Power supply for gtx260 x3

[Elliot87]

Hello everyone....i recently built a new pc, using an ASUS p6t triple sli motherboard. I have 3 gtx260 maxcore cards, and as i was hooking up the PSU, i noticed that there is only 4 pci sockets on the back of my psu, and since each card takes 2 pci cables, that leaves me short 2 sockets for the last card.....so i got curious and called up BFG tech support, unfortunately all the idiot there was able to do was point me to a website, while saying "i don't know" to pretty much all of my questions....so im sitting here running my PC with only 1 video card trying to figure out what PSU i need to get. I kinda went over my budget building this thing so im not looking to spend a whole lot of money. The guy on the phone was only able to tell me that i need to use an 1100w+ power supply, and that i could use my 6 pin pci connectors in the 8 pin slots.....does anyone know of a good PSU to use? i was considering the thermaltake toughpower 1200w, but i noticed on the back of the PSU there is 3 8pin slots and 3 6pin slots....on my current PSU it has 4 8pin slots, and the pci cables im using are 8pin on the psu side, 6pin on the gpu side... this is all very confusing to me, and i do not want to buy something that isn't gonna work for my current setup.....I've tried to provide as much details as possible, can anyone suggest a good PSU to get?

 

[Timop]

Sorry to say this, but 3 GTX260s nowadays is a bit redundant, getting 2 GTX460s would give nearly the same performance while being alot less power-hungry while giving you nearly the same performance and a couple extra features.

I would suggest you Sell/Return the GTX260s and use the money to get a pair of 460s and a nice PSU.

 

[Elliot87]

The only reason i bought 2 more GTX 260's is because that was the card i was already using in my other computer, so it saved me money to buy 2 more rather than to buy 3 brand new cards....i was low on my budget as it is, so i had to buy factory refurbished cards....I'm not really into the idea of selling these cards as i will surely lose money on it, and even if i was able to sell all 3 cards, it would still not have enough to buy a new PSU and 2 gtx 460's....my current PSU is a thermaltake blackwidow 850w, would that be sufficient to run 2 460's?

Either way, im a broke student, and im down to about 300$ more spendable money before i hit my limit....that's why im just trying to buy a new PSU and call it a day. When i'm able to get more money later on maybe i'll look towards buying some 460's

 

[Timop]

The only reason i bought 2 more GTX 260's is because that was the card i was already using in my other computer, so it saved me money to buy 2 more rather than to buy 3 brand new cards....i was low on my budget as it is, so i had to buy factory refurbished cards....I'm not really into the idea of selling these cards as i will surely lose money on it, and even if i was able to sell all 3 cards, it would still not have enough to buy a new PSU and 2 gtx 460's....my current PSU is a thermaltake blackwidow 850w, would that be sufficient to run 2 460's?

Either way, im a broke student, and im down to about 300$ more spendable money before i hit my limit....that's why im just trying to buy a new PSU and call it a day. When i'm able to get more money later on maybe i'll look towards buying some 460's

2 new GTX460 cost $400, and performs as well or better than the 3 GTX360s, unless the GTX260s cost $100 each, it was still bad buys IMO.


The fact is, the cheapest PSU that will power 3 GTX260s is $150, while your current PSU can power 2 GTX460s with ease.

 

[Elliot87]

I was fully expecting to pay 200$+ for a psu anyways, i'm just not really down for the hassle of selling my cards and dealing with all of that, i don't have a bank account which makes ebay selling out of the question, and well im not really sure how else i would go about selling these cards. And these cards were 115$ each as factory refurb

And i was looking at gtx 460 pricing, and im seeing them mostly as 250+, which is gonna run well over 500 with shipping and all that. But i haven't checked ebay so i suppose i'll do that. So running dual sli is possible on a 3way board, yes? And can i use the same 3way bridge?

 

[Timop]

You could go to a forum and do a transaction via Money orders.

But for the PSU, is the Maxcore the 55nm version? Also is your CPU overclocked?
If its 3 55nm cards + a stock CPU, just get 2 Molex->PCIe adapters (you should have them if you bought a retail card) and you should be fine.

 

[Timop]

I was fully expecting to pay 200$+ for a psu anyways, i'm just not really down for the hassle of selling my cards and dealing with all of that, i don't have a bank account which makes ebay selling out of the question, and well im not really sure how else i would go about selling these cards. And these cards were 115$ each as factory refurb

And i was looking at gtx 460 pricing, and im seeing them mostly as 250+, which is gonna run well over 500 with shipping and all that. But i haven't checked ebay so i suppose i'll do that. So running dual sli is possible on a 3way board, yes? And can i use the same 3way bridge?

