Dual R9-290X Power Supply

[clutchc]

I have a XFX 850W Black Edition PSU and would like to add a 2nd R9-290X to my build (see my sig). PSU calculators put the 850W PSU right at the margin for dual 290Xs. Any thoughts on the matter out there?

 

[YourLocal]

You might want to buy a 1000 Watt PSU, just to be safe.

 

[Joseph DeGarmo]

Those R9-290Xs consume a lot of power. Two GTX 970s in SLI, on the other hand, will work just fine, but you're probably not planning to buy two new GPUs anyway. Upgrade to at least a 1000w PSU.

 

[jimthenagual]

i5-4690k TDP with overclock 150W
R9 290X TDP with overclock: 350W x 2 is 700W
Rest of system (generous) 100W
Total: 950W. That's for a system at an unrealistic full load (very rough figures). It'll never reach that high.

Still, I'd go for a 1000W myself, just so my PSU is resting most of the time, even while gaming.

 

[YourLocal]

I recommend a P3 Kill A Watt to see how many watts your system uses as is at idle and under load while gaming.

 

[clutchc]

I recommend a P3 Kill A Watt to see how many watts your system uses as is at idle and under load while gaming.

Dang. I have a Kill-a-Watt meter sitting right here plugged into another machine. Duh...

 

[toyftw]

I have a XFX 850W Black Edition PSU and would like to add a 2nd R9-290X to my build (see my sig). PSU calculators put the 850W PSU right at the margin for dual 290Xs. Any thoughts on the matter out there?

Hi - I think (since you aren't using the Sapphire tri-x which consume pore power than most 290x's),
you keep the XFX 850 black and use it with the CF setup. It will (as you know) shut down if it get's
pushed too far. You may find that it's sufficient, and you won't suffer any shutdowns & restarts.etc.

Of course you will be running (while gaming) it at >80-85% of it's max output capability, so it will run
somewhat hotter & louder (fan at max for longer periods), and from that standpoint you might want
to plan on upgrading to a 1khw unit in a few month's time.

 

[clutchc]

Thanks for all the comments folks. Appreciated. I have Furmark running the GPU stress test at 100% GPU usage (8x AA). The Kill-a-Watt meter seems to have topped out at 357W, GPU at 89C. No OC on the CPU (just got the i5), just the factory OC on the GPU. Room's getting warm... lol.