GTX 970 SLI on 620W PSU?

Marjana Ricky · Feb 27, 2016

Guys here are my 3 years old specs:

i5 2500k oc 4.8ghz
P8 z77 vpro
Sea sonic SII 12 620w bronze PSU
970 amp extreme edition
16GB GSkill sniper Ddr3 Ram (4x4)

Now my concern is, I want to get another gtx 970 and do SLI. Will the above mentioned PSU be enough or I have no choice but to invest in another PSU for gtx 970 sli?

And also can I buy MSI card now and sli with my current Zotac amp extreme edition?

I know alot of people would say get 980ti instead but with the news about DX12 multi GPU support and doubling the vram i think 970 SLI would be a better option giving me 8GB vram instead of 6gb of 980ti and costing less.

Thanks in advance.

bignastyid · Feb 27, 2016

It may work but i suggest upgrading to a 750w unit especially since you are overclocking. Dont expect every dx12 game to stack vram, its upto to the devoloper to use this feature so its not a sure thing. Some Zotac and evga cards use a custom bios and will not SLI with other 970s, I suggest gettinh another Zotac extreme for SLI.

Marjana Ricky · Feb 27, 2016

bignastyid :

Hmmmm getting another extreme might be a issue, cuz i dont think my case would fit 2 of these monsters :/ they are too big thats why i was thinking about MSI and its even cheaper then extreme.

If i dont overclock GPUs can i use my current PSU for SLI and after few months when i save my money i buy new PSU?

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

I have that psu and its a beast. I'm guessing each 970 will pull 150-180 depending on load and various benches I've seen. That cpu must be pulling 100w at that oc, so thats worst case 460. Add drives fans and round up to 500. The psu delivers 580 on the 12v....id say you may just be ok for now as long as you dont oc the gpus as well.

I don't own 970 so power draw figures are taken from a quick google search.

Marjana Ricky · Feb 27, 2016

burgessanthony :

Ahh finally some hope, lol well i am just targeting 60FPS stable at 1080p so if i SLI i dont think i would ever need to overclock my GPUs. Only problem is i cant invest in new PSU till Christmas as my all money would be spent on new 970 for SLI thing. So if i can use this PSU only and game without any problem this year, i would save money and buy Seasonic M12 850W or something similar in December 2016.

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

Its a guess! A quick google shows 330w for the cards not overclocked. I'd say you will be ok. As long as you only have a couple of drives and fans pulling from the psu as well.

Marjana Ricky · Feb 27, 2016

So i should buy new 970 and try it? If the PSU is not sufficient it will not turn on or what? Like it wont damage anything i hope?

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

It won't damage anything USUALLY. If there is not enough power things may not turn on or not work as intended.

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

One thing to note is that the 620 psu gets really loud under higher loads, so be prepared for that. Mine provides 450w normally and remains quietish, you will be nearer 500 so could be quite loud!

need4speeds · Feb 27, 2016

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/6968/zotac-geforce-gtx-970-amp-extreme-edition-video-card-review/index12.html

I think your power supply will work. Mostly because it's a quality one. I even think you will have enough power to overclock too.

1400mhz? Maybe overclocking is the answer. The gains they get from overclocking are almost as good as sli.
(Keep in mind that with sli and also crossfire the 1st card sucks in hot air from the second card and the second card blocks the 1st card's fans. The result is both cards have to run at lower clocks.)

Marjana Ricky · Feb 27, 2016

Awesome so majority of you guys say my PSU can run these cards in SLI. Ahh money saved for this year lol. But thing is does this PSU have enough 8 pin connectors? I mean this card takes 2 8pin connectors and for SLI i need 4.

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

^not strictly true. Firstly a decent OC will no way beat SLIwith a game that handles SLI well.

Also, with good case ventilation and proper airflow, can usually get full clock speeds.

dsr07mm · Feb 27, 2016

You can use even mine from signature. Despite fact that it's unknown for majority people here, it's cheap and it's running i7 4770k + 970 both highly overclocked. Should be 450w in work for real but I don't have itention for upgrading PSU even on gtx980ti since I tested it for full week.

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

It has 4 pcie 8 pinouts I think

bignastyid · Feb 27, 2016

Lc power psus are known and they are known to be not good. Made by great wall and they use cheap caps and have weak 12v rails. Using one to power a card like a 980ti would be ill advised.

The 620w S12ii only has 2 pci-e power connectors according to the specs.
http://www.seasonicusa.com/S12II-350-430-520-620%20Bronze.htm

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

Ahhh irs the evo that has 4 which is what i have

dsr07mm · Feb 27, 2016

bignastyid :

I know, but just saying that even this "not so good" is running everything fine. Recommending to someone to get 750w is not really a good option especially if buyer have budget separated. It's easy to say but it's not "needed" actually. I do recommend higher quality, but from his perspective..heck I know how he feels.

bignastyid · Feb 27, 2016

It maybe running fine now but if one of those cheap primary caps blow it could take out the whole system. Plus the ripple from the cheaper psus will degrade the other system components leading to premature failures. This why people in the know advise against such units. The PSU is an extremely important part of the system and is a bad area to skimp on quality.

dsr07mm · Feb 27, 2016

bignastyid :

Do we really wanna go there ? It's running since 970 is released almost 24/7. It's enough for this price even if it goes out. In fact chances for that are none. I gave him experiance from first hand, not here to discuss about that.

bignastyid · Feb 27, 2016

All i can do is advise, its up to you if you want to listen or not. Its your money. If you want to play russian roulette with your hardware that's your choice.

Marjana Ricky · Feb 27, 2016

Damn if my PSU got just 2 8 pin connectors that also means i cant SLI right? Which means i do need new PSU :/

burgessanthony · Feb 27, 2016

You can use the two connectors with 2x 8pin on each. However id probably go new psu. As has been discussed, dont go cheap. Especially when pushing the psu. Something will blow and take more than juar the psu with it. No need to cheap out on such a key component.

bignastyid · Feb 27, 2016

Marjana Ricky :

You'd have to use adapters to get 2 more 8-pin pci-e connectors and those can be iffy and It's not something I would use or recommend. If you want to try it. it's up to you. Another option would be to wait a couple months for the first round of Pascal and Polaris gpus.

Mousemonkey · Feb 27, 2016

I'm running SLi'd 970's with an old HX620 and that only has two 6 pin PCIe plugs, it's been over a year now and everything still works.

Marjana Ricky · Feb 27, 2016

bignastyid :

As i am really confused i think this is the right thing to do, wait for pascal and see how DX12 thing goes on. Till then i hope my single 970 sustains this year atleast with 50-60 FPS ultra @ 1080p

Thank you everyone for your feedback

GTX 970 SLI on 620W PSU?

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