Heres a $190 GTX460: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187112

And yes, you can do dual-SLI on a tri-SLI board, but you will need a new 2-way SLI bridge, which I think your board comes with.

 

[Elliot87]

I have a paypal to do those sorts of transactions, i'm just afraid of getting ripped off. I just fired this PC up this morning and haven't gotten around to overclocking yet, but i was planning to overclock to around 4.0. And what do you mean 55nm?

Also, i just realized, my old card says maxcore 55, whereas my new cards just say maxcore (no 55)....will that cause compatibility issues? I was almost sure they were identical cards. I'm almost considering spending the extra buck and getting the corsair ax1200 gold, that way i most definitely wont run into any lack of power issues in the future, lol.

 

[Timop]

I have a paypal to do those sorts of transactions, i'm just afraid of getting ripped off. I just fired this PC up this morning and haven't gotten around to overclocking yet, but i was planning to overclock to around 4.0. And what do you mean 55nm?

Also, i just realized, my old card says maxcore 55, whereas my new cards just say maxcore (no 55)....will that cause compatibility issues? I was almost sure they were identical cards. I'm almost considering spending the extra buck and getting the corsair ax1200 gold, that way i most definitely wont run into any lack of power issues in the future, lol.

Nope, 65nm and 55nm is just power, as I'm almost sure the Maxcore model were all 216SP.

The AX1200 is totally overkill, 3 65nm GTX260s + OCed Quad-core only uses 800W maximum, but it IS an amazing PSU .

 

[Elliot87]

Heres a $190 GTX460: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814187112

And yes, you can do dual-SLI on a tri-SLI board, but you will need a new 2-way SLI bridge, which I think your board comes with.

In the box for the motherboard, there is 1 3way bridge....and then another piece that looks like it could be a bridge, but it has more space in between the connectors than the regular solid bridge, its like a little brown electric strip with 1 connector on each side.

 

[Elliot87]

Nope, 65nm and 55nm is just power, as I'm almost sure the Maxcore model were all 216SP.

The AX1200 is totally overkill, 3 65nm GTX260s + OCed Quad-core only uses 800W maximum, but it IS an amazing PSU .

Well then howcome BFG tech support said i need 1100w at the MINIMUM, and when you go to nvidia.com/sli to look at reccomendations, and nothing in the list is less than 950w

 

[Timop]

Well then howcome BFG tech support said i need 1100w at the MINIMUM, and when you go to nvidia.com/sli to look at reccomendations, and nothing in the list is less than 950w

Thats because manufacturers overrate PSU requirements for people who decides they want a Diablotek/Raidmax "1000W".

Heres a list of how much a GPU consumes on max load: http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Zotac/GeForce_GTX_460_1_GB/29.html

Doing a little math, the 65nm GTX260 uses 186W on load, 3 would use (186*3)558W + 200W for a OCed quad-core CPU, you get a 758W total load on the 12V rail. Keep in mind this is when you load both the GPU and CPU to 100% and all 3 GPUs are being fully utilized, which can rarely happen unless benchmarking.

 

[Elliot87]

So if i get some molex to pci adapters i should be fine? Can you tell me anything about this bridge looking thing that came with my mobo? it's got the same connectors as a bridge, but more space in between the connectors, and also, on the triple bridge theres 2 connectors on each side, on this other piece there's only 1 connector on each side

looks like this http://www.ewiz.com/newg/E/V/-/EV-SLIBRDG/EV-SLIBRDG.GIF

 

[Timop]

So if i get some molex to pci adapters i should be fine? Can you tell me anything about this bridge looking thing that came with my mobo? it's got the same connectors as a bridge, but more space in between the connectors, and also, on the triple bridge theres 2 connectors on each side, on this other piece there's only 1 connector on each side

looks like this http://www.ewiz.com/newg/E/V/-/EV-SLIBRDG/EV-SLIBRDG.GIF

If you have a near-stock CPU and dont plan OCing the GTX260s yes.

Thats a flexible SLI bridge I believe, for situations where the cards are too far apart, or too close together.

 

[Elliot87]

Well i do plan to OC, and someday i will upgrade to 460's, i may even get 3 just because i bought a triple sli board, might as well use it....but for now i just wanna get the SLI up and running. So it's looking like i should get a new psu? My psu is rated at 750 total power, 850 peak, quad 12v rails @ 18amps each max load

and as for that flexible bridge, will it work for dual SLI? or do i need to buy a new one? my mobo only came with a 3way bridge, i was told i could use that because it shouldnt detect a 3rd card, but i don't know.

