NZXT Hale 82 Crossfire Question

[Yarblec]

Hey guys, so I was looking to crossfire my 7970 with an r9 280x. My 7970 currently takes both an 8-pin and a 6-pin, and the 280x is also going to take the same. First off, will this power supply have enough pins? The website says that this power supply has: "5 x Peripheral (4 pins)". Therefore, if it has 20 pins, and each card requires 14...it's not going to have enough. But, I wanted to get a second opinion because maybe I'm forgetting some other pins or something (not very educated with power supplies). Thanks!

 

[King Kevain]

Which NZXT Hale 82 is it? they've come in different Wattages over time from 550-850W - you need to work out if you've got the power required first

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/63551-will-crossfire-r9-280x-hd-7970-scaling-tested.html
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/2hk9nz/just_installed_an_r9_280x_to_crossfire_with_my_hd/

 

[Yarblec]

Which NZXT Hale 82 is it? they've come in different Wattages over time from 550-850W - you need to work out if you've got the power required first

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/63551-will-crossfire-r9-280x-hd-7970-scaling-tested.html
http://www.reddit.com/r/buildapc/comments/2hk9nz/just_installed_an_r9_280x_to_crossfire_with_my_hd/

It's the 650 watt edition, thanks for the quick reply!

 

[King Kevain]

Yeah... that could be a problem - the r9 280x specs recommend a 750W PSU - the 7970 a 450W PSU minimum, though it really depends on system load.

I think you'd need to upgrade your PSU as well unfortunately - though you could give it a go. At the end of the day you do not want to be splitting the power connectors, ideally you want each GFX card on its own lead from the PSU and preferably on a separate rail to the rest of the 12V components (Drives, Fan's etc). This requirement is more critical the lower the wattage PSU.

If it's this PSU - http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/nzxt-hale82-n-650-w-power-supply-review/1565 - it may be ok - it should have 2 x VGA leads with an 8pin and (6+2) pin connector per lead) - it is only a single rail unit though, so it may not have enough juice under load.

All you can do is give it a go and see if it works, or just pre-empt and splurge on a new PSU - Anything above 850W should do it, though I'd lean more toward 950W as a minimum, but I tend to overkill when it comes to core components