4870X2 -PSU And IL2

[ytareh]

I have bought one of these for better or worse !Is my Tagan 580W PSU with 2x20A rails definitely not up to powering this gpu in my overclocked PC ?Is it true that IL2 does not benefit from the second GPU on this card?

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

Tagan psu's are usually pretty good, 580W should be plenty http://forums.ubi.com/images/smilies/25.gif.

[ytareh]

Mmmm well I hope its not too borderline -most suggest 600-650W min .PSUs can be funny .I once had a nightmare build of a brand new X1900XTX and DFI nF4 with overclocked Opteron.The Seasonic 600W PSU in it didnt seem to provide enough juice and there were constant issues with cold start no boots (just fans running).It almost put me off pc building for life (not to mention one or two 'pros' I enlisted also)
Now I later bought an X1900XT and my old Antec Neopower 480W powered it like a trooper.
People also talk about 'headroom ' with PSUs ie just because your psu does the job doesnt mean its good enough what with fans always running at max speed etc .
Im tempted to try the Tagan 580W with my new 4870X2 when it arrives ...it meant to use about another 125-150W (over the basic 4870) so I hope I have that much 'headroom' with my basic 4870 right now .The upgrade should hopefully only cost 100-150 E/$/£ ish after Ive sold the Club 3d 4870 1Gb Im running right now .Anybody interested in buying this PM me ...I'll probably stick it on Ebay towards the end of next week...

[LEBillfish]

Though no power control expert by far, having so very many fans in my case decided to try and relieve the burdon of the power supply meant used to run CPU/HD's/etc. by simply going out and finding some cheapo PS even in the 200w range will be fine, heck even open up an old case and get one....and use that to power all fans.

An added benefit is, being I have them on the main switch, when I shut down the PC they keep running. Since I tend to shut down, walk away before off, then come back. It gives all the components time to really cool....Otherwise if something is really hot, it sits there and cooks slowly cooling.

The reason I did that was I discovered components might run at X-temp, yet when I'd shut the PC down their temps would actually rise (as in all the fans had stopped)....My solution has an opposite affect.

So, for maybe $0-20 and a little wire, at worst maybe a large drill hole....You can really do a lot of good for an on the edge as it stands pc.

Just a thought.....works well for me.

K2

[ytareh]

Hey Billfish I actually thought of that approach a few years ago when I had the X1900XTX build nightmare.However two issues ...

1 You have to do some fancy rewiring ...a PC PSU cant be just plugged into the mains and work -it needs a trigger from the motherboard .Now Im fairly brave when it comes to PC tweaking but this sort of stuff is a bit scary and potentially costly in physical and financial terms!

2 On the point of what you say ...actually the main wear and tear on PC components is due to 'thermal cycling' ie getting hot and cold .I would imagine that rapid cooling is probably worse than letting your gear cool down naturally...

Is the rewiring of the PSU to get the trigger easy?Where do you put the second PSU?

[NDS_Camp.]

Your right on Point 2 there, but it doesnt cool that quickly, heating up goes way faster and can cause much more stress and cracks in the components.

I would just stick with one PSU, dont know the rest of your system specs.

Good powersuplies like from Be-Quiet got extra powercables for casefans and a feature to moniter the internal case temprature and controle the speed of the PSU and conected casefans, also they leave the connected fans running after shutting down the system for a bit to cool the sytem a little after shutdown.

[LEBillfish]

Originally posted by ytareh:
1 You have to do some fancy rewiring ...a PC PSU cant be just plugged into the mains and work -it needs a trigger from the motherboard .Now Im fairly brave when it comes to PC tweaking but this sort of stuff is a bit scary and potentially costly in physical and financial terms!

2 On the point of what you say ...actually the main wear and tear on PC components is due to 'thermal cycling' ie getting hot and cold .I would imagine that rapid cooling is probably worse than letting your gear cool down naturally...

Is the rewiring of the PSU to get the trigger easy?Where do you put the second PSU?


