7600GT SLI PSU Requirements

Just built a small time OC rig for me to play some newish games..

Heres the Specs
1 x Q6600 Quad Core @ 4.0ghz
3 X PNY 7600GT
1 x ASUS Striker II NSE
NVIDIA nForce 790i
2 x 2Gb Ram
2 x 1TB Hard
480W Thermaltake PSU
52" Toshiba Regza (Yes my Tv will be my monitor)

Thing is, im waiting on my graphics cards but im worried i won't have enough power to run them all together. they dont need the 6 Pin Power because it gets what it needs from the PCI express slot...

What PSU would you recommend??

I'd rather go with 3 x Low power GPU's in SLI than 1 x Big ass GTX 295

Thanks

 

That card uses less than 40W, that power supply should be ok (or at least as ok as it is now).

 

Awesome, cant wait to SLI these, Any idea of a good SLIable card?

 

That psu should be good enough but a 4870 would probably be better than 3 7600gt's in sli, especially on a 52" TV.

 

Hi, thanks for both your reply's. i dont know why but i prefer Nvidia to ATI and i dont know why its like Intel and AMD. that card you suggested looks pretty good but again with the choice of manufacturers. Nvidia would be my option.

Anything below £100 now would be cool... What connection would be best for displaying on this TV using the Cards. DVI - HDMI? i dont have a DVI port or VGA port on my TV for some reason.

Component, RGB, YPBCR or HDMI or scart..

i would need a DVI - HDMI converter which seems quite costly just for a cable.

Regards

 

Most lower end and alot of mid range Nvidia cards are way overpriced, but some are still great for their price like this
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130339
but if you ever reconsider, this will be an even better choice
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150351
You might want to get a graphics card with 1GB of RAM instead of 512 because bigger resoulutions need more RAM...52" would be a big resolution.

Im pretty sure both cards come withan HDMI adapter and that is the best connection choice out now. Most if not all flatscreen tv's have a HDMI port so go with that.

 

Three 7600GTs in SLI? You do realise one $60 HD4650 would outperform those in every game right? (not to mention you can't triple SLI 7 series cards)
You can still buy a 9500GT for about $55 which should still be faster.

 

Have you already bought the cards? What are you looking to spend on GPUs?

 

yeah with 7600gt's youll need octo-SLI to get to a 4870... Get something in the 9XXX series. preferably a 9800gtx+

 

No, buy a GTS250 instead of a 9800GTX+, that's the newer, better value, more efficient version.

 

So one of the 7600Gt's is obsolete. Haha only cost me £30 but still im looking to modify these cards greatly. Overclocking and Volt modding should give me a performance boost on both cards. i guess all is not lost as i got 3 copys of splinter cell double agent so i could easily sell them on ebay.

i do have a 9600GT lying about doing nothing, problem is i need a new cooler for it so i might invest in another 9600GT and 2 better coolers for them.

1gb of RAM is needed for a 52" Im suprised, shouldnt it just either stretch it or upscale it?

These 7600's dont have HDMI ports on them, neither did the 9600GT but since DVI is an inverse connection of HDMI, i could basically pass from DVI to HDMI with no problems

Thanks for your advice

 

If you tripled the performance of that 7600GT, and let's face it, volt-modding will be unlikely to yield as much as 20% before the card burns up, I could still beat it with a $40 HTPC card not intended for gaming. That is how outdated and low-grade a 7600GT is.
What's the fascination with SLI of old cards, seriously? The 9600GT is better, but one GTX260 will still beat the hell out of it, and for what, $165? $145 after a rebate...
What on earth do you mean about 1GB RAM being needed for a 52"? The only resolution that requires graphics cards to have 1GB of RAM very much is 2560x1600, which 52" TVs can't produce. Most 52" TVs aren't even 1080p, they're 720p, you could probably get away with 384MB for that resolution.

 

Ive seen plenty of 1080p 52" tv's and some games (only a few) Ive seen that 1gb can help the fps at resolutions as low as 1920x1080..
I dont have any first hand experience though..

 

At 1920x1080 there are some benefits to a 1GB card in a select few games at maximum detail with lots of AA. However, to say you need 1GB for that resolution simply isn't true.

 

Well i have decided to go mega loud and buy a GTX 280, was a bit more than expected but hopefully this will be quite future proof then again.. nothing ever is.. the Asus Mars is at $1600 price range which could buy me a new car for that... anyone planning on buying it?

would leave my card for dust even though its brand new..


Just imagine how much power that would require for Quad SLI if it supports it... the resolution of it would be so high...

Also i need to upgrade to a higher spec PSU since 480W doesnt seem to be enough for this Beast...

Levicom are a german make that i just found, any good? supposedly Overclocker friendly Power supplys which seems viable in my position

From what you both have said, i really have been out of this game for a while. 7600GT was a mid range budget card 2 years ago now 3 of them wouldnt even make the mark in this market anymore..

Wow this technology is getting crazy, whats next? 500hz TV's and 12800 x 10240 Resolution on huge TV's. Thanks for all your answers..

 

Why a GTX280? Another outdated card that's out of production and has been succeeded by a newer model. The GTX275 and GTX285 are its replacements.
The MARS is a frankly ridiculous offering designed only for the hardcore enthusiast, when the next gen cards come out in a few months, it'll still be outclassed.
As it happens the power usage of the GTX285 PCB isn't much higher than the GTX260 PCB, so power draw wouldn't be much more than that of two GTX295s.
I have never heard of levicom PSUs, ALWAYS a bad sign. Stick with a known decent brand like Corsair.

 

Yeah i know but it seems like a solid card plus it looks sweet.
levicom look tacky compared to Thermaltake etc. More wires doesnt mean kick ass PSU's..

 

Don't get me wrong, I'd still love a MARS. Not for that price though, eh
To be honest, I consider thermaltake, coolermaster etc. in the second of four PSU groups, the low quality but acceptable group. Cheap companies like Levicom, Qtec, Rosewill etc are at the bottom - low quality but unacceptable.
There's the mid-quality or high quality but suspect range in the middle like Enermax, OCZ and BeQuiet, and then there's the top quality group with Corsair, Seasonic, Zalman, Nexus and Tagan.

 

Yeah, honestly, 7600GTs in triple SLI would have been reeeaaally bad... For comparison, when I was first thinking of getting my old 8800GT I looked at a 7950GTX SLI (seen as the cards were cheap) and it turned out the 8800GT beat them... Technology moves quickly.

And i'd just like to reiterate what sammoris said - a GTX275 is pretty much comparable in performance to a GTX280 so if it's cheaper, go with that.

 

Agreed, unless you use 2560x1600, the GTX275 is a good value card. In my mind the HD4890 is still better value because it's so much cheaper, but the 275 is a solid card as long as you don't apply too much AA.