Minimum power needed for gtx 960 SLI?

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Jecht0089

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Nov 10, 2013
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Hey guys,

I've been contemplated upgrading to a 2 GTX 960 gpu rather than a gtx 760 single...my only worry is how much power I'm going to need. I currently have a CORSAIR CX series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply(Copied from newegg)

Here is my current build, I'm looking to upgrade to 32 gb ram as well but thats for a later day...will my PSU be able to survive 2 GTX 960's?

My Build:
Case: RoseWill Challenger ATX Mid Tower
Mobo: MSI z87 g45 LGA 1150
CPU: i7 4770 quad core processor
Ram: Corsair Vengeance 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 1600 MHz (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory (CMZ16GX3M2A1600C10) (Looking to go to 32GB)
PSU: CORSAIR CX series CX600 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC Power Supply
GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX760 SuperClocked w/EVGA ACX Cooler 2GB GDDR5 256bit, Dual-Link DVI-I, DVI-D, HDMI,DP, SLI Ready Graphics Card (02G-P4-2765-KR)
SSD: Kingston 120 GB v300 (BOOT DRIVE)
HDD: WD Black 1 TB
Disk Drive: Asus Black 12X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal Blu-Ray Drive (BC-12B1ST)


Think I have a chance at 2 GTX 960's? I just don't want to pick up these cards and have to wait until I can get a new PSU...let alone if my case can even fit these 2 cards xD
 
Solution
raisonjohn
Just to answer your question, a GTX 960 in SLI requires 600W PSU.

HOWEVER, to give you a better upgrade path. If you are gaming in 1080p or even 1440p, know that a single-GTX 980 (and even a single-GTX 970 in selected games) would beat or comes close to beating the GTX 960 SLI in performance. The GTX 970, on the other hand, offers the best price-performance among the three. Less power is required (500W-520W), less heat generated inside your case, less space to be occupied, eliminates the incompatibility in some games that does not support SLI, eliminates the risks involved in connection errors, and much much more efficient...
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raisonjohn

raisonjohn

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Feb 22, 2015
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Just to answer your question, a GTX 960 in SLI requires 600W PSU.

HOWEVER, to give you a better upgrade path. If you are gaming in 1080p or even 1440p, know that a single-GTX 980 (and even a single-GTX 970 in selected games) would beat or comes close to beating the GTX 960 SLI in performance. The GTX 970, on the other hand, offers the best price-performance among the three. Less power is required (500W-520W), less heat generated inside your case, less space to be occupied, eliminates the incompatibility in some games that does not support SLI, eliminates the risks involved in connection errors, and much much more efficient and has price-performance value.

Checkout some benchmarks of the GTX 960 SLI and how it compares to the single-GTX 970 and single-GTX 980:
metro_lastlight_2560_1440.gif

bf4_2560_1440.gif

crysis3_2560_1440.gif

perfrel_2560.gif

perfdollar_2560.gif


Just a suggestion and something to think about.
 
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Solution
D

doubletake

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Sep 30, 2012
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600W is way more than enough, but that PSU honestly isn't so great. You should've gone for a higher quality unit, and most people would recommend that you swap it out. But the simple answer to your question of will it work? Yes, you probably won't even break 400W. Just for comparison, my system only pulls around 600W when gaming at 3840x2160 in GPU-intensive titles.
 
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N3rdR4ge

N3rdR4ge

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Jun 16, 2014
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i wouldn't recommend doing this when you could purchase a r9 390 for less than two gtx 960 and have the same or better performance. a single strong card is always superior to multiple weaker ones.

the cx series power supplies are low end, base units. they are not meant for high power gaming systems and have a high failure rate. i would highly recommend replacing that unit if you are going to make a big gpu upgrade.


your money is best spent with this:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 390 8GB Nitro Video Card ($334.98 @ Newegg)
Power Supply: EVGA 750W 80+ Bronze Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $379.97
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-15 00:18 EDT-0400
 
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N3rdR4ge

N3rdR4ge

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Jun 16, 2014
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geeze... spam the whole thread much raisonjohn? im sure there was a link you could have directed to instead of 10 long images.

i highly recommend the r9 390 over the gtx 970. the 970 has 4gb less vram than the 390. the 970 cant handle games well when it gets past 3.5gb out of its 4gb of ram. games start to slow down or stutter. it is an issue that plagues the 970 and for that reason i returned the one i owned.
 
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