SLI GTX 480

[thesh0gun]

How much watts would I need and is heat really gonna be a big issue here?

 

[chesteracorgi]

You will need 800W +, but I recommend at least 900W. Heat is a problem, but you can handlle it with a well ventillated case, and/or GPU card mods.

I am running 2 GTX470s in SLI with the PCP&C 950W and modded one card with a Zalman 3000 cooler. They run about 33 C at idle in a well ventillated Corsair 600T case.

 

[thesh0gun]

You will need 800W +, but I recommend at least 900W. Heat is a problem, but you can handlle it with a well ventillated case, and/or GPU card mods.

I am running 2 GTX470s in SLI with the PCP&C 950W and modded one card with a Zalman 3000 cooler. They run about 33 C at idle in a well ventillated Corsair 600T case.

I will have a HAF 932 with 3 230mm fans and one 140 mm fan. The 480s will be reference and won't have any modification.

Will that be alright?

 

[jonathanrhunter]

How much watts would I need and is heat really gonna be a big issue here?

I assume you've looked at this:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/geforce-gtx-480,2585-15.html

One card without SLI at load can reach 450W. Double that for SLI... then add some overhead for your CPU, Memory, and other devices...

You may want to consider 1200W to be on the safe side.

My recommendation: Corsair Professional Series Gold AX1200 Power supply - 1200 Watt

 

[bmyton]

No No No.
450 watt? where the hell did you get that from?

In his defense, the way the chart and text are presented, it makes it look like the card itself is drawing all 450 of those watts.

I think your answer is probably most reasonable at 850W minimum (assuming a single 12V rails or the ability to balance based on the rails you have). As you said, with some extra cash the 1kW units are certainly usable.

-Ben

 

[jonathanrhunter]

No No No.
450 watt? where the hell did you get that from?
250 watt gpu's....
They consume around 750watts with an overclocked cpu ( i5 2500k@ 4.5ghz 1.36volt) based on the psu calculator from extreme outervision.
900-1000 to be securely safe or 850watt if you are hard up on cash.

Yeah my bad, it's a "little" less than 450W.

It's not 250W though... try 320W for one GPU or 624W if it's two cards SLI (FurMark).

It also depends on the test done. Your claim at 250W is based on tests of 3dMark, while a more intensive test is FurMark as seen below. But yest the 3dMark tests do more accurately reflect playable games now.

http://www.geeks3d.com/20100414/power-consumption-of-two-gtx-480-in-sli-with-furmark-and-3dmark03/

Also, no-one has mentioned efficiency of the PSU. Yes, if your "strapped for cash" you may find your self getting a 900W PSU that doesn't even have 80% efficiency, which means your not getting the power draw you think you are getting at full load, since 20% is lost in heat dissipation. You buy what you pay for when it comes to bargin shopping PSU's to make a rig "work", only to have the PSU fail after you overclock your CPU and GPU.

 

[cooldude947]

I have 3 GTX 480 in SLI on my Rampage 3 Extreme and I had to get a SilverStone (SST-ST1500) 1500 Watt power supply after I totaly cooked a 1200 watt Konic IP-IK 20A, which in turn cooked 4 Seagate drives and DVD writer as well,
I would strongly suggest you go for the 1500watt.
I saw a Youtube video of 3 GTX480 running some stress test and the system was pulling up to 1200 watts.
Better be sure than sorry and do damage to your drives due to power supply failure.
Good luck.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey