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GTX 460 SLi - Cooling required?
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ashyankee
Junior Member
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14. September 2010 @ 10:17 |
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Im planning to build a system with two GTX 460 SLi. Already the budget for the remaining components went sky high for me. Now will i need a cooling system for cooling these cards? or will the stock cooling will do? And also what PSU should I go for if im going for a i7 Processor?
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AfterDawn Addict
1 product review
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15. September 2010 @ 00:33 |
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Stock cooling should be fine, so long as you buy a version with a decent cooler on it. There are some mainboards that place the PCIe x16 slots too close, so you might need custom cooling if you have such a board...but most modern mainboards don't have such designs.
As for power, you need a lot...I would recommend at least 800w. At the moment, corsair (the only PSU I trust) makes 850W and 950W units...they are both expensive, but the 950W is only $10 more, and well worth the added expense when you consider that a corsair power supply typically lasts through several PCs, and one of your future builds might need slightly more power.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139013
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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15. September 2010 @ 10:06 |
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Stock cooling will be quite noisy but it will get the job done. However, if you plan on keeping the pair for more than 2 years, I'd consider manually raising the fan speed, else they may well fail prematurely - nvidia GPUs aren't built to a great standard and do suffer from heat damage quite easily.
As for power, you don't really need a huge amount, 460s use nowhere near as much as the 470/480. You'd get away with a 650W modular unit with 4 connectors, but that's cutting it a bit fine, I'd buy a 750W from Corsair, either a TX or HX. That'd be more than sufficient for two 460s (you could probably run three from a 750W unit!)
Remember Killerbug bought a 1200W PSU for a PC that only uses 200-220W, so keep that in perspective when he sells you kilowatt units!
Only other thing, as Killerbug says, make sure your board has the 16x slots nicely spaced. If the two cards are practically touching, they'll get very hot.
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. September 2010 @ 00:48 |
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If you plan on using a card more than 2 years, you should not buy nVidia at all.
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AfterDawn Addict
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16. September 2010 @ 00:54 |
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Sam...you know that the only reason I bought that 1200W unit was because it was on sale for less than the price of a 750W...and I was using more than 200W just for the overclocked CPU and RAID adapter...nevermind all the hard drives, the overclocked video card, and over a dozen fans. Yeah...I didn't even need 750W, but my old 550W corsair was not enough, as my system would crash whenever I used my TV tuner while playing a video game.
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AfterDawn Addict
4 product reviews
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16. September 2010 @ 06:51 |
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Wasn't the wattage, 550W is stacks of power, it could actually run your entire system twice, and I'm not even joking about that.
Also, Phenoms used a lot of power, but not 200W even with the adapter, nowhere close.
Use an AC load monitor on your PC, you'd be surprised just how little power it draws.
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4words
Junior Member
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13. October 2010 @ 22:02 |
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Ok since this question is similar to mine. I have a gtx 460, with a 700w power supply. Will I only need to connect it with one of the power connectors? (sorry I am not all that smart with pc lingo)
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AfterDawn Addict
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13. October 2010 @ 22:05 |
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Which 700W PSU do you have? Not all "700W" PSUs can actually deliver 700W, or anywhere near it for that matter.
With very few rare exceptions, you will always need to connect all the power connectors to a graphics card. If like the GTX460 it has two 6-pin connectors, you need to connect them both. If you have a 700W PSU that only has one connector, then you have been had, as it will almost certainly be a 400W unit or smaller, inside.
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4words
Junior Member
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14. October 2010 @ 00:46 |
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Ok heres the power supply. Again not that much pc lingo so i looked it up
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817152033
and with the graphics card for each of the 6 pin the connect to it there is like 2 separate connectors running off of that. So it has me very confused. If you don't understand what I'm talking about I can post pics. Lol thanks alot.
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. October 2010 @ 00:51 |
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Yeah that places firmly in the 'not actually 700 watts' category. Raidmax power supplies are about as low-quality you get. Frankly the prospect of running a card as power-hungry as a GTX460 off such a unit scares me. Not only are low quality PSUs poor performers, they are also sometimes electrically unsafe.
I strongly recommend that you change the unit for a decent brand or odds are good you will regret it. A Corsair VX 550W would be fine for this purpose. Don't be fooled by the lower wattage rating, 550W is probably more than twice as much as that Raidmax unit will manage.
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4words
Junior Member
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14. October 2010 @ 01:12 |
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That definitely saddens me aha. More money out of my wallet.
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AfterDawn Addict
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14. October 2010 @ 01:15 |
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Actually I've just re-read the title, you're using two cards aren't you? Good god, that's a disaster waiting to happen on the 700W unit.
Also, I'd revise my PSU choice to the 750W TX I mentioned in my first post, sorry about that.
But still, I did tell you what PSU to buy, and you bought what was cheap, not what was right. It never ends well, $100 wasted on a bad PSU is a lot less than what you will have wasted in all the components that will be toast if/when the Raidmax goes bad.
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4words
Junior Member
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19. October 2010 @ 03:22 |
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No I am running a single graphics card. And I actually got the psu quiet a few years ago.
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AfterDawn Addict
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19. October 2010 @ 04:56 |
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Fair enough, the gap in posts made it appear that you'd bought that PSU instead.
The fact that the PSU comes with one 6-pin and one 8-pin suggests it was built as a 450-500W power supply. Any unit 550W or over is typically provided with two 8-pins, or more.
Then of course apply that most low quality units are fitted with components to the ability of 30-40% of the maximum rating on the label, you're looking at a 130-180W power supply in actuality.
With one GTX460 in a system you're liable to be drawing 250-300W off the system, so that's really pushing it. Even with one 460 in the system I'd replace the PSU as a matter of urgency. Given that power supplies' useful output declines as they age, you're probably using more than double the actual rating of your PSU already.
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4words
Junior Member
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20. October 2010 @ 03:14 |
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This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 20. October 2010 @ 03:16
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AfterDawn Addict
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20. October 2010 @ 03:21 |
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Yes, the 750W TX has enough connectors and ample power for the job, and it's actually built properly too :P
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4words
Junior Member
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21. October 2010 @ 01:17 |
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Lol alright thanks alot for the help.
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