Enough Power?

[larrym]

Hi All,

I'm new to Tom's so I apologize if I do something wrong here but I was just wondering if..

I have enough power to run 2 EVGA GTX 660 video cards in SLI with a Corsair builder Series CX600 bronze certified Power supply?

The rest of the PC..

ASrock z77 extreme4
Intel 3570K + CM Hyper 212 evo
2 X 4 gig Corsair vengeance Ram
1 Western Digital Blue WD500AAKX HDD
1 OCZ Vertex 4 SSD
1 DVD Writer
4 case fans
Windows 7

The CPU is not overclocked yet.

If not, could you please recommend one.

Thanks

 

[flexxar]

"Bronze Certified" just tells you how power efficient your power supply is. The power capacity is actually determined by the number of watts. You will want one rated at least 700 watts. It is also very important for you to find one that has the right connectors to power up two video cards. Most of them will not, so be sure the one you buy does. I'm not certain, but yours will probably require two 6 pin connectors for each card, so four total.

 

[larrym]

Hi Flexxar. Thanks for the reply. I am currently running one GTX 660. It requires one 6 pin connector. The power supply does have an extra one for a total of 2 6 pin connections that are both labeled PCI-E. Since it had two, this is why I was wondering if I could throw in another GTX 660. I went to newegg and used the power supply selector, but my video card is not listed in the list.

 

[flexxar]

That one should work for you. It probably didn't show up in your search because you probably selected "sli certified" option. It doesn't have to be "sli certified" to work. You just need the right connectors and enough watts to support your parts.

If you aren't on a super tight budget, you should also look at:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151095
It has a better customer rating.

 

[Silvune]

You don't necessarily need a PSU with a larger number on the label, but if you haven't bought the PSU yet then I would definitely suggest getting something higher quality. Because despite having the Corsair name on it, it is mediocre in terms of quality.

 

[larrym]

Thanks for the reply Silvune. I bought this PS a few months ago because it got pretty good reviews and it was on sale with a promo code from newegg for $35. This rig runs really good and I have had no issues. This is my first build in quite some time and I have never put any video cards together in SLI or Xfire. I was just curious on how it works and wanted to try it. I actually built this for my son. I'll buy a new ps if need be, but just wanted to try the SLI. Thanks again. I'll give it a go and if it falls short, I'll pick up a more powerful PS.

 

[blacknemesist]

If you do get a new PSU get one with 6+2/8 pin pci-e rails as some cards already need them.They are not that expensive and gives you more room to work around when you card is outdated.I am currently looking at a NZXT hale90 750w with 2x6 pin + 2x 6+2 pin.This one can run 2 GTX660 ti and maybe 2 x GTX670.Both the GTX660 ti and GTX 670 require 2x6 pin each,so having 4 around is good A GTX690 requires 2x 8 pin connector,thats why I said try getting one with 6+2/8 pin so you get covered in the future If you manage 4x 6+2/8 pin the better but those cost alot.

 

[larrym]

Hi Blacknemesist. Thanks for the reply. The Corsair CX600 that I have does have 2 6+2 PCI-E connections. The GTX 660 I have only requires 1 6 pin connection. The extra two just kinda dangle next to the connection so I just wire tied it back. I just want to make sure this PSU has enough watts to power two GTX 660 cards. According to this site...

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

I'll be around 550 watts with this build if I add another GTX660.

Thanks for all the replies everyone.

 

[blacknemesist]

Are you sure you have filled everything correctly?
I OCed the 3570k to 4,5ghz with 1,32vcore,4x120mm fan,2x80mm fan,2 sticks of ddr3,1 dvd rw,1hdd,1flash sdd,added my creative soundblaster,cpu at 100% load,2 usb devices sucking power,system at 100% load,high-end desktop and 2 GT 660ti and ended up with minimum 562w and recomended 612w.

Did you put 4 physical cpu by mistake?

Using you computer specs and the aplication recomended settings for cpu load and system load and assuming 4 120mm fans and high rpm sata I get 454w minimum 504w recomended.Thats 96w from your 600w so it should be ok.Still if you manage to get more power it would be good so that you can OC your cpu,memory and gpu safely.

 

[larrym]

Are you sure you have filled everything correctly?
I OCed the 3570k to 4,5ghz with 1,32vcore,4x120mm fan,2x80mm fan,2 sticks of ddr3,1 dvd rw,1hdd,1flash sdd,added my creative soundblaster,cpu at 100% load,2 usb devices sucking power,system at 100% load,high-end desktop and 2 GT 660ti and ended up with minimum 562w and recomended 612w.

Did you put 4 physical cpu by mistake?

Using you computer specs and the aplication recomended settings for cpu load and system load and assuming 4 120mm fans and high rpm sata I get 454w minimum 504w recomended.Thats 96w from your 600w so it should be ok.Still if you manage to get more power it would be good so that you can OC your cpu,memory and gpu safely.

Thanks for the reply. It was a typo..I meant 450, but again I was rounding a bit..It was actually 418 Minimum and 468 recommended.

 

[blacknemesist]

Even better,you might even be able to OC the Cpu

 

[larrym]

Best answer selected by LarryM.