3870x2 Reviews

[Poizen22]

so 350 wats is with the entire machine? so i can power 2 3870x2? or just 2 3870, i know i can power 2 3870.

 

[Ste]

I think I am going to return to my original statement and say that your Power supply will be able to power crossfire 3870 X2's.

I would be extremely surprised if it couldn't..

When you see the power requirement of video cards on sales websites they do indeed mean for the entire system and the video card.
It has always been that way... Unless otherwise explicitly stated....

 

[Poizen22]

no but on toms hard ware it said teh card used 350w's and aparently the single card ati recomends a 750 w psu, alltho i know i could defenitaly power one i didnt know i could power 2 3870x2.

 

[Ste]

I highly doubt the card used 350 Watts all by itself when An Ultra only uses under 200 watts Ish.

[H] Enthusiast - NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra & SLI

 

[Ste]

Most reviews/tests I see say under 300 Watts ish for full load...
Some 290 watts, others 105 Watts (Though I am sure thats more towards idle),

AnandTech: ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2: 2 GPUs 1 Card, A Return to the High End
Radeon HD 3870 X2 review - HIS

Legit Reviews - ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 Video Card Review - Power Consumption and Conclusions
This one has the full system load with an X2 under 350 Watts.

I also looked at the Toms hardware review.
ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2 - Fastest Yet! | Tom's Hardware
And they say the total system power consumption with an X2 was right around 357 Watts, Furthermore they believe the card uses more energy than the AMD/ATI Stated 197 Watts, though I am still guessing it to be far less than 350 Watts...

So I still maintain that you can crossfire these cards on your current power supply and be fine.

So what I am really saying is, don't buy a new power supply unless you have to. Buy your crossfire setup, hook the cards up, run some games and 3Dmark06's, if your system does not shut off, die, or otherwise screw up. Then your power supply is fine..

It may also be interesting to see your results by monitering your Power supplies voltages with a digital multimeter during heavy GPU use, along with a Kil-o-watt Power meter attached at the wall to see total System wattage draw..

 

[dario03]

I always thought they should recommend watts based on individual parts. Since not every computer is the same. Someone might have 1 hard drives or 5.

 

[Ste]

Yea, but they don't, because most people aren't intelliegent enough to realize it's just for that part.... So most will end up buying even more insufficent power supplies, that or way overkill...

 

[Poizen22]

i have one lol. but 2 dvd drove OoooOooOh what now, i guess what i cant use the recomendation charts lol jk.

 

[Ste]

Not to mention the fact that even the Manufacturers estimated power consumption at full load is never the same from card to card..
Heck, they may even be retarded and put the idle power consumption down instead...