Crossfire ATI Vapor X 5850's power usage!

[Hellfire]

Hi people,

As some of you might know I've ordered my new system with a single 2GB HD5850 (VaporX from Sapphire)

However what is the power requirement of the 5850 in crossfire, I have a 700w power suply in my current build, I checked the sapphires website, link here

http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/product/?leg=&psn=000101&pid=336

under crossfire it just has a "0" so surely it requires power instead of none itself

 

[r9]

It is hard for manufacturer to predict power requirement because the PSU it is going to power the whole system not just the cards. IMO 700W of quality PSU brand is a lot of power. Then I`v read the system specs of yours and 700W suddenly don`t sound like that much. . But I think that you are going to be alright.

 

[Rik55]

This is what it should read. I'll pass it on & get GG to send off an e-mail to get the page updated. I think they are probably being a bit overcausious, but with 900W, you will be pretty safe. I'm sure you will get a lot of people posting after this that are using a quality 750-800W PSU.

SAPPHIRE VAPOR-X HD5850 2GB GDDR5 PCIE

System Requirements

PCI Express® based PC is required with one X16 lane graphics slot available on the motherboard.
600 Watt Power Supply is required.
900 Watt Power Supply is recommended for CrossFireX™ System.
1 X 75Watt 6-pin PCI Express power connector is required.
1 X 150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required.
2 X 75 Watt 6-pin PCI Express power connector is required for CrossFireX™ system.
2 X 150 Watt 8-pin PCI Express power connector is required for CrossFireX™ system.
Certified power supplies are recommended. Refer to http://ati.amd.com/certifiedPSU for a list of Certified products.
1024 MB Minimum of system memory.
Installation software requires CD-ROM drive.
DVD playback requires DVD drive.
Blu-ray™ / HD DVD playback requires Blu-ray / HD DVD drive.
For an ATI CrossFireX™ system, a second same ATI Radeon™ graphics card, an ATI CrossFireX™ Ready motherboard and one ATI CrossFireX Bridge Interconnect cable per graphics card (optional) are required.
To support 3 displays, one of the monitors has to support DisplayPort.

I think they are the same requirements that they recommend for the 5870.

 

[Hellfire]

Cheers, so 700watts may be enough but not ideal.


What about using a different card instead of two of these bad boys? See I've ordered the PSU already so don't think I can update it without paying for a brand new one.

 

[Rik55]

I've done a bit of checking. They recommend Quality 600W PSU for a couple of reference 5850's in xfire. But the VAPOR-X HD5870 2GB, it requires a 6pin & 8pin pci-e power for each card and is slightly overclocked with even more OC headroom which is why they recommend such a high PSU. It's so you can get the max from your cards without any issues.

 

[erocker]

If you have two 6 pin and two 8 pin PCI-E adapters your PSU shouldn't have a problem at all. After looking up your PSU, it doesn't. I've read in several places that these units are based FSP Epsilon design. They are known to have ripple issues at around 600w. It's not a very good PSU.

 

[Hellfire]

Hmmmmm I can see if I can upgrade to the "Corsair 850W (CMPSU-850TXUK)" I wonder if that'll do, it does list these connections

1 x 4+4pin CPU +12V
8 x 4pin Molex
4 x 6+2pin PCI-E Power
2 x FDD Power
8 x SATA Power

Lets hope the company aren't too arsey about it. its in production at the moment.

 

[erocker]

Hmmmmm I can see if I can upgrade to the "Corsair 850W (CMPSU-850TXUK)" I wonder if that'll do, it does list these connections

1 x 4+4pin CPU +12V
8 x 4pin Molex
4 x 6+2pin PCI-E Power
2 x FDD Power
8 x SATA Power

Lets hope the company aren't too arsey about it. its in production at the moment.

They've been out for some time. I use one and love it! I ran two 5850's OC'd and a GTS250 for physX no problem at all. Very solid PSU, especially for the price.

 

[Tatty_Two]

You may just get away with it but IMO you are cutting it fine, personally I would want more than my fairly decent 750W to power my system with 5850's in crossfire.

If you wanted to be safe, you could either get a higher specced PSU or perhaps instead opt for a either a 5870 or perhaps a GTX480.

 

[Hellfire]

You may just get away with it but IMO you are cutting it fine, personally I would want more than my fairly decent 750W to power my system with 5850's in crossfire.

If you wanted to be safe, you could either get a higher specced PSU or perhaps instead opt for a either a 5870 or perhaps a GTX480.

Well the PSU doesn't have the connections so it isn't an option unfortunately. but I will be changing for the 850 corsair as above.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Well the PSU doesn't have the connections so it isn't an option unfortunately. but I will be changing for the 850 corsair as above.

Right, I would go for the GTX480 though! No need to change PSU then and therefore a cheaper upgrade path

 

[Hellfire]

Right, I would go for the GTX480 though! No need to change PSU then and therefore a cheaper upgrade path

not really, as my pc specs on the left is the production spec, sorry this pc is not built yet the company are building it as we speak and it is only £25.18 for the bigger PSU (if they'll change it mid production that is)

 

[DanTheMan]

You could always do the next best thing - "donate" one of those fine card to fellow TPU members

 

[erocker]

Right, I would go for the GTX480 though! No need to change PSU then and therefore a cheaper upgrade path

I honestly believe that that StealthXtreme would have a very difficult time running a GTX480. I don't think the rails would hold up. Same with 5850's in CrossFire, and I don't think there are enough PCI-E cables on that PSU for that either.

 

[Tatty_Two]

I honestly believe that that StealthXtreme would have a very difficult time running a GTX480. I don't think the rails would hold up. Same with 5850's in CrossFire, and I don't think there are enough PCI-E cables on that PSU for that either.

My cousin is running a 480 on a ModXStream (lower model) 600W PSU without issues, truly, although he does not overclock anything and has only 1 HDD and 1 Optical, the Stealth is a good model and I do think it would be sufficient IMO, I beleive the spec for the 480 says minimum 600W supply with 48A across the 12V rails so the 700W should be more than adequate, again just my opinion of course.

 

[Hellfire]

FUCK YEAH, they changed my order for me, Woohoo, I am now getting a Corsair 850W (CMPSU-850TXUK)

Now I have a power supply, when I get funds in bout 6months ill get a second VaporX

 

[Rik55]

Brilliant. That Corsair is an excellent choice of PSU.