Power Requirements for Crossfire?

[Bloody Chainsaw]

I was watching the unboxing of the Corsair VS 550 PSU, and the guy says "the single twelve volt rail pushing 40 amps provides enough power for an entry level to midrange single gpu setup". Will it support crossfire then?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Depends on what cards you use. Typically, you want to use two higher-end cards in a Crossfire set up. A 550 watt PSU generally isn't enough for two higher-end cards in a Crossfire configuration.

-Wolf sends

 

[Aeacus]

For one, Corsair VS series PSUs are low quality (Tier four) PSUs,
PSU Tier list: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

And for second, 550W PSU is really stretching the power consumption of Crossfire setup, even if you use 2x 150W RX 480 GPUs. For RX 480 in a 2-way Crossfire, 600W range PSU is best used. For RX 580 in a 2-way Crossfire, you're looking towards 700W range PSU. For us to say the proper PSU wattage to go for, we need to know the GPUs in question.

Anything from Seasonic will do since those are far better build quality PSUs than Corsair VS series,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/R7V48d,VwR48d,nn648d,NN648d/

Seasonic G series PSUs are good quality (Tier two) PSUs. They are 80+ Gold certified with semi-modular cables and 5 years of warranty. While the Seasonic PRIME series PSUs are great quality (Tier one) PSUs. Since PRIME series is the best Seasonic offers, you'll get 80+ Titanium certification with fully modular cables and 12 years! of warranty. No other PSU in the world has 12 years of warranty.
(My Sylake build is also powered by PRIME 650 80+ Titanium PSU, full specs in my sig.)

 

[Bloody Chainsaw]

For one, Corsair VS series PSUs are low quality (Tier four) PSUs,
PSU Tier list: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

And for second, 550W PSU is really stretching the power consumption of Crossfire setup, even if you use 2x 150W RX 480 GPUs. For RX 480 in a 2-way Crossfire, 600W range PSU is best used. For RX 580 in a 2-way Crossfire, you're looking towards 700W range PSU. For us to say the proper PSU wattage to go for, we need to know the GPUs in question.

Anything from Seasonic will do since those are far better build quality PSUs than Corsair VS series,
pcpp: https://pcpartpicker.com/products/compare/R7V48d,VwR48d,nn648d,NN648d/

Seasonic G series PSUs are good quality (Tier two) PSUs. They are 80+ Gold certified with semi-modular cables and 5 years of warranty. While the Seasonic PRIME series PSUs are great quality (Tier one) PSUs. Since PRIME series is the best Seasonic offers, you'll get 80+ Titanium certification with fully modular cables and 12 years! of warranty. No other PSU in the world has 12 years of warranty.
(My Sylake build is also powered by PRIME 650 80+ Titanium PSU, full specs in my sig.)

That's good and all, but i live in a territory where the availability of products is pretty tight. So the only choices i've got are Thermaltake, Cooler Master and Corsair. How do you think the Thermaltake TR2 600W or 700W, will fare? Or maybe the Corsair CX 750.

 

[Aeacus]

Thermaltake TR2 and Corsair CX are also low quality units. Though, there are proper units from the three listed manufacturers as well.

Good quality (Tier two):
Cooler Master V650 semi-modular, specs: http://www.coolermaster.com/powersupply/v-sm-series/v650s/
Corsair RM650x, specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/rmx-series-rm650x-650-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-fully-modular-psu

Mediocre quality (Tier three):
Cooler Master G650M, specs: http://www.coolermaster.com/powersupply/gm-series/g650m/
Corsair CX650M, specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/cx-series-cx650m-650-watt-80-plus-bronze-certified-modular-atx-psu-eu
Thermaltake DPS G 650, specs: http://www.thermaltake.com/Power_Supply/Toughpower_Series_/Toughpower_DPS_G/C_00002387/Toughpower_DPS_G_650W/design.htm

Do note that PSU is the most important component inside the PC and you do not want to cheap out on a PSU if you care about your system. Here's a nice short clip about "budget" PSUs,
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezk9OA7aKOE

Personally, for dual GPU system, i'd be looking towards great quality (Tier one) PSUs. Though, for budget reasons, minimum i'd use would be Tier two unit. And as far as 600W unit vs 700W unit goes, like i said above, we need to know the GPUs in question to suggest proper wattage PSU. Another example: With 2x Radeon R9 290X in a 2-way Crossfire, you're looking towards 1kW (1000W) unit since single Radeon R9 290X is a 300W GPU.

 

[Bloody Chainsaw]

Thermaltake TR2 and Corsair CX are also low quality units. Though, there are proper units from the three listed manufacturers as well.

Good quality (Tier two):
Cooler Master V650 semi-modular, specs: http://www.coolermaster.com/powersupply/v-sm-series/v650s/
Corsair RM650x, specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/rmx-series-rm650x-650-watt-80-plus-gold-certified-fully-modular-psu

Mediocre quality (Tier three):
Cooler Master G650M, specs: http://www.coolermaster.com/powersupply/gm-series/g650m/
Corsair CX650M, specs: http://www.corsair.com/en-eu/cx-series-cx650m-650-watt-80-plus-bronze-certified-modular-atx-psu-eu
Thermaltake DPS G 650, specs: http://www.thermaltake.com/Power_Supply/Toughpower_Series_/Toughpower_DPS_G/C_00002387/Toughpower_DPS_G_650W/design.htm

Do note that PSU is the most important component inside the PC and you do not want to cheap out on a PSU if you care about your system. Here's a nice short clip about "budget" PSUs,
youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ezk9OA7aKOE

Personally, for dual GPU system, i'd be looking towards great quality (Tier one) PSUs. Though, for budget reasons, minimum i'd use would be Tier two unit. And as far as 600W unit vs 700W unit goes, like i said above, we need to know the GPUs in question to suggest proper wattage PSU. Another example: With 2x Radeon R9 290X in a 2-way Crossfire, you're looking towards 1kW (1000W) unit since single Radeon R9 290X is a 300W GPU.

As i am planning to run two RX 480's the power requirement's not that much. Decided to go with the CX 650M as its available cheaply here.