How much power do I need for various HD 4870 scenerios?

[BoySCouT]

Hello Everyone,

Here is my current set up...

Asus Maximus Formula MB
Intel Q6600 cpu-OC to 3 GHz
Tunig Tower HS with LED Fan
Corsair VX 550 PSU
4 GB Corsair XMS2 RAM with RAM fan
EVGA 8800GT GPU with Zalmon cooler
Floppy Drive (why? I'm not sure)
SATA Seagate 500 GB 7200.10 HD
SATA Samsung DVD Burner
5- 120mm case fans
Antec P180 case
Dell 24 inch Monitor (play all games at 1920x1200)
(Did I forget anything? uh?)

I have a power question...

I am thinking about getting an ATI HD 4870 1GB card and possible 2 in Crossfire. Will the VX550 have enough power to do a single card? Dual cards? A HD 4870 X2?

What size power supply would you recommend for all three scenerios. I'm seriously thinking about setting up Crossfire! I've heard that you might need over a 1000 watt psu for HD 4870 x2! Please advise.

You guys have been very helpful in the past. Thanks in advance.

 

[Merlin]

First off, a Silverstone OP 750 would run everthing and Second, why would you run SLI with a 24 " monitor.
A HD4870 x2 generates so much heat you would need to water cool, buddy of mine has ONE in his system and gets glitches on certain games with everything set to High video settings on a 24 inch Samsung ( high end ).
It really gets to me that most think two cards in SLI or Crossfire are faster, Now if you were running a 30 inch monitor or larger, I could see the point.
Don't waste your money
I run one GTX280 watercooled GPU on a 24 inch monitor and set everything to high video settings with no problems at all. temps get to 50C at the very highest load after 8 hours of play and idle temps are 39C to 40 C.
See my rigs below in signature

Merlin

 

[BoySCouT]

If I went with a single HD4870 1 GB card, would the 550 still be enough to power everything?

 

[Merlin]

If I went with a single HD4870 1 GB card, would the 550 still be enough to power everything?

You may be on the edge, best thing to do is to go a little higher with w Good PSU ( OCZ, Silverstone, and I think there are some good Thermaltake PSU's, but 550 seems a little low.
I'd get responces from others on this

Merlin

 

[b1lk1]

That Corsair PSU would chew up and spit out your PC with a single 4870, no problem at all.

 

[Kougar]

I agree, that PSU will power a single 4870 just fine.

To answer your original question, most games will play fine with just a single GPU. Far Cry 2 might be a different story though.

 

[Doomsday]

First off, a Silverstone OP 750 would run everthing and Second, why would you run SLI with a 24 " monitor.
A HD4870 x2 generates so much heat you would need to water cool, buddy of mine has ONE in his system and gets glitches on certain games with everything set to High video settings on a 24 inch Samsung ( high end ).
It really gets to me that most think two cards in SLI or Crossfire are faster, Now if you were running a 30 inch monitor or larger, I could see the point.
Don't waste your money
I run one GTX280 watercooled GPU on a 24 inch monitor and set everything to high video settings with no problems at all. temps get to 50C at the very highest load after 8 hours of play and idle temps are 39C to 40 C.
See my rigs below in signature

Merlin

i have 19" LCD(1440*900) and one 9600GT. would it be a waste of money if i SLi my 9600GT?!? wot bout future proofing?!?

 

[Doomsday]

You may be on the edge, best thing to do is to go a little higher with w Good PSU ( OCZ, Silverstone, and I think there are some good Thermaltake PSU's, but 550 seems a little low.
I'd get responces from others on this

Merlin

I was thinking of getting Corsair Modular 620Watts for a one time investment but recently the electricity charges have been increased by 100% by our Gov. so If i buy a 620W PSU will it suck 620W of Power all the time cause that would make my electricty bills go sky high?!? or should i get a lesser 5 Modular 520 watts?!?

 

[Rob Williams]

That PSU is more than capable, no question. Take a look at a power consumption graph from our recent comparison:

During game use, the PC didn't even manage to hit 300W. You might go a little bit over depending on what you're doing, but you're safe overall.

i have 19" LCD(1440*900) and one 9600GT. would it be a waste of money if i SLi my 9600GT?!? wot bout future proofing?!?

With that resolution, the 9600 GT is plenty. That same card can handle a lot of today's games at 4.1 megapixel resolution... you're only running a 1.296 megapixel resolution. SLI would indeed be a waste of money. The biggest treat you could give yourself is a bigger monitor.

