Best PSU for my SLI 8800 GTX setup?

[Bighairyman]

So currently I have (1) 8800 GTX in my case powered by a PC Power and Cooling 610w PSU...I'm planning on purchasing another 8800 GTX...which PSU should I get? I was looking at the PC Power and Cooling 750w but I'm not sure if the power is borderline with that PSU...I want quality/quiet PSU. Here's my setup:

Intel e6600
Striker extreme 680i mobo
(2) eVGA 8800 GTX
2GB Corsair Dominator 4-4-4-12
(2) 74GB WD Raptors RAID 0
1 Seagate 500GB SATA
5 Noctua 1200RPM case fans
SB X-FI
Samsung DVD burner
Antec p182

 

[Kamrooz]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817703009

Should do the job...

Personally, I think you should sell the 8800 GTX, what brand is it? I'd sell it, than use the money you were planning to buy another one, with the money you got, to buy two 8800 GT g92's, or GTS g92's. They take less power as well, which will save in the long run in terms of your electric bill. If you have any money left over, try to nab a q6600 ^_^...lol...

It takes some effort, but I think it would be justified. If you don't want to, just ignore this then..lol

The PC power 750 silencer should do the job just fine. Nice tier 1 PSU...If money is an issue, this should do fine as well.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817341002

 

[Maziar]

OCZ GAMEXSTREAM 700W or 850
PC&POWER COOLING SILENCER 750 QUAD

1_What resolution u play @ ? if its anything lower than 1920x1200 then dont go with SLI
Read the SLI/CROSSFIRE FAQs:
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/245454-15-crossfire-faqs

2_If u play @ 1920x1200 or higher,then dont sell your 8800GTX, get another one
8800GTS 512 is a powerful card and performs close to a 8800GTX, but when u use very high resolutions with eye candies, then u will see that 8800GTX perform better
http://www.hothardware.com/articles/NVIDIA_GeForce_8800_GTS_Refresh_Asus_and_XFX/?page=11

But in situations where memory bandwidth and frame buffer size are more important, like say at high resolutions with anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering enabled, the GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB can’t quite keep up with the more expensive GTX due to its narrower memory bus and smaller frame buffer
Crank up the resolutions, however, and the GTX (or Ultra) is still the king of the hill.

 

[aevm]

Another vote for the 750W Silencer. I have it and it is quiet. It can handle your setup, no problem.

There was this guy reviewing it at newegg who made it fail, eventually, by adding new things to the rig from time to time. By the time it failed he had an overclocked quad and 8800 GTX SLI and lots of lights and lots of fans and 7 hard drives. The Power Calculator gave me 860W for that guy's setup.

 

[Bighairyman]

I run at 1920x1080 and like to have all setting maxed out...AA/AF 4x/16x

I'm really wondering about the SLI 8800 GT setup now. I had (2) 8800 GTS 640MB in my machine but I sold them for the GTX. The GTX alone performs better.

 

[Maziar]

for 1920x1080 with 4x/16x, then keep the GTX and add another one
if u read the review i posted, it says that 8800GTS (also the weaker 8800GT) are solid performers but if u want to crank up the resolution with eye candies, then 8800GTX still leads due to its memory bandwidth and frame buffer size

 

[aevm]

I'm sure the 8800 GTS 640 SLI works better than the GTX alone in some game/OS/resolution/settings combinations. I've seen lots of benchmarks like that. Your favorite games probably don't support SLI, or maybe you had some buggy drivers. If you're using Vista then no wonder, they didn't even support SLI there until relatively recently. Anyway, if you can afford a second GTX go for it. Maybe wait until the new GTS is out, see if it makes the GTX cheaper.

 

[Scotteq]

Hmmm... Pair of 8800 GTX's...

No sense in cheaping out now!! PC Power and Cooling 750, or better.

 

[sincraft]

Hmmm...I think at that point one would consider the fact that they could get a DECENT running CAR for this amount of $$$!

Didn't say it would be pretty or have a warranty or anything, but at least it will get you out and about. Geesh.

 

[a2love]

hmm interesting situation. Are you guys suggesting the SLI GTX's just because he already has one?

