XFX 550 for 960 SLI

[JuanSoSerious]

Could I run 960s in SLI and an FX 8320 with a 550w PSU?

 

[Gam3r01]

You would be cutting it very close, but in theory it should work, so long as you dont plan to OC.
~150w per card+125w processor and extras brings you close to 500w.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I personally would go 650w.

 

[JuanSoSerious]

I have the 550 Right now and id rather not spend more money buying another one cause im on a tight budget, would it really be necessary?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

1. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2311121/power-supply-requirements-nvidia-gpus.html#14243229

per nvidia

960 Thermal and Power Specs:
98 C = Maximum GPU Tempurature (in C)
120 W = Graphics Card Power (W)
400 W = Minimum Recommended System Power (W)
1x 6-pins = Supplementary Power Connectors

SLI - 400 + n x (120) = 520 watts for 2 cards

Overclocking you'd want a 650

2. I can not recommend SLI'd 960s..... a single 970 outperforms it for $130 less.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_960_SLI/25.html

The GeForce GTX 960 SLI is not just undone by its own shortcomings due to a lack of perfect scaling in some games, but in being a whole $70 costlier than a single GeForce GTX 970. The GTX 960 SLI ends up offering roughly the same average performance as a single GTX 970 across resolutions. You're, hence, much better off choosing a single GTX 970 to GTX 960 SLI; that is, if you plan on buying two of these cards outright. The GTX 970 offers close to 20 percent more performance per dollar than the GTX 960 SLI in 1080p and 1440p.

The narrow 128-bit memory interface per card and low 2 GB per GPU memory let the GTX 960 SLI down, particularly in higher resolutions. In a multi-GPU scenario, an app is dealing with dedicated memory the size of a single card (2 GB in this particular case)

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

I agree a single 970 is a better choice.

 

[Gam3r01]

I would have to second (or rather third) that as well.

 

[JuanSoSerious]

You guys are right BUT! I have a 960 right now, so when I want more performance I can just buy another one and get 970 like performance for just 200, instead of buying a 970 for 300 something and just having a 960 lying around

 

[tiny voices]

I would sell the 960 and then buy a used 970. It will cost the same in the end but perform much better.

 

[JuanSoSerious]

Selling graphics cards is near impossible, been trying to sell my R7 260X for a while now, plus, you dont get very good buy/sell ratio

 

[SBMfromLA]

I would sell the 960 and then buy a used 970. It will cost the same in the end but perform much better.

But one thing you didn't factor in is... buying a used GPU is very risky. Since so many people like to OC their cards.. you could get something that's been thrashed from coin mining and with a very short life span.

Since you already have a 960.. Unless you plan on running at a higher resolution or have multiple monitors... You should be fine if you SLI your card... so go ahead and pick up a second one.

 

[Gam3r01]

Nobody coin mines on Nvidia cards, especially the newer maxwell cards.
Forget nvidia, nobody uses cards anymore anyway.

 

[tiny voices]

No it is very easy. I sell/buy all the time.

Reddit.com/r/hardwareswap is a GREAT place. If you list your 960 for the correct price you'll sell it in 5 mins for sure. That site moves pretty fast. Recently I sold 2 7850s and bought the gtx760 I'm using now. I have also sold 7870s, 7970s, gtx680s, gtx780s for friends. All cards sold within 12 hours of being listed.

 

[JuanSoSerious]

Thanks for the info! Still buying a second 960 because IMAGINE HOW BADASS IT WILL LOOK.

 

[tiny voices]

Good luck. I certainly would not recommend it.

What motherboard do you have?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

One of my son's friends just sold a 970 for like $270 still in the box, 5 minutes after UPS delivered it.

Paid $320, kept the 2 game coupons and sold the card unused.

Sold it to one of his friends who also got his 970 delivered a few minute before

 

[tiny voices]

^ that is a very common thing to do right now. There are unopened cards all over reddit/r/hardwareswap from people doing this exact thing.

 

[JuanSoSerious]

Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3

 

[tiny voices]

What CPU do you have?

 

[JuanSoSerious]

FX 8320

 

[tiny voices]

Hmm, I would probably have said go for it with a locked i5 but an 8329 and two 960s will be cutting it close on that PSU. It should work fine, but something slightly higher wattage would be more ideal.