI Z77a-G45 Gaming motherboard and MSI GTX660 OC Gaming graphics card. I'm looking to add another graphics card w/ SLI. I'm just not sure if my PSU will support it. The connectors are there (this 660 only uses half the connectors my MSI GTX460 OC2 used)
The power supply is a 550W. I'm running the motherboard, 7 case fans, a dual 120mm fan heatsink, 1 SSD, 1HDD, and the graphics card. (No Optic drives however I did hook one up to install the drivers for the motherboard and everything ran fine on the PSU)

I can't seem to find anything that would tell me about how much of my PSU each uses up.
 
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Sakkura

Sakkura

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Aug 22, 2011
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The GTX 660 has a TDP of 140W, so two of them is 280W. Your CPU is likely at 77W, which brings the total to 357W. Adding in some power for the motherboard, memory, storage and optical drives, fans etc. you're realistically looking at a peak power draw in the 400W neighborhood. A good 550W power supply will handle that just fine.

Make sure it has the required PCIe power connectors though.
 
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delellod123

delellod123

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Jun 5, 2012
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Not sure your CPU and other components, RAM, DVDS, other PCI items, but with what you have, listed, your total wattage is about 515W. Mind you, a Cheap PSU dosnt always pump out the wattage it claims. Not sure which power supply you use. I wouldn't personally SLI with a 550W, I would do at least an 800W. to leave room for Overclock and I also have a power hungry x79 system.
 
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darkrebelion

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Dec 27, 2012
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The graphics cards come w/ the adapter cable. And thanx for letting me know about the TDP of these. I've had people try to tell me that I need a 750 just to run one GTX660.

 
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Yingda Wang

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Jan 1, 2014
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I run 560 sli with a 750w supply. But the 560 consume more power.
I would recommande a 650w perfer unless ur current one is 80 gold or silver.
You dont want your psu to run at 90% load all the time. Always leave a 20-30% margine as psu tends to degrade with time.
 
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delellod123

delellod123

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Under load, these GPU's draw more power then their TDP

TDP: Definition:
TDP stands for Thermal Design Power. And while many computer users may think it equates to the maximum amount of power a component can run at, that isn't the case. TDP is technically the max amount of power the cooling system needs to dissipate in order to keep the chip at or below its maximum temperature. For instance, a 244 watt TDP on a graphics card means the cooler can siphon out up to 244 watts of heat to keep the GPU in check. Typically the higher the TDP or a graphics card or CPU is the greater amount of power consumed by the part.

 
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opio

opio

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I own this PSU and I run two msi GTX 760 ITX editions on it and it works fine, my buddy owns the same one and runs two 770's on it, no problem

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438006

This is actually the PSU my buddy owns, I own that one ^
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438017

EVGA makes good quality products. I've bought from ASUS, Gigabyte, msi, EVGA, Zalman, and many others. I've had the least problem with my EVGA products, and when I do the tech support is actually helpful.
 
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Sakkura

Sakkura

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Aug 22, 2011
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No, if anything they draw less than their TDP.

Edit: Here's a review of the GTX 660, which still stays below its 140W TDP at all times. The highest it ever went was 138W. And the factory overclocked model is actually measured at a lower power consumption.
 
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Sakkura

Sakkura

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Aug 22, 2011
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His components will draw ~400W at peak load, and usually significantly less. A 400W draw on a 550W PSU leaves a margin of 23%. 550W is sufficient, but only if the PSU is good quality.
 
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