If he was to sell the gtx and start over.... what would be the suggestion? I wonder because I am doing a very very similar setup (res 1920x1200) and the new GTS 8800 (G92) caught my eye... but if you guys are saying the GTX is the killer then maybe I should bite the bullet.........

Any one think about waiting for the 9800 for this guy? or is that too far off?

 

[aevm]

In your case I'd say get two 8800 GTS G92 512 MB. You'd get less fps than his two 8800 GTX, but with $300 less and saving some on electricity bills too.

Yes, in his case I definitely considered the existing GTX. If he has to sell it at a big loss he won't be happy. Also, this is a person who bought a Striker and two Raptors, so I'm guessing his first priority is performance and money comes second.

Waiting for the 9800 sounds good, even better than the SLI, but:
- the 9800 may show up in 2009
- it may cost $5000
- it may be only 3% faster than the 8800 GTX
- it may be 30" long and require a new case
Too many risks IMO. None very likely, but they add up.

 

[Kamrooz]

Personally..I don't think it's worth another 8800 GTX, it's way too late into the generation to even consider it. Also with the 8800 GT and GTS offering very similar performance for a fraction of the cost, kinda makes no sense to do so...

If I was in his scenario, i'd sell the 8800 GTX, and buy two 8800 GT's..I'd say skip the 8800 GTS g92's, they have a hefty premium over them compared to the 8800 GT's....If he's able to get 300 for the GTX, that'd be 800 bucks couple with the first 500 (if he plans to buy another GTX), nab two 8800 GT 512's, , you'll end up saving some cash to spend on the psu or a quad core.

But imo, I'd skip SLI for right now, he already has a 8800 GTX. It'd be best to just bare with it (if you can even say that, it's a high end afterall), and wait for the new 9800.

 

[aevm]

Let me try to crunch some numbers here.

1. If he gets $300 for a used 8800GTX and pays ($370+tax+shipping)*2 for the GTS cards, let's say +300-400-400, he's spending $500.

2. Buying a new GTX for $450+tax+shipping also means spending $500. With two GTX instead of two GTS 512 cards you get a few more fps but pay a few more bucks every year in electricity bills.

3. He can wait for the 9800GTX, but the resale price of the 8800GTX will keep dropping. Let's say he's fine with a single 8800GTX for another few months, then sells the 8800GTX for $200 and gets a 9800GTX for $700. That's also $500 spent, and most likely better than SLI. The next several months will be a bit less fun, but the year(s) after that will be a bit more fun. Of course, this is assuming that the 9800GTX shows up in a few months and it's very fast and it's not a totally new architecture with brand new and screwed up drivers.

I don't know... Hairy guy, flip some coins...

 

[niz]

I also have a system with 2 8800GTX's. I use an enermax galaxy 1000w.
It works for me. I did buy it at the same time I bought the video cards because I beleived the bullshit people were saying here about sli'd 8800GTX system needing 1000w.
Its massive overkill though because I measured my system's power consumption at the wall. Its 400W idle and goes upto 500w during 3dmark06 benchmark. My system is watercooled with a dual loop too, so that 400w also includes power for 2 pumps and about 10 fans.

 

[Kamrooz]

Let me try to crunch some numbers here.

1. If he gets $300 for a used 8800GTX and pays ($370+tax+shipping)*2 for the GTS cards, let's say +300-400-400, he's spending $500.

2. Buying a new GTX for $450+tax+shipping also means spending $500. With two GTX instead of two GTS 512 cards you get a few more fps but pay a few more bucks every year in electricity bills.

3. He can wait for the 9800GTX, but the resale price of the 8800GTX will keep dropping. Let's say he's fine with a single 8800GTX for another few months, then sells the 8800GTX for $200 and gets a 9800GTX for $700. That's also $500 spent, and most likely better than SLI. The next several months will be a bit less fun, but the year(s) after that will be a bit more fun. Of course, this is assuming that the 9800GTX shows up in a few months and it's very fast and it's not a totally new architecture with brand new and screwed up drivers.

I don't know... Hairy guy, flip some coins...

