SLI support and Power Supplies

Discussion in 'PC hardware help' started by Name2Long, May 11, 2006.

  1. Name2Long

    Name2Long Member

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    I am building a computer and noticed that some power supplys are SLI certified and some are not, the one I have already choosen is rated for 450 watts and I have a 939 board (gigabyte) with sli support will I or should I pay extra money $40 bucks more for a SLI power supply

    and does the GPU(graphics processor) have to be compatible for SLI?

    Athlon 64 3000 939
    SLI Gigabyte motherboard 939
    512MB - 1GB ram
    BFG 6200 LE PCI-e 128 (256 overclocked)DVI,VGA,S-video
     
    Name2Long, May 11, 2006
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  2. boxwrench

    boxwrench Guest

    Are you planning on using SLI (dual video cards)?

    Bare minimum listed for supporting SLI are 6600 series cards.

    Also that 128 is the amount of memory on that card the 256 figure is derived at by using 128 mb.of your system memory in conjunction with what is on the video card =256, Not overclocking.

    Overclocking the card is something entirely different.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: May 11, 2006
    boxwrench, May 11, 2006
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  3. Name2Long

    Name2Long Member

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    ok, Do I need a special power supply for it though, i have noticed that many power supplies say SLI SUPPORT: NO and I have yet to see any that say yes to this.

    Thanks for your input
     
    Name2Long, May 14, 2006
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  4. Deadrum33

    Deadrum33 Active member

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    SLI Support is written on the box so a regular consumer doesnt have to do the math of figuring up how much power is being drawn. Its eye candy, a good power supply can handle it, even if it isnt flashed on the cover of the box.
    Your 450 power supply would be on the low end if you wanted to hook up the extra video card maybe bump it up to a 500 for SLI, but should be fine for normal use.
     
    Deadrum33, May 14, 2006
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  5. trgrpullr

    trgrpullr Regular member

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    you don't need an SLI rated power supply to run your geforce 6200 card. If you ARE planning on running SLI in the future, you should look for a PSU that has at least 30amps on the 12volt rail, not JUST a high watt rating. Better too much than too little. If you need to know which PSU's are SLI certified, look on nVidia's website, they list them. PSU's can be SLI "compatible" without being SLI"certified". Go with a name brand like Fortron (epsilon series), Zippy, PC power and cooling, Enermax , Silverstone. A crap no name $50 PSU could fry your $1000+ system, not worth it. Check out Newegg.com and put "SLI" into your search criteria for power supplies, you should get plenty of results.
     
    trgrpullr, May 15, 2006
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  6. AxFactor

    AxFactor Regular member

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    I'd say go with the SLI power supply mainly due to the fact that it has 2 pci express connectors and without them your really in the hurt bag! I like the 550 Nuuo, awesome power supply
     
    AxFactor, May 15, 2006
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