GTX 970 SLi - What PSU?

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educalifa

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Jul 16, 2014
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So here's my predicament, I began to slowly gather parts for my build and so far I have:

CPU: 4790K
RAM: 16Gb(2133)
MoBo: AsRock Extreme6 Z97
HDD: 1Tb WD Black Caviar
SSD: SanDisk Extreme II 240GB
PSU: Seasonic SS660XP2 - 660W

I didn't buy a GPU 'cause I wanted to wait and see what this new series from Nvidia would be like and sure enough, I like what I see. Especially the GTX 970 since I can buy one now and save money to buy another down the track and try my hand at SLi.

On top of what I have listed it will also have the regular stuff like blu ray player, case fans and etc and I hope to add a decent CPU cooler at some stage too but I have no idea if the PSU I bought will be able to take it all.

Is this a case of rookie mistake or beginner's luck? Should I return the PSU and go for the 760W instead?

I know it's early days on that GPU but I'll appreciate any input you may have!

Thank you!
 
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One of the reasons people love the lower power/heat of the 970/980 is the room for overclocking, if you're gonna run it stock you're missing out, but if you are gonna take advantage of the O.C. headroom of these cards you're gonna need to get more wattage to run it. Even a little more than recommended because the standard numbers are non-O.C. Which in my mind defeats the purpose of the 970 in the first place.
 
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Well said. Too often explanations meander without the important point being driven home. I was going to post to this, but your answer should says enough for both those who know and those who do not. Nice post.
 
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Your PSU is great and perfectly adequate for 970 SLI.
I'd happily run that on my 600w device.

The idea that you would downgrade to an EVGA 750w is laughable.

The recommended minimum is 30A? Be serious. Pushing 30A through the card will fry it.
The trouble with these "recommended minimums" is that they are based on absolute worst case scenarios. They worry that you might be using some cheap knock off PSU that doesn't match it's advertised rating and has weak 12V delivery. The recommended minimum is roughly double the real minimum.
 
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Hi!

Also I have a question because I see that the experts here. I start to collect parts for my build but I stayed on the power supply :-/

CPU: i7-5930K
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 4 32GB 2400 c15
MOBO: Asus X99-DELUXE
HDD: WD black 2TB
SSD: Samsung 850 Pro 256GB
GPU: 2x Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 WINDFORCE
PSU: Corsair AX860i (my friend advised me to take 1000W 😵)

I saw that most people take EVGA or SeaSonic and now I do not know -_- actually 860 may not be enough? Thx 4 help
 
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Your CPU will obviously take a bit more power than the OP, but otherwise things aren't much different.

An AX860i is more than sufficient, indeed an ideal PSU for the job. Though you could get away with less with no real loss to efficiency.

Your friend is obviously stuck in the past and is not aware of just how power efficient the new generation of GPUs are.
He'd have a point if you were going for R9 290s though.
 
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Like the previous guy said, a 860W is more than sufficiant; a GTX 970 is incredibly power efficient, no matter which model you buy. Each one only uses 145W, so 800W is fine. I've heard of people running 2 overclocked SLI GTX 970s with a 550W Power supply.
 
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That is a nice build and you are pretty much golden with your choice of power supply. Enjoy your PC!

 
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860 is certainly enough. :)
 
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860 is certainly enough. :)
 
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Thx man ;-) Yet I have chosen to case Phanteks Enthoo Luxe, Corsair M45, Corsair Vengeance K70 Cherry Blue (promotion for £89.99), 2x Corsair Air Series AF140 Quiet Edition for Kraken X61, 2x Corsair Air Series SP120 Quiet Edition (2-Pack) and Win 7 Ultimate. The whole set was me £2587 which is not so bad.
 
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Did you buy those SP120 fans for the x61? The x61 uses 140mm fans. Noctua NF-A14 fans would be the best choice.
 
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AF140 fans for Kraken X61 mate 🙂 I thought of two Noctua NF-A14 industrialPPC-3000 PWM but it would cost me £43 for two AF140 Quiet Edition will pay £26. You know my limit is 2.5k and I will this hold. Corsair are really good. I thought over these BitFenix ​​Spectre Pro LED but ultimately chose the Corsair.
 
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The AF fans have a low static pressure and that equals in poor radiator performance. The stock fan is better. AF fans only work well on low fpi radiators.
 
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Great choice! I love the k70 keyboard and it iks great for gaming!

 
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Running an i7 920 OC'ed to 3.9 and gtx 970 SLI clocked at 1216 on an Antec HIGH CURRENT GAMER M 750w PSU with continuous power and 2 12v rails @ 40 amps each. Works like a charm!
 
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I think 750W is a bare minimum. Personally, I would also go with 850W or above.

Here's a power supply calculator for accessing one's power supply needs:

http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp
 
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I was running I7-4770k a couple HDDs and SSDs each, plus a CD drive and 3-4 fans with basic intel liquid cooler(forget the actual manufacture); with the 970. It worked fine, the hardest load I put on it was running was running BF4 at full setting 21:9 ratio screen while also running a half dozen programs on 2 other monitors. This ended up push the CPU to 50-70% utilization and the GPU to ~ 96%. The system was very stable (i.e. no issue runs thus seval hour straight) with ***450W power supply***.
I just up graded to I7-5830k( an extra 50-60w demand) setup . So I looked up a couple different PSU calculators, thinking I would need a new one... To my surprise the high recommend minum wattage was 449W(with aggressive CPU OC) and an apsolute min of 388.
So recommend some go and waste their money when they already have 500W+ PSU is kind of a dick move. The guy wanted to start with one. you could recommend more power if you want to future proof the PSU now, to hand on over-clock CPU plus over clock SLI 970's; but unless you over clock them all it is unlike his current PSU couldn't handle them just fine. Me on the other hand, I am restricted to a mild over clock of one or the other.
 
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