Can my PSU cope with this physx card?

[er557]

Rig:

i7 965 stock, 3x2gb @1600 stock, asus P6T deluxe, GTX 580 , 3x dvdrw, 3x hdd, sb x-fi, pci-e tv card, cooler master cm 690 II plus, PSU: seasonic x-750 gold.


need to add a gtx 280 as dedicated physx. nothing overclocked so far. Can the PSU take it?

Now I know for instance ,that 2x 580 SLI is out of the question, 2x gtx 470 is fine for this PSU; plus from various reviews of 580 SLI and 280 SLI, I calculated that my future rig will draw at worst case TDP no more than 650w-700w.( gtx 280@ 236w , gtx 580 @ 340w-unlikely)

And this PSU can easily give the equivalent of 840w~, let alone 750w.
More likely the rig might consume ~ 600w-630w.
12V rail= 62A.

So am I right thinking this?

[Fourstaff]

Yes, I would think so. No overclock though.

Wellcome to tpu

[RejZoR]

Even SLi GTX580 would work imo. My entire system tops out at 370W (iirc) during intense 64 bot match in UT3, Morbias Station map using Excessive mod or Flak Arena (because of the intensive sharpnel calculation). So it's very unlikely that your config would be that much more power hungry.

[er557]

Ok, thanks both for that info

[overclocking101]

with the gtx580 being the powerhouse it is, I would not even bother using that 280. the 580 can handle graphics and physx no problem bro, its just a waste of power and resources m8. sell it and upgrade to a better psu like the corsair tx950 or 850

[er557]

I just bought that PSU...
knowing it is the best one that shop had to offer... only to see that the x-850 gold was yesterday added to the stock...

Bout' that physx- I have seen reports of a physx card making framerates playable and smooth i.e. in mafia 2, even with a gtx 580

[newtekie1]

Originally Posted by er557

need to add a gtx 280 as dedicated physx

Don't waste the time or the electricity, adding a GTX280 to a GTX580 won't help one bit. In fact no dedicated card will help the GTX580, it is already powerful enough by itself to handle PhysX.

[overclocking101]

Originally Posted by newtekie1

Don't waste the time or the electricity, adding a GTX280 to a GTX580 won't help one bit. In fact no dedicated card will help the GTX580, it is already powerful enough by itself to handle PhysX.

thank you thank you

[er557]

OK,
BTW, would the temps of the 580 also rise having it sitting two pci slots apart from the 280?

[JrRacinFan]

Originally Posted by er557

OK,
BTW, would the temps of the 580 also rise having it sitting two pci slots apart from the 280?

In theory,no it won't because you shouldn't be worried about using a 2nd card alongside the 580 for PhysX. Only like 4 games utilize hardware PhysX. If you did, it still wouldn't. The 580 would heat up the 280

[Arrakis+9]

if you really *NEED* a dedicated physx card just get one of these : SPARKLE SXT4301024S3LNM GeForce GT 430 (Fermi) 1GB...

its cheaper, no additional power needed, quieter and very little heat comparatively

[er557]

Well , I guess I've decided against it; after some research and considering I am gaming @ 1680x1050, it seems the 580 + i7 will handle all games just fine maxed out, including hw physx. If anything I can always crank the AA down a bit. Seems it is not worth it for the few games that will benefit, to add all that power consumption and heat to the already high end system. Plus there are a few tricks to increase frame rate with vsync, like D3Doverrider...
And I always was a fan of single GPU solutions for compatibility's sake

[er557]

edit 3 days later: strike all of the above.... just pulled an all nighter doing the OPPOSITE!!! a nice 580 sitting above a nice x-fi and a nice 280 below them...for physx of course. installed a 12'' side intake fan to keep the temps of the cards down.installed modded 263.09 and there you have it- ready for benching the hell out of it, just need to install all those nice physx titles. The cards seem to run cool and clock down approprietly, and as I run vsync on and no overclocking, should get a smooth fps boost....all driver eye candy ON of course. Will start with far cry 2 which used to be choppy on the 280 alone, let the physx card sleep for now...

[sneekypeet]

I would stop wasting the energy and go ahead and remove the 280. The 580 is more than capable of better PhysX than if you offload it to the 280

Sell it and start an SLI fund

[jasper1605]

Originally Posted by er557

Well , I guess I've decided against it; after some research and considering I am gaming @ 1680x1050, it seems the 580 + i7 will handle all games just fine maxed out, including hw physx. If anything I can always crank the AA down a bit. Seems it is not worth it for the few games that will benefit, to add all that power consumption and heat to the already high end system. Plus there are a few tricks to increase frame rate with vsync, like D3Doverrider...
And I always was a fan of single GPU solutions for compatibility's sake

Originally Posted by sneekypeet

I would stop wasting the energy and go ahead and remove the 280. The 580 is more than capable of better PhysX than if you offload it to the 280

Sell it and start an SLI fund

I would say sell it and buy a better monitor. I'm sporting a solo 5850 for 5760x1200 and you've got something 50% more powerful for 20% of my resolution. Defs drop the 280 and your old monitor and get a 1920x1080

[sneekypeet]

Good catch, I would up the resolution as well

[er557]

As for the res- that's a thought! as for the SLI- I'm a single GPU guy- no microstuttering for me! as for the 280 - it won't sell well and doing a nice job smoothing out mafia II etc. for now.
So it's a win-win! as for the monitor- That's next on the upgrade path, but not for now.

[sneekypeet]

Mafia II runs great on a 470, I'm not trying to kill your dreams here, just trying to say that the 580 alone will do just as well if not better.

Whenever I tried a lesser series card as PhysX I always got less performance from the system than if I used the newer card by itself.

[er557]

Well, of course I will test with and without the 280, and see for myself. I saw opposite cases where the dedicated card normalized the fps(higher min's and even if a little lower max's).

[sneekypeet]

Interesting. Provide screenies of the results if you would, please?

[er557]

Sure; I intend to do a thorough investigation of this. you may also find a lot of such results on Guru, in the nvidia section.

edit: hint- search 'dedicated physx' within the nv section.