I was thinking of getting Corsair Modular 620Watts for a one time investment but recently the electricity charges have been increased by 100% by our Gov. so If i buy a 620W PSU will it suck 620W of Power all the time cause that would make my electricty bills go sky high?!? or should i get a lesser 5 Modular 520 watts?!?

No, it doesn't matter how big the PSU is, it's going to draw only what power is needed. I use both a 1000W and 1200W PSU for testing, and neither goes close to the rated spec. I think even at full load (GPU and CPU), the highest I could push our current benchmarking rigs (QX9650 and HD 4870 X2), I'd just barely hit 400W. There's definitely a lot of legroom with most any PSU nowadays.

 

[madmat]

Just for future reference, as far as PSU's go, if it's a quality PSU with honest power ratings you can run as many GPU's as you have plugs for. If the PSU has enough power outlets for SLI 4870's without using adapters then it'll be fine. I don't think the VX550 does from what I recall of reviewing it but the HX620 does and is perfectly capable of supplying the power reliably. I've read of many people running them in SLI 8800GTX setups and the 8800GTX is a pretty power hungry card. While it can be done, the argument of should it be done depends on how much you game. If your PC is on 24/7 and you spend 50% of that time gaming, I'd suggest a larger PSU so that it's not being run that close to capacity for so long but if you just game an hour or two per day, it's no sweat.

 

[Doomsday]

plenty[/i]. That same card can handle a lot of today's games at 4.1 megapixel resolution... you're only running a 1.296 megapixel resolution. SLI would indeed be a waste of money. The biggest treat you could give yourself is a bigger monitor.



No, it doesn't matter how big the PSU is, it's going to draw only what power is needed. I use both a 1000W and 1200W PSU for testing, and neither goes close to the rated spec. I think even at full load (GPU and CPU), the highest I could push our current benchmarking rigs (QX9650 and HD 4870 X2), I'd just barely hit 400W. There's definitely a lot of legroom with most any PSU nowadays.

Hmm, a bigger monitor would be awesome. So on to that the biggest offering here is 28" but its wayy outta my league, ($639)money wise. i can afford a 22"($200-$300) one either a View Sonic, Acer, Asus or Samsung, which be better?!?

Power supply i have a choice between a 620W of Cooler Master or Corsair?!? and the biggest Question, Modular or Non Modular?!?

 

[BoySCouT]

That Corsair PSU would chew up and spit out your PC with a single 4870, no problem at all.

Just what I was hoping to hear! Thanks guys for the responses. I'll give it a try with just one 4870. Rob, thanks for the graph.

This is why I post here for tech questions. Techgage is the best!

 

[BoySCouT]

Sorry, fix my mistake above.

 

[BoySCouT]

I'm having trouble finding the dimensions of the card. Does anyone know how long this card would be? Thanks.

 

[Merlin]

I'm having trouble finding the dimensions of the card. Does anyone know how long this card would be? Thanks.

Both the P180 cases might be a little tight, especially the P180 Micro case.
You are looking at about ten inches, or to the back edge of the motherboard.
Asus Maximus is a good board, clear on the backside ( ports face to the front, not up ) so the cables won't be in the way.
But any hard drives may be the issue of interference on that case

Merlin

 

[BoySCouT]

I have the hard drive in the very bottom front bay so that area is clear except for the extra case fan that may have to come off for extra room.

I was also, just out of curiosity, wondering if the Corsair 1000W PSU would fit in this case, but with that bottom fan that blows on the PSU I don't think that there is enough room.

 

[Rob Williams]

Merlin is right... hard drives will be the issue with that card. Once installed, the middle drive bay will have to be removed, because there's just not enough room (I use the same case). So, all hard drives will have to be installed in the bottom bay (room for four).

That's what bugs me about this case though. I wish the case was at least 1" longer... it would have allowed a full 120mm fan to be installed behind the hard drives, but there's no room as it stands.

 

[Kougar]

Boyscout, technically yes you CAN install longer length PSU's into that case, I've done so. But after the cursing and bleeding from scrapped knuckles was over, I don't suggest trying. In the very least you will need to reverse mount the 120m fan on the OTHER side of the partition so cables don't block it as well. Routing cables from a extra-long PSU is half the trouble, because they need to make a 90 degree bend to fit through the cable routing gap. Getting the PSU out was also hell...

What Rob/Merlin said is right, the P180 doesn't fit HDD's+ long GPUs. I was told the P182 and P190 increased the depth/width of the case, but I don't remember for sure anymore.