1080 ti sli Power Supply

I am thinking about purchasing 2 1080 ti to run in sli for my rig and I need some assistance on purchasing a quality power supply. I know that 1080 ti in sli is overkill, but what can I say, I have become a PC junkie. I have not purchased the 2 1080 ti's yet as I am waiting for the non-reference cards to become available. I currently have 2 1080's in sli, but the power requirements for the 1080 ti is higher and power requirements may be more prevalent with the aftermarket coolers and overclocking.

Here are the current specs for my rig:

i7 7700k @ 5Ghz (1.34 volts)
Gigabyte G1 z170 Gaming 7 Motherboard
32gb (4x8) GSkill Ripjaws V Series RAM (2666)
Corsair H115i
EVGA SC GTX 1080
EVGA SC GTX 1080
960 Samsung EVO NVMe 250gb
850 Samsung EVO 250gb
850 Samsung EVO 250gb
850 Samsung EVO 500gb
Blu Ray optical drive
750 Watt EVGA SuperNOVA 750 P2 220 80+ Platinum

While I am a PC junkie, I am still very confused when it comes to power supply requirements, I just know that a quality power supply is needed to protect the equipment inside. I found some information regarding the PSU requirements for the 1080 ti here:

http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

They recommend an 850 watt PSU for 1080 ti in sli, which at first glance seemed a little small. Considering my hardware and overclocks, is an 850 watt big enough and what should I be looking for when I purchase a new PSU?
 

JakeWearingKhakis

Commendable
Apr 5, 2016
153
0
1,690
Google "Power supply calculator" there are some awesome sites that let you put in all the hardware you have or will have so you can know what you need exactly.

At a glance, I'd say the 750 you already have is good enough, but if you plan on overclocking like crazy with the ti's and your CPU, then going to an 850 would be understandable I suppose. There is a Power Supply Tier list somewhere on Tom's Forum that tells you which power supplies are the best quality if that's what you're worried about as well.
 
Manufacturer's web site lists these requirements

https://www.nvidia.com/en-us/geforce/products/10series/geforce-gtx-1080-ti/

Thermal and Power Specs:
Maximum GPU Temperature (in C) = 91
Graphics Card Power (W) = 250 W
Recommended System Power (W)4 = 600 W
Supplementary Power Connectors = One 6-pin, One 8-pin

600 + 250 for the stock card is fine.

Techpowerup recorded a peak power rating of 267 ... expect the AIB cards to reach 300 watts
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_1080_Ti/28.html

Guru3D bases their PSU recommendations on "at the wall" testing. They came up with a peak power rating of 270 watts and writes

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_1080_ti_review,7.html

Here is Guru3D's power supply recommendation:

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 Ti - On your average system the card requires you to have a 600~650 Watts power supply unit.

If you are going to overclock your GPU or processor, then we do recommend you purchase something with some more stamina.

Note that, they also set the power limiter for overclocking at 120% when they overclocked.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_1080_ti_review,32.html

So 279 x 120% = 335 watts I doubt boost will allow this but, if 850 watts works for a stock CPU / GPU, look to add about 40 watts for the CPU, 10 for the MoBo and 50 - 75 watts per GPU. That puts ya at 950 - 1000 for an overclocked box.

On the other hand ... you seem to be getting by with a 750 watter on twin 1080s which would indicate that you are not overclocking or performance is somehow being curtailed by power. The EVGA SC cards (1070 SC draws 150ish) historically use a reference PCB and often consume less power than the reference models as we see here:

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_1070_SC/22.html

MSI's Gaming 1070 is 185ish watts and as one might expect, having more power via a custom PCB brings more performance to the table.

In short, as the SC series has historically used the reference PCB, ifm you are going to get the SC again, I would imagine you could get by with the recommendation for the FE card. If you go for a Gigabyte Windforce, MSI Gaming, Zotac Amp, I'd want something with more juice. Also keep in mind that it's not only fan noise increases the closer you get to a the rated power, voltage stability and ripple increase also and these have a negative effect on overclocking.

We'll probably use the 850 watters for stock builds and the 1050 for overclocked builds. With 10.0 performance and Build Quality ratings, the $175 Seasonic Snow is one of our favorites in white cases.... but at the 1000-1050 size, Corsair AX RMx, EVGA G2, G3, P2 , Superflower Leadex also have fine entries in this category

http://pcpartpicker.com/product/xdCrxr/seasonic-power-supply-snowsilent1050
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=409







 
Thanks for the input guys. I appreciate it. I think I want to go with a 1000w or higher PSU. At my local microcenter they have a couple of refurbished Corsair AX1200i PSU's

http://www.microcenter.com/product/457212/CP-9020008-NA_Platinum_Series_1200_Watt_Power_Supply_(Refurbished)

A non-refurb would be a little out of my price range, but this one is around the amount that I would want to spend. Do you know anything about it? I have read some reviews and they are good. How would it compare to the SeaSonic 1050W?
 

massapeal79

Reputable
Jan 6, 2015
41
0
4,540
Here my set up running i7 6850k sli 1080sc 2tb hard drive 120 gigs ssd 16 gigs ddr4 x99 deluxe 2 4 way motherboard pre Water cooling system and I have a 1200 watts 80 plus psu it's kinda dieing so I want to now can i use a 1000 watts 80 plus to run system
 
The AXi series are very good units, but grossly overpriced. In the review of the 1050 by TPU, they set the "Performance per Dollar" of the 1050 at 100% ... the Ax1200i was given an 84.87% by comparison.

Your setup is similar to mine, I have two 23 watt pumps, 2 radiators and 16 case fans, two GFX , MoBo and CPU waterblocks. I have a Seasonic X-1250 and the system is plugged into a "kil-o-watt" power meter. When under stress testing, it can pull 745 watts w/ short peaks to 785.

While many 1080s pull up near 250 watts, and some with the ability to set the power limiter way up to 50% (theoretically 375 watts), the SC2 series is limited to 225 watts by the single 8-pin PI connector so there's less concern from that source than could otherwise exist.
 

greenmrt

Distinguished
May 19, 2015
71
18
18,565
Can always get a 1200 if you are nervous: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139039&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-PCPartPicker,%20LLC-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=