 

[Timop]

Well i do plan to OC, and someday i will upgrade to 460's, i may even get 3 just because i bought a triple sli board, might as well use it....but for now i just wanna get the SLI up and running. So it's looking like i should get a new psu? My psu is rated at 750 total power, 850 peak, quad 12v rails @ 18amps each max load

and as for that flexible bridge, will it work for dual SLI? or do i need to buy a new one? my mobo only came with a 3way bridge, i was told i could use that because it shouldnt detect a 3rd card, but i don't know.

Sorry, you can only do 2-way with a GTX460.
Your PSU should be able to get it up and running for now, if you want to, but for serious OCing you do need a new PSU.

The flexible bridge works just fine for 2-way SLI.

 

[Elliot87]

Sorry, you can only do 2-way with a GTX460.
Your PSU should be able to get it up and running for now, if you want to, but for serious OCing you do need a new PSU.

The flexible bridge works just fine for 2-way SLI.

I coulda sworn i saw a youtube video of some guy running 3 460's....meh well i guess the final verdict is to buy the molex-> pci adapter and use my current psu? I didn't really plan on overclocking the cards, as they are supposedly overclocked out of the box, but i was planning to OC the cpu to 4.0.

Anyways thanks for all your help, i just really dont wanna burn my PSU which is why i'm asking so many questions before i try to hook this up

 

[Timop]

Just try it out, the TT should have overload protection which just shuts off the PSU when you overload it.

 

[Elliot87]

Alright well the other 2 pci-e cables that came with my PSU are EXTREMELY short, and theres no way in hell they are long enough to connect to the gpu's, not even the very top one....and i found 1 molex to pci-e connector in the box from my PSU, so i guess i need 2 more pci-e cables and 1 adapter....

and just to be 100% sure, this is the adapter you are talking about, yes?

http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/images/Molex-to-PCI-Express-Adapter-350x350.gif

Is overclocking the CPU to 4.0 considered serious? I woulnd't think so, but i just need to make sure heh.

 

[Timop]

Heres 2 decent PSUs in the $100s if you still want more power:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139013
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817121068&cm_re=Kuingwin_Lazer-_-17-121-068-_-Product

 

[Timop]

Alright well the other 2 pci-e cables that came with my PSU are EXTREMELY short, and theres no way in hell they are long enough to connect to the gpu's, not even the very top one....and i found 1 molex to pci-e connector in the box from my PSU, so i guess i need 2 more pci-e cables and 1 adapter....

and just to be 100% sure, this is the adapter you are talking about, yes?

http://www.atxpowersupplies.com/images/Molex-to-PCI-Express-Adapter-350x350.gif

Is overclocking the CPU to 4.0 considered serious? I woulnd't think so, but i just need to make sure heh.

Yup thats it.

What CPU do you have? 4Ghz is serious for almost all Intels.

 

[Elliot87]

core i7 930....i suppose i should just be safe and get a new PSU then, although i have problems with one of those parts websites...i cant remember if it was newegg or tigerdirect, but i ended up not being able to purchase from them because of something stupid like because i dont have a home phone line or something like that, only a cell phone

 

[Timop]

core i7 930....i suppose i should just be safe and get a new PSU then, although i have problems with one of those parts websites...i cant remember if it was newegg or tigerdirect, but i ended up not being able to purchase from them because of something stupid like because i dont have a home phone line or something like that, only a cell phone

Just try it, I believe Newegg accepts Paypal and the process is painless.

 

[Elliot87]

1 last question....."The Kingwin LZ-1000 power supply is SLI-ready and comes with three 6-pin and three 8-pin PCIe connectors"

My cards take 2 6pin connectors each....this is how my whole problem started, my curernt PSU doesnt have enough connections to connect all 3 cards, i just wanna be sure before i waste any money that whatever i decide to buy will work with my setup

 

[Timop]

1 last question....."The Kingwin LZ-1000 power supply is SLI-ready and comes with three 6-pin and three 8-pin PCIe connectors"

My cards take 2 6pin connectors each....this is how my whole problem started, my curernt PSU doesnt have enough connections to connect all 3 cards, i just wanna be sure before i waste any money that whatever i decide to buy will work with my setup

The 8-Pin PCIe on that PSU is a 6+2 pin design. so you literally have six 6-pins, 3 of them having the ability to out put extra power in case you upgrade to cards that needs 8-pin power.