No idea what you're saying about a "trigger"?

The main 550w which powers the MB, CPU, HD's, CD/DVD's, etc., all the usual stuff EXCEPT the fans hooked up as normal, and plugged into my power distribution control (what you plug all your 120v items into)......The second PSU which I believe is a 230w I picked up brand new for 50 cents, sits outside the case (why add extra heat in?), and all the fan wires I made extensions for routing them through a hole I put near the bottom of the case to that second PSU....That PSU controlled directly by the on/off of the PDC.

When I turn on the PDC, intantly the fan PSU has juice and the fans turn on and run....Now there is NEVER a worry of the fans not running when the computer is on, as no juice flowing out of the PDC to power the fans, then none for the PC......After I switch the PDC on, fans now running and juice going to all items, I then hit the PC start button on the front of the case and the PC powers up.

At shut down the PC eventually powers off....However, since the PDC still has juice flowing through it the fans keep running. WHen I shut down the PDC on/off switch then power to that PSU shuts off as it is switched to always on........It doesn't take any charging and so on, we're not starting up a PC as it ends up being nothing more then a 12v/5v-12v transformer.

As to rapid cooling, you don't get that.....What you get is components are being cooled before start, staying cooler during operation (as there are no alterations to RPM for energy savings, they all simply running max and sound not an issue), and when the PC is shut down you don't get that spike or rise in temp on them as happens with most folks...(when you shut your PC down, though no more juice is flowing through the chips heating them, there is also nothing cooling them....So they climb in temp as the fans stop too soon)......My way they go from their running temp dropping to room temp..

My various components even CPU and ram in a 70F room run normally 90F-96Favg-112F. So a range of 70F-112F.....If done the normal way they would run 70F-90/112F, then spike to 145F+ at shut down, so 70-145F.....Makes a big difference.

K2

[ytareh]

Excuse my ignorance but what does PDC stand for?Is the smaller PSU you use for fans something that would be bought in general electrical/hardware store (some kind of general DC power supply?-I found these were quite expensive new) or a PC shop?I did REALLY put a lot of thought into the kind of thing youre doing a few years back but couldnt find a practical solution.The fans wouldnt use that much power anyway(2W for 80mm and 4W for 120mm typically) but the cooling aspect is certainly interesting.

[LEBillfish]

Well I just shortened up "power distribution control"....For some it might be an actual component/panel (mine having a seperate switch for each plug that can run into it, some having constant juice, others needing their switch thrown)....Others it might be nothing more then a power strip (plug for in the wall, then a number of recepticles for your plugs)....Most have surge protection.

It's whatever you plug your PC/Monitor/Printers/etc./etc. into to get 120v again often having internal surge protection.

As to the power supply, it is nothing more then an out of date (low W.) power supply you would use in a PC.....Why I suggested cracking some old PC open and snagging the PS out of it. Mine I just happened to buy new from a bargain bin.....Heck you can buy from NewEgg a 350w for $15, and bet you can find much cheaper to even free (how many old obsolete PC's are out there?).

K2

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

I think she mean one of these
http://www.jdr.com/images/miscellaneous/under_monitor_group.jpg

They usually go under the monitor and it's just a surge protector with a switch for each plug and a master switch.

It's easy to wire a psu to be on all the time, then just plug it into that thing.

[ytareh]

US Can you explain or give a link to that info please...

[Urufu_Shinjiro]

You mean on how to set the psu to be on all the time? Simply connect a wire to the green wire in the middle of the main 20/24 pin power connector and connect it to any of the nearby black wires (i.e. ground). Once those two wires are connected then any time the psu has power running to it from the wall it will be on.

[ytareh]

Thanks US!Now I bet Id be gritting my teeth the first time I tried to power on that baby ...

By the way I have cancelled the 4870X2 order as Im concerned this card will be at the peak of heat/noise/power usage/incompatibility ('scaling') issues like the old 7