4870x2 power requirements

[portal]

Disclaimer: I searched and read other threads

Anyways, I have a corsair 550w power supply. My current setup is 4x1gb @ 2.0 volts RAM, E8400 not overclocked, and normal system stuff like hard drive, etc. I just want to be able to know if my 550w power supply would be able to handle this.

 

[georgy]

Sapphire website says:

–650 Watt or greater power supply with one 2x3-pin PCIeR power connector and one 2x4-pin PCIeR power connector is required (1K Watt with two 2x3-pin and two 2x4-pin connectors for ATI CrossFireX™ technology in dual mode)1

I know corsair 550w is a very good unit and you don't use much power but i'm really not sure.

 

[sciggy]

Most review websites have used a high end intel extreme processor that was overclocked and tested at around ~480 watts total for the system so you might be ok. I think you'd be really pushing it though. With a quality 600+ watt PSU I think you'd be ok, 550 is just cutting it really close. My advice would be to not chance it and get 2 4870s in crossfire if you can. Power consumption is less (recommended is 600 watt power supply).

 

[georgy]

sciggy, in the review you saw were they measuring the wattage in the wall or the wattage that the component uses? don't forget these psu are 80+ at certain wattage and don't forget capacitor aging.

 

[aevm]

A system with a HD 4870X2 consumed 448W from the wall, under load, in this review.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4870-x2-preview/4

That means about 360W needed by the parts, assuming 80% efficiency. Considering that not all of this was on the 12V circuit, and dividing by 12, it means you need 30A, maybe less. Theoretically, the 550VX should do, with its 41A on the 12V circuit.

 

[bydesign]

The card uses 270w under full load. I would get one unless you have Vista 64. The reason is because of memory addressing which I suspect will leave you with less that 2GB out of 4.

I would also add that mine that I got yesterday will not run any game full screen without a BSOD on launch. AMD has been useless in assisting me.

 

[aevm]

Bydesign, did you have an Nvidia card before? Did you run Driver Cleaner, or reinstall Vista? Did you get the latest drivers?

 

[galta]

Back to PSU, I would consider upgrading it.
First, you'll be pushing it to its limits. Second, when you have a PSU close to its limits, efficency drops.

 

[bydesign]

There are no latest drivers Cat 8.7 is all. Yes to the drivers and GPU. I will do a clean install tonight, just borrowed a drive from work to give it try. It's actually worse than that it actually shuts the PC down about every hour or so when gaming in windowed mode as power off. That leads me to believe that the card may be defective. The current drivers are also not very stable based on what I've be reading on other forums.

Pretty much par for the course with me and ATI. I have never owned one that didn't have to replaced within 6 months.

On topic its the amps not the watts that will be the problem.

 

[portal]

Okay thanks guys. If anyone with a similar configuration can test their power consumption for me that'd be awesome. I'm currently working on a list of things to upgrade in my computer. So I guess video card needs to move down.

 

[jevon]

bydesign, how do you figure the 4870x2 is the cause of your whole system shutting down...?

Assuming you have a sufficient/quality PSU, what temps are you getting in your case? It sounds to me like you're hitting unsafe temps; which actually could be the 'fault' of the 4870x2 (or lack of proper cable management, fans/airflow). Could be the processor/motherboard sensors or the PSU's.

One quick way to test this out would be to open up your case and aim a room fan at it and stress test it/play your game.

Sorry to go OT on you Portal, I just don't like seeing someone flame a company without doing more testing.

 

[sciggy]

I just pre ordered the 4870x2 on Bestbuy.com for $470 http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=8986225&type=product&id=1218005635566 and I have a PCP&C Silencer 610watt PSU. Once I get it I'll let you know if things work out. I also have a Q9450 OC'd to 3.2ghz, Velociraptor, Seagate 500gb 7200.11, 1 optical drive, and 4 case fans. I think I'll be cutting it close, but hoping it will suffice. If not, then I'm going to upgrade to a 1k PSU so that I can crossfire two of them in the future (probably 8 months down the line).

 

[Kari]

I would also add that mine that I got yesterday will not run any game full screen without a BSOD on launch. AMD has been useless in assisting me.

And how is your PSU for that matter?

It was mentioned in some review I read (listed at GPUcafe, forgott which one, might have been in the beginnig of the list) that the second GPU core isn't utilized in windowed mode, only in full screen mode are both cores in use. So going from windowed to full screen will pretty much douple the power usage of the card.

 

[bydesign]

The power supply is not in question it's a Thermaltake ToughPower 1200W less than a year old and has never had a single problem running my 8800 GTX. I have even switched rails and spanned them. The shutdown is in windowed mode BSOD is full screen which say driver stuck in infinite loop. The driver is,,, the graphics cards. The only way I could see power being an issue is if the circuit was over loaded which should trip the breaker.

Based on the frame rate in windowed mode I agree that it's likely running on one GPU in windowed mode. Actually I think if I'm reading the overdrive thing corectly it's 65c.

As for temps after 1 hour 32c for the cpu, liquid cooled. I haven't found that in the Catalyst control center.

I did update the BIOS and chipset with no luck. Waiting on a Vista 64 sp1 DVD image to download for the clean install later tonight. I'm optimistic that may have a change of working. Otherwise I'm guessing it's faulty.

Lastly and on topic my box says a 650w or greater PSU with a 2x3 and 2x4 connector.

 

[Kari]

ByDesing, ok so it's not the psu for you then. unless it's faulty
Good luck with the fresh install, let us know how it turns out, ok?

 

[utexgrad]

I feel your pain, ByDesign. I'm having the same issue with my machine. MSI P45 Diamond MB, 850-watt power supply, 4-gig RAM and Vista 64 with SP1 and about 95% of my games crash with a reboot (FSX, Half Life 2, Battle of Britain II, Red Orchestra). I used to have an ATI 1900XT in my system and never had an issue with any of those games. I'm hoping it's the drivers and not my video card, but I put in a support e-mail to Sapphire anyway.

At least X-Plane 9 and Flight Sim 2004 still work....

 

[joco88]

I have a Asis 650W power supply. Would it be enought to power 4870 X2.
Or do i need a better one.

 

[Scotteq]

The card uses 270w under full load. I would get one unless you have Vista 64. The reason is because of memory addressing which I suspect will leave you with less that 2GB out of 4.[/quote]


Would you clarify what issues you have with Vista 64 addressing?

Most people move to a 64 bit OS to solve this stuff, after all.