Gtx 950 SLI

[Hawknugget]

Im upgrading an old build
amd phenom ii x4 910 2.6ghz
asus m5a78l-m lx
4gb 667mhz ram
gigabyte gtx 460 superclocked
500w thermal take psu
i wanted to buy 2 gtx 950 in sli
and upgrade to 1333mhz 16gb ram
but im not sure if my psu can handle sli and if the gtx 950s are compatible with my mobo
and if my cpu would bottleneck
I have about 500CAD $ to spend and im wondering what i should do if they arent compatible

 

[raisonjohn]

Im upgrading an old build
amd phenom ii x4 910 2.6ghz
asus m5a78l-m lx
4gb 667mhz ram
gigabyte gtx 460 superclocked
500w thermal take psu
i wanted to buy 2 gtx 950 in sli
and upgrade to 1333mhz 16gb ram
but im not sure if my psu can handle sli and if the gtx 950s are compatible with my mobo
and if my cpu would bottleneck
I have about 500CAD $ to spend and im wondering what i should do if they arent compatible

You're motherboard does not support SLI as it only has 1 GPU slot (PCIe x16). But even if it did, I wouldn't recommend SLI'ing the GTX 950's. The performance, heat, noise, and compatibility would be much better if you upgrade to a GTX 970.

Just to answer your query on the PSU, the GTX 950 in SLI will require a recommended wattage of 500W (from a good-quality PSU). Your current Thermaltake, if it's one of the DPS Gold Series, is good. But if your Thermaltake is a different model than the DPS Gold Series, then there's a high chance your PSU is a low-quality and unreliable PSU to take on that 500-watt requirement. So, you have to change your PSU if that's the case for safety and efficiency.

As I said, a single-GTX 970 would beat the 950 SLI in price-performance. The GTX 970 would only require the same 500W PSU recommendation. That GTX 970 would fit in your current motherboard (so no need to change).

However, I would strongly advise you to upgrade your CPU. The AMD Phenom II x4 will bottleneck the GPU upgrades we are considering.

For the RAM, if your rig is geared towards gaming, no need to get a 16GB capacity. A 2x4GB (8GB Total) will be more than enough for your needs as games would not probably reach beyond the 8GB.

This would be my recommended parts (CPU and GPU only):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($130.38 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($394.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $525.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-18 01:38 EDT-0400

 

[Hawknugget]

Im upgrading an old build
amd phenom ii x4 910 2.6ghz
asus m5a78l-m lx
4gb 667mhz ram
gigabyte gtx 460 superclocked
500w thermal take psu
i wanted to buy 2 gtx 950 in sli
and upgrade to 1333mhz 16gb ram
but im not sure if my psu can handle sli and if the gtx 950s are compatible with my mobo
and if my cpu would bottleneck
I have about 500CAD $ to spend and im wondering what i should do if they arent compatible

You're motherboard does not support SLI as it only has 1 GPU slot (PCIe x16). But even if it did, I wouldn't recommend SLI'ing the GTX 950's. The performance, heat, noise, and compatibility would be much better if you upgrade to a GTX 970.

Just to answer your query on the PSU, the GTX 950 in SLI will require a recommended wattage of 500W (from a good-quality PSU). Your current Thermaltake, if it's one of the DPS Gold Series, is good. But if your Thermaltake is a different model than the DPS Gold Series, then there's a high chance your PSU is a low-quality and unreliable PSU to take on that 500-watt requirement. So, you have to change your PSU if that's the case for safety and efficiency.

As I said, a single-GTX 970 would beat the 950 SLI in price-performance. The GTX 970 would only require the same 500W PSU recommendation. That GTX 970 would fit in your current motherboard (so no need to change).

However, I would strongly advise you to upgrade your CPU. The AMD Phenom II x4 will bottleneck the GPU upgrades we are considering.

For the RAM, if your rig is geared towards gaming, no need to get a 16GB capacity. A 2x4GB (8GB Total) will be more than enough for your needs as games would not probably reach beyond the 8GB.

This would be my recommended parts (CPU and GPU only):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($130.38 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($394.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $525.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-18 01:38 EDT-0400

i have the thermaltake 500w atx 12v 2.3

 

[raisonjohn]

Im upgrading an old build
amd phenom ii x4 910 2.6ghz
asus m5a78l-m lx
4gb 667mhz ram
gigabyte gtx 460 superclocked
500w thermal take psu
i wanted to buy 2 gtx 950 in sli
and upgrade to 1333mhz 16gb ram
but im not sure if my psu can handle sli and if the gtx 950s are compatible with my mobo
and if my cpu would bottleneck
I have about 500CAD $ to spend and im wondering what i should do if they arent compatible

You're motherboard does not support SLI as it only has 1 GPU slot (PCIe x16). But even if it did, I wouldn't recommend SLI'ing the GTX 950's. The performance, heat, noise, and compatibility would be much better if you upgrade to a GTX 970.

Just to answer your query on the PSU, the GTX 950 in SLI will require a recommended wattage of 500W (from a good-quality PSU). Your current Thermaltake, if it's one of the DPS Gold Series, is good. But if your Thermaltake is a different model than the DPS Gold Series, then there's a high chance your PSU is a low-quality and unreliable PSU to take on that 500-watt requirement. So, you have to change your PSU if that's the case for safety and efficiency.

As I said, a single-GTX 970 would beat the 950 SLI in price-performance. The GTX 970 would only require the same 500W PSU recommendation. That GTX 970 would fit in your current motherboard (so no need to change).

However, I would strongly advise you to upgrade your CPU. The AMD Phenom II x4 will bottleneck the GPU upgrades we are considering.

