670 GTX SLI or 690 GTX AX 850 PSU enough? Add Smaller Supplement PSU?

[bjkill]

Hi I've been getting error messsages when I added a MSI 670 PE to my rig and wondering if that's because of my PSU.

Question:
1. After looking at my rig below, do I need to uprade to 1000+W if I run 2 X 670.
2. How about if I have one 690 would my PSU be enough?
3. I've seen on Newegg that there are supplemenry power supply that I can add onto the 5 1/2 inch drive bay. Have anyone have experience with them?

I am using the following and used 24/7 for less than a year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139015



b]SYSTEM: [/b]
AX 850 Cosaire PSU
Asus Sabertooth X79
Intel i7 3820 (not OC)
Cosaire 4 X 4 DDR 1600 Ram
Evo 212 cooler
6 X Case fans Various Sizes
NZXT Phantom
1 Blu ray
1 DVD RW
256g SSD
3T Seagate
Front panel mem card, USB3 interface
3X Asus 23in IPS monitor
8 X USB devices, ranging from lamps to mouse Keyboard and Headphones etc.

 

[delluser1]

Hi I've been getting error messsages when I added a MSI 670 PE to my rig and wondering if that's because of my PSU.

Question:
1. After looking at my rig below, do I need to uprade to 1000+W if I run 2 X 670.
2. How about if I have one 690 would my PSU be enough?
3. I've seen on Newegg that there are supplemenry power supply that I can add onto the 5 1/2 inch drive bay. Have anyone have experience with them?

I am using the following and used 24/7 for less than a year.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139015



b]SYSTEM: [/b]
AX 850 Cosaire PSU
Asus Sabertooth X79
Intel i7 3820 (not OC)
Cosaire 4 X 4 DDR 1600 Ram
Evo 212 cooler
6 X Case fans Various Sizes
NZXT Phantom
1 Blu ray
1 DVD RW
256g SSD
3T Seagate
Front panel mem card, USB3 interface
3X Asus 23in IPS monitor
8 X USB devices, ranging from lamps to mouse Keyboard and Headphones etc.

1. No
2. Yes
3. Extra source of heat, noise and cable clutter , no thanx

 

[ko888]

For a system using a single GeForce GTX 690 graphics card NVIDIA specifies a minimum of a 650 Watt or greater power supply that has a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 46 Amps or greater and that has at least two 8-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

For a system using two reference clocked GeForce GTX 670 graphics cards in 2-way SLI mode NVIDIA specifies a minimum of a 700 Watt or greater power supply that has a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 45 Amps or greater and that has at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT the crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Combined Continuous Power/Current Available on the +12V Rail(s) rated at 50°C ambient temperature, is the most important factor.

The Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 (SKU# CMPSU-850AX), with its maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 70 Amps and with four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is way more than sufficient to power your system configuration with a single GeForce GTX 690 graphics card.

It is also way more than sufficient to power your system configuration with two GeForce GTX 670 graphics cards in 2-way SLI mode.

There's no need, whatsoever, for a supplementary power supply.

 

[bjkill]

For a system using a single GeForce GTX 690 graphics card NVIDIA specifies a minimum of a 650 Watt or greater power supply that has a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 46 Amps or greater and that has at least two 8-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

For a system using two reference clocked GeForce GTX 670 graphics cards in 2-way SLI mode NVIDIA specifies a minimum of a 700 Watt or greater power supply that has a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 45 Amps or greater and that has at least four 6-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors.

Total Power Supply Wattage is NOT the crucial factor in power supply selection!!! Total Combined Continuous Power/Current Available on the +12V Rail(s) rated at 50°C ambient temperature, is the most important factor.

The Corsair Professional Series Gold AX850 (SKU# CMPSU-850AX), with its maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 70 Amps and with four (6+2)-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors, is way more than sufficient to power your system configuration with a single GeForce GTX 690 graphics card.

It is also way more than sufficient to power your system configuration with two GeForce GTX 670 graphics cards in 2-way SLI mode.

There's no need, whatsoever, for a supplementary power supply.

Hi I am wondering if you've taken into account my HD, SSD, optical drives, back lite key board, headphones etc. Cause I got an estimate power usage from some website. Forgot which one was it. And it says I need to have a 830W+ PSU. Thanks.

 

[ko888]

Hi I am wondering if you've taken into account my HD, SSD, optical drives, back lite key board, headphones etc. Cause I got an estimate power usage from some website. Forgot which one was it. And it says I need to have a 830W+ PSU. Thanks.

I've taken all of that into account.

Total power supply wattage isn't the major factor in what determines if the power supply is sufficient or not.

Some vendor websites will put up a power supply calculator that grossly over-estimates the power required because up-selling means a larger profit margin.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Hi I am wondering if you've taken into account my HD, SSD, optical drives, back lite key board, headphones etc. Cause I got an estimate power usage from some website. Forgot which one was it. And it says I need to have a 830W+ PSU. Thanks.

I'm running two 170w cards and more HDD's than you on a 620w PSU, your PSU is more than enough mate.

 

[bjkill]

Best answer selected by bjkill.

 

[bjkill]

I've taken all of that into account.

Total power supply wattage isn't the major factor in what determines if the power supply is sufficient or not.

Some vendor websites will put up a power supply calculator that grossly over-estimates the power required because up-selling means a larger profit margin.

Thanks a lot for the insight. Anyways am going to go with the 670 X 2 and not 690. Just can't justify spending 1000 on a graphics card. I also downloaded the latest GPU driver and it seems to stablize a bit. Maybe i should just go with one 670. Cause I hooked up three monitor to it and its still running fine.