GTX 970's in SLI (Power Consumption)

[ClubFoot]

Calling all 970 owners.

I'll be upgrading to 2x 970's in the next few weeks and was wondering if anyone has calculated their power draw? I've seen the TDP was 148w but if there is enough room I will be giving them a moderate OC ontop.

Currently I have a 650w SuperFlower PSU, not even a year old, should I consider upgrading to a 750w?

 

[pastymuncher]

You are fine. Reviews have shown total system power with SLI 970's to be in the 450-500w range. The GTX 970 is a extremely efficient card.

 

[whyscotty]

Should be ok - Cpu?

 

[Disco_P]

It's a 4690K at overclocked at 1.285v.

 

[setter]

Should be fine, most ive seen pulled at the wall was 650w with more power hungry 780's and a 4.7ghz 1.300v oc on the cpu. Even then that was only briefly, should add that that figure includes my monitor too as it's connected to the same 5 plug monitoring device.

 

[whyscotty]

It's a 4690K at overclocked at 1.285v.

Aye - good to go

 

[ClubFoot]

Cheers everyone!

 

[roysters]

Just jumping on this subject. I'm toying with the idea of having 3 way 970 SLI. The PSU I have is

EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold'

Saying that I is a new build with a x99 and 5820 CPU. No overclocking has been done.

Safer with 1000 you reckon?

 

[SirCanealot]

Just jumping on this subject. I'm toying with the idea of having 3 way 970 SLI. The PSU I have is

EVGA SuperNova G2 850W '80 Plus Gold'

Saying that I is a new build with a x99 and 5820 CPU. No overclocking has been done.

Safer with 1000 you reckon?

I think I pulled 500w max running 980 sli.

Your 850w will be fine

 

[roysters]

Cheers. Out of interest though I'm slightly confuzled.

Specs state

- 450W PSU Required
- 145W TDP

So logicstells me it needs 450 per card? No? Obviously missing something?

 

[tamzzy]

450w is an ultra-conservative estimate to make sure that people that skimp and buy POS psus have enough juice to power the card.

145w x3 gpu + 120w cpu + 100w everywhere else = ~655w load (more if you overclock)

so yea, 850w is sufficient...
...but not the best.

if you do overclock, you may/will be drawing closer to 800w - in which case you've past the most efficient point of the psu (normally 60-70% loading) and near the max rated load for the psu
so 1kw would give you better efficiency and also more headroom

PS: my guess is that with tri-sli, 970 wouldn't be the most obvious choice cuz of the 3.5gb wall. probably get the full fat 980 or the titan/titan black with 6gb ram (or if you have £££ - titan x)

 

[roysters]

Thanks for that explanation. Very handy. I definitely won't overclock. Probably won't get a 3rd GPU. Just handy to know I can without blowing up!