True, but, he doesn't have to buy two 8800 GTS cards. Yet they have 128 SP's...but the 8800 GT is still extremely close in the benchmarks. If he sold the 8800 GTX for 300, placed it ontop of his 500, he'd have 800. He could nab tow 8800 GT's here..

http://www.ncixus.com/search/?categoryid=2-108&q=8800+gt

They have stock, some EVGA, XFX, mostly others though. They don't have the stock versions though, mostly oc'ed once. But even so, still in the 245-280 price range. If he bought a XFX or EVGA model at 270, it'd be around 620 or so with tax and shipping. He'd end up saving 180 bucks, which he could put into a PSU if he wanted. But with the 8800 GT's, less power consumption compared to the 8800 GTX SLI he's planning. The 610 watt psu should be fine, if not, he can put the rest of his cash into a new psu, if it works fine, save it for anything else.

I think it's a good plan ^_^...although the new 8800 GTS g92's are nice, the price just isn't worth it imo. They offer the same if not just slightly better performance than a 8800 GTX. I'm just against paying 350-400 for a card that still performs like the very aged 8800 GTX. The 8800 Gt's have a nice value to them, but the g92 gts don't meet that value as well imo. He'd still end up with a better setup compared to his GTX, he'd save some money, as well as save money on his electric bill if he decided to go dual 8800 GTX...He might also not even need to buy a PSU, sounds like a win to me.

 

[a2love]

lol man this is a confusing time to be buying gpu's lol.

How would you guys stack 2 OC'd GT's versus 2 of the new GTS's/two gtx's in price/performance? if you had to buy from scratch.

How do you guys think the 3870's in CF stack against?

And at 1920x1200 high res.... are you guys saying an SLI solution, such as the GT's, is a much better solutino than him just sticking with one GTX?

 

[Kamrooz]

an 8800 GT is just slightly behind a single 8800 GTX, if you place two in sli against a single 8800 GTX, it will demolish it. At 1920x1200, the gap would even be larger, he'll be able to pump up more AA/AF/Eye candy with a 8800 GT SLI solution. Personally..The g92 8800 GTS is a waste, if i was priced at 300, it would be a great value. But pricing it around 380 as it is at most places ruins its worth. We want more performance for the value. That's what makes the 8800 GT so great, paying 380 for a card that offers the same performance of a 8800 GTX is absurd..The 8800 GTX has been out for way too long, 13 months already, why would anyone willingly dump 380 dollars into a card that offers the performance level of a 8800 GTX? Meanwhile the 8800 GT offers just about the same performance for 250 (if you know where to look)...much better buy.

Right now, is the era of multi gpu setups. With tri-sli and crossfirex coming too, it makes sense why ATI/Nvidia released mid range cards that offer the performance of their high ends. They are looking for bulk sales. With the performance of these mid range (excluding 8800 GTS thanks to it's current price), it's definitely worth it, the performance boost is massive.

In regards to 3870's. The 3870's are still great, why?..you don't have to get a **** nvidia chipset. That alone is reason enough for me. Also, they oc VERY well, you could pretty much nab two 3850's with a dual slot cooling solution, OC them as far as possible, and you get a fantastic bang per buck setup right there.

 

[aevm]

Best price/performance ratios: HD 3850, HD 3870, 8800GT, 8800 GTS 512 in this order IMO. The 8800GT would be first but to make the comparison fair I included the cost of adding an aftermarket cooler for it to lower noise and heat, and that raises its cost.

The new 8800GTS 512 is on sale at NCIX for C$360, I just got their junk mail. At that price it's a much better deal than an 8800 GTX at $500. I think the GTX will drop to $400 soon or be discontinued.

8800 GT SLI will humiliate the single 8800 GTX in some games, but in others you'd just get crashes or lower speed+more noise. Also, with SLI you can't use dual monitors, AFAIK. I'd recommend SLI only if the single GTX can't offer 30 fps or whatever the OP finds comfortable. Also, benchmarks that show 8800 GT SLI getting 120 fps while the single 8800 GTX gets only 61 fps are misleading, because most LCD monitors are limited to 60 fps or 75 fps anyway.

 

[Bighairyman]

So I purchased the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 today for $150 at Fry's and I just won an auction for a 8800GTX

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dl...sid=m37&satitle=170178194696&category0=&fvi=1

I didn't think it was a bad price...hopefully it doesn't come DOA

 

[Maziar]

You did the best thing adding another 8800GTX, i hope u will enjoy your rig