Do I have enough power?

[Hippo640]

Hi, I bought a powercool 850watt PSU about 18months ago (before aria used them for their value brand) and wondered if it would be powerfull enough to run two GTX 260's in SLI. I already have one GTX260 (which is surprisignly good) and would like to upgrade. I thought it was a perfect time for a cheap upgrade now the new Nvidia range are filling the shelves.

Thanks

[alexnifty]

Well you could try, but I personally wouldn't trust it to be actually giving you anything like 850W.

I would go with a decent brand like Corsair if I was doing SLI, stability is quite an important factor.

[Hippo640]

Thanks for the rapid reply!! Ill probably give SLI a miss then. Good PSU's seems to be quite expensive. My cheap upgrade will be nearing £180 with a new PSU aswel

[alexnifty]

Depending on your full system specs you shouldn't need 850w for SLI with the GTX260. A 750W should be ample, in fact you could probably go with a 650W and be fine.

I'm pretty sure a GTX260 will draw max 200W. Two of those is 400W, with a 650W PSU it would be 250W left for the rest of your system which I think should be ok, depending on what CPU/Mobo/Ram you have.

[Lorem-Ipsum]

I would go for 700-750 W PSU just to be on the safe side.

[Hippo640]

ah so aslong as its giving me 650 I should be ok? Do i not need to worry about amp's? A few websites keep bringing up something about 12v rails with different amps :S
I have a phenomII 945 3Ghz, 4GB OCZ Platinum and an ASUS M4N82 deluxe 980a SLI mobo.

[Toonshorty]

https://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/700-950W/OCZ+StealthXStream+2+700W+Power+Supply+?productId= 40945

[Hippo640]

thanks for all the help:) so my rubbish powercool should definately be replaced?

[Lorem-Ipsum]

I would recommend THIS (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/700-950W/XFX+Pro+Series+750W+80%2B+Bronze+Certified++Single +Rail+?productId=41847) but a lot of people don't like XFX ATM due to failure rates in their graphics cards.

Their PSU's are good though as they are re-branded seasonics.

[Toonshorty]

thanks for all the help:) so my rubbish powercool should definately be replaced?

I would.

I ran a 500w PSU of similar quality and learned it's actual output was 320W :eek:

After a while it kept making horrible noises so I invested in a quality PSU (XFX 650W XXX)

[Hippo640]

Really? :o I never knew unknown PSU's could be so shabby. Would have thought twice before buying mine. How did you test its output? I should probably see how its doing before I invest

[Lorem-Ipsum]

The thing is when you test a PSU to its limit........ its likely to blow up and take the rest of the PC with it.

Have a look at THIS (http://forums.aria.co.uk/showthread.php?t=25635) thread.

[Hippo640]

That XFX one does look good. I once had an XFX mobo which was a heap. Was so bad they stopped making it and they only thing aria could do was give me the credit. It worked in my favour though cos I got the price I originally paid.

[Hippo640]

aha I should proabaly just make the investment. Ill have a read though, thanks:)

[Zaim]

I would recommend THIS (http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/700-950W/XFX+Pro+Series+750W+80%2B+Bronze+Certified++Single +Rail+?productId=41847) but a lot of people don't like XFX ATM due to failure rates in their graphics cards.

Their PSU's are good though as they are re-branded seasonics.

I'd go with that psu too.:thumb:

[Hippo640]

would that PSU be pretty furture proofed? Would I be able to SLI top range cards?

What do you all think to this psu? Im abit of a neat freak so modular does seem nice:p
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/Modular+700-950W/OCZ+750W+Fatal1ty+Series+Modular+Power+Supply?prod uctId=42232

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

those xfx psus are good, i thnk they have a 5 year warrantee.. is that future proof enough?

the OCZ fatality should be pretty good but ive not looked into them.. is that a new model? if its the old one then i would suggest avoiding it.

[Hippo640]

im not sure which model it is to be honest. ive come round to that xfx one :) I read the whole review and the single rail thing sounds great.

[Toonshorty]

im not sure which model it is to be honest. ive come round to that xfx one :) I read the whole review and the single rail thing sounds great.

XFX used to do great graphics cards, their motherboards were always pathetic.

However their graphics cards are horrible now and they gave up on motherboards.

Their power supplies are excellent though.

Look at the label on the side of your PSU.

My PSU was a Jeantech arctic 600W - one look at the side said it all really.

Total Output: 320W

[Hippo640]

XFX used to do great graphics cards, their motherboards were always pathetic.

However their graphics cards are horrible now and they gave up on motherboards.



yh id totally agree with you on that.

My PSU sticker doesnt have total output section. Just says max wattage 850 which i think it would regardless of its performance :/

[zeameth]

doesnt ring of fantastic quality ^

best off investing in a new one as people have said :D

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

the difficulty is that sometimes they use the PEAK output rating as the MAX output rating and not its CONTINOUS output rating as the max rating.

most good brands are able to output their rated wattage continously

though this is model dependant. as some 'good' brands have some very poor models and some OK brands have some very good models.

[Zaim]

if you want a modular psu then wouldn't get that ocz fatality one, i'd get this over that one:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Components/Power+Supplies/XFX/XFX+750W+Black+Edition+Modular+Power+Supply+?produ ctId=39859

£88, better psu, 80+ silver etc

[Hippo640]

yh both those XFX PSU's look very good :) do you think they could run most cards in SLI? what would be the limit.

Id hate to buy one and it need replacing when I can eventually get some top quality GPU's

Thanks everyone

[I3R0K3N7FEET]

750w will likely be able to run all dual set ups

BAR

dual GTX480
dual 5970

for them i would have to recommend a minimum of an 850w

[Hippo640]

thats seems like a good bet then :) Ill never been in a position to buy two cards of that price