For the RAM, if your rig is geared towards gaming, no need to get a 16GB capacity. A 2x4GB (8GB Total) will be more than enough for your needs as games would not probably reach beyond the 8GB.

This would be my recommended parts (CPU and GPU only):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($130.38 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($394.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $525.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-18 01:38 EDT-0400

i have the thermaltake 500w atx 12v 2.3

Then you have the Thermaltake TR2 Bronze Series, which is currently unranked/un-tiered (not yet tested) in the Latest PSU Tier List. Nothing to worry about yet as this may or may not be a high Tier or low Tier PSU according to such list.

Checking your +12V rail, that PSU provides 36A (or 432W):

The EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0, according to their website, is recommended to have a 500W-rated PSU (tested on an i7 3.2GHz CPU).

The estimated total wattage for your upgraded build (considering the new CPU, new GPU, current Motherboard, upgraded 8GB RAM, a possible SSD, a possible HDD, a CPU Cooler, some fans) would be around 85W (low) to 375W (100%). So, based on the 432W the +12V rail your current PSU can provide, you should be fine but taking into account the little headroom left when using 100% of your components' TDP (especially when overclocking).

 

[Hawknugget]

Im upgrading an old build
amd phenom ii x4 910 2.6ghz
asus m5a78l-m lx
4gb 667mhz ram
gigabyte gtx 460 superclocked
500w thermal take psu
i wanted to buy 2 gtx 950 in sli
and upgrade to 1333mhz 16gb ram
but im not sure if my psu can handle sli and if the gtx 950s are compatible with my mobo
and if my cpu would bottleneck
I have about 500CAD $ to spend and im wondering what i should do if they arent compatible

You're motherboard does not support SLI as it only has 1 GPU slot (PCIe x16). But even if it did, I wouldn't recommend SLI'ing the GTX 950's. The performance, heat, noise, and compatibility would be much better if you upgrade to a GTX 970.

Just to answer your query on the PSU, the GTX 950 in SLI will require a recommended wattage of 500W (from a good-quality PSU). Your current Thermaltake, if it's one of the DPS Gold Series, is good. But if your Thermaltake is a different model than the DPS Gold Series, then there's a high chance your PSU is a low-quality and unreliable PSU to take on that 500-watt requirement. So, you have to change your PSU if that's the case for safety and efficiency.

As I said, a single-GTX 970 would beat the 950 SLI in price-performance. The GTX 970 would only require the same 500W PSU recommendation. That GTX 970 would fit in your current motherboard (so no need to change).

However, I would strongly advise you to upgrade your CPU. The AMD Phenom II x4 will bottleneck the GPU upgrades we are considering.

For the RAM, if your rig is geared towards gaming, no need to get a 16GB capacity. A 2x4GB (8GB Total) will be more than enough for your needs as games would not probably reach beyond the 8GB.

This would be my recommended parts (CPU and GPU only):

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz 6-Core Processor ($130.38 @ DirectCanada)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB SSC ACX 2.0 Video Card ($394.99 @ Memory Express)
Total: $525.37
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-09-18 01:38 EDT-0400

i have the thermaltake 500w atx 12v 2.3

Then you have the Thermaltake TR2 Bronze Series, which is currently unranked/un-tiered (not yet tested) in the Latest PSU Tier List. Nothing to worry about yet as this may or may not be a high Tier or low Tier PSU according to such list.

Checking your +12V rail, that PSU provides 36A (or 432W):

The EVGA GTX 970 SSC ACX 2.0, according to their website, is recommended to have a 500W-rated PSU (tested on an i7 3.2GHz CPU).

The estimated total wattage for your upgraded build (considering the new CPU, new GPU, current Motherboard, upgraded 8GB RAM, a possible SSD, a possible HDD, a CPU Cooler, some fans) would be around 85W (low) to 375W (100%). So, based on the 432W the +12V rail your current PSU can provide, you should be fine but taking into account the little headroom left when using 100% of your components' TDP (especially when overclocking).

Thank you for the information, tomorrow im going to go to my local computer depot since i have seen that they have a gtx 970 and im also going to be buying a the thermaltake t2 600w psu
as for the processor i will be buying the fx 8320 since i get 10% discount since i work there
i will also be buying 2 crucial 4gb dd3 1600mhz ram sticks
so i will be going a bit over budget but i thinkg this should work for gaming

 

[Thinh Le]

Your psu is too weak, your cpu, ram also too. With 500 bucks, you can get a new system without graphic card. I am in canada too, just bought new gtx 950 from evga. And it run just awesome when compare to its price.
Why i suggest new system, cause your mobo and ram are out of date, cpu too.
Just spend around 500 for new AMD system, and find on kijiji used graphic card.
My friend just found 1 R9 280x only 140$ and it run pretty good. But you have to check it using for mining bitcoin or not, depend on ur luck haha.

Your psu cant support SLI 950. The 12v+ rail output only 36Amp. You need at least 600W psu with 12v+ output 48-54Amp to run SLI 950, especially some 950 OC require 1 x 8 pins

Your solution is find some used system running core i5-i7 2-3nd gen, cost around 3-400$, and use 100$ for used graphic card. 280x or 7970 is the best choice rightnow.

Ps: i just cant find any used 280x so i bought new evga 950 sc+, and it running moba game 120fps, COD or Fallout4 running just fine with medium setting on 1080p, 60fps for sure.

950sli beating 970 in price and performance, so it still a good choice for budget pc. With 950 SLI you can run 99% game on high ultra setting 1080p 60fps, 1440p medium around 4-50 too