PSU recommendation for SLI rig?
Jan 9, 2006 at 2:57 AM Post #2 of 73
I run a 7800GTX SLI setup with my Seasonic S12-600, which I bought after doing a lot of research.
It is very quiet, high quality and highly regarded, and is Nvidia SLI certified. Haven't had any issues with it. It also has Active PFC which means that it doesn't waste a lot of power despite its high wattage rating. Of course when you're gaming it is sucking up the juice as it has to, but otherwise it is frugal.
Overall, highly recommended.
If I didnt get the Seasonic I would have got an Antec TruePower 550 (maybe they have a 600 by now.)
Bought the Seasonic from newegg, a very reliable web store.
Sorry just re-read your post, I believe the power ratings you are looking for is 18A per rail, with 2 independent rails available. You were probably looking for a Wattage rating but that isn't really indicative. Make sure the PSU is SLI certified by Nvidia. Also there isn't a single SLI rating, it varies by card. The 6800/6800GT/6800U/7800GT/7800GTX all have different ratings. If I was to do it over the 7800GT is great bang for the buck and doesnt need as much power as the GTX.
Also a word of advice - don't skimp on the PSU. SLI is tempremental enough, a cheap PSU will drive you crazy.
 
Jan 9, 2006 at 3:13 AM Post #4 of 73
a couple highly recommended PSUs for SLI Rigs:

Enermax Whisper II 535W SLI Certified: about $90 and it's a pretty solid PSU... great choice if you're on a budget

OCZ Powerstream 520W SLI Certified: probably the middle grounds as far as pricing goes, also extremely solid. Only one 12V+ Rail, compared to the 2 on most other PSUs that are SLI. Should be around $130

PC Power & Cooling 510W SLI Certified: one of the best power supplies you can get. a little expensive, at around $200, but it has super stable rails, can't ask for much more out of a PSU... if you're not on a budget, go for this one.


i'd say the OCZ powerstream 520w is a pretty good one to settle with, gives you the stability you need without having to spend too much money



sh0ebox
 
Jan 9, 2006 at 12:09 PM Post #5 of 73
In all honesty, I would stay away from the Seasonic, especially if you plan on even mildly overclocking your system. The reason I say this is because the Seasonic uses a split 12V rail, which means that the CPU gets a dedicated 12V amp line and the rest of the system recieves the other. While this may sound good in theory, this only allows the CPU and other components to have access to a lower amperage, which will hurt stability, especially in an overclocked system.

I would go with either the OCZ 520W or the PC P&C 510. Both of those PSU's have single 12v rails which supply lots of amps to all of the components, and will power your SLI rig with ease.
 
Jan 9, 2006 at 2:27 PM Post #6 of 73
OCZ PowerStream 520W (budget option), PCP&P Turbo510 SLI (not-budget option).

The Seasonic is a nice and solid PSU, but like Solstice said, it has split +12V rails, and this can and will cause issues if you have a power-hungry CPU. If you've got a sane CPU, and don't overclock (too much)... then you can probably get by with the Seasonic. Most of the failures by split-rail PSUs that I'm aware of have involved either Prescotts or Noconas. The former may be an issue here, the latter not so much.

The OCZ, OTOH, has long been the darling of overclockers that can't afford a PCP&P.
 
Jan 9, 2006 at 8:04 PM Post #7 of 73
Quote:

Originally Posted by xSolsticex
In all honesty, I would stay away from the Seasonic, especially if you plan on even mildly overclocking your system. The reason I say this is because the Seasonic uses a split 12V rail, which means that the CPU gets a dedicated 12V amp line and the rest of the system recieves the other. While this may sound good in theory, this only allows the CPU and other components to have access to a lower amperage, which will hurt stability, especially in an overclocked system.

I would go with either the OCZ 520W or the PC P&C 510. Both of those PSU's have single 12v rails which supply lots of amps to all of the components, and will power your SLI rig with ease.



this holds true for Intel systems using overclocked Pentium D 6 series processors but for an Athlon 64 system, dual 12v rails is the ideal way to provide power. an athlon 64 does not have the amperage/power needs that an overclocked Prescott CPU has, and many times a Prescott CPU will require more amperage then a split 12v rail can provide, but most of the time with a quality PSU with dual 12v rails (like the seasonic 600w) the intel system will still run fine.

unless you're running SLI 7800GTX's with an athlon 64 processor running above 3GHz, with 4+ hard drives, 2+ optical drives, 4 sticks of DDR memory, and 10+ LED fans/cold cathode kits, a PCP&C 510 will be overkill for anything other than a system like this.

otherwise, a single VGA, 2 harddrives, 2 optical drives, 2 sticks of ram, several LED fans, an overclocked processor, soundcard etc. etc. will run absolutely fine on the Enermax 535w Whisper II.

see the computer in my sig, this PSU runs this rig with a 1.45% fluctuation on the 12v rail using OCCT stability test (1.45% is within PCP&C's specs)

the Whisper II is even overkill for my current rig, and when running SLI 7800GT's the power supplies rail still only fluctuated about 1.9%
 
Jan 9, 2006 at 8:14 PM Post #8 of 73
Quote:

Originally Posted by C38368
OCZ PowerStream 520W (budget option), PCP&C Turbo510 SLI (not-budget option).

The Seasonic is a nice and solid PSU, but like Solstice said, it has split +12V rails, and this can and will cause issues if you have a power-hungry CPU. If you've got a sane CPU, and don't overclock (too much)... then you can probably get by with the Seasonic. Most of the failures by split-rail PSUs that I'm aware of have involved either Prescotts or Noconas. The former may be an issue here, the latter not so much.

The OCZ, OTOH, has long been the darling of overclockers that can't afford a PCP&P.


That is the sexyest power supply ever. Except for the 800 watt one.
biggrin.gif


Edit. I think it's PCP&C, for PC Power and Cooling...
 
Jan 9, 2006 at 11:56 PM Post #10 of 73
Dont always look at the wattages given out by PSU manufacturers, they can be misleading. Different PSU companies have different standards for their voltage measuring, which means that the ratings that they slap on the side of the PSU may or may not be very accurate.
 
Jan 10, 2006 at 4:14 AM Post #14 of 73
well if you don't plan on overclocking, i'd say you might as well not spend an extra $100 and buy the PCP&C, as the OCZ or the Enermax will suffice just fine. They both have extremely solid rails from what i've seen, and i'm sure you'll be happy with whichever one you choose.

sh0ebox
 
Jan 10, 2006 at 1:46 PM Post #15 of 73
Well, since you arent going to overclock, I would suggest the OCZ 520 (although I am biased since I have owned one for awhile and love it).

Just out of curiosity, why do you want to go SLI? Are you a heavy gamer?
 
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