how many wats do i need for my build

[scrimstar]

This is what it says on the specs of the cards.
Minimum of a 680 power supply.
(Minimum recommended power supply with +12 Volt current rating of 46 Amp Amps.)
An available 6 pin PCI-E power connector and an available 8 pin PCI-E power connector

Although it says 680w, a good 600+ watt will do the job. Remember when buying a PSU, look at the amps...most important thing.

Also for ram, get (3 x 1GB) or (3 x 2GB). You want to run in tri-channel mode.

So the Corsair 1000HX can't run two GTX295's?

 

[saltynay]

It has the potential the gtx295 draws 416Wx2 = 832W + 130W for core i7 cpu = 962W

Its more about amperage then wattage but the corsair 100hx does have the potential to run quad sli

 

[ricanflow]

huh??

A GTX 295 draws 289 watts on full load.

 

[scrimstar]

In the specs, it only says 40 amps for each of the rails.

 

[saltynay]

GeForce GTX 295 review - BFG

 

[ricanflow]

The whole point of putting the GTX 295 on 55nm procces and using the GTX 260 bus was to lower power usage.

It has a tdp of 289w, less than two GTX 260's in SLI.

40a is what nvidia recommends for an entire system, not the card alone.

salty that is a test with full system...the board alone uses 289watts.

 

[saltynay]

gtx260 55nm uses 230W on full load off the top of my head as I was looking it up before I had to rma my one.

 

[ricanflow]

You were close though, 416w for the full system they tested and i estimate mine to be around the same...actually more since ive oc'd so id say im at about 450w. Adding another for quad sli would require another 300w, so that would put me at 750w.

A quality 800w psu can do it, but best bet for quad sli is a 1kw.

 

[saltynay]

Your forgetting about other factors yes a 800W psu would power just the card but your really pushing it overboard when you factor in the cpu/ efficiency/ other components

 

[ricanflow]

Thats why i said quality, in which im referring to pc power and cooling, corsair, silverstone etc.

Mots of those psu's are extremely efficient, can run higher loads than their rated for. And i did say the 100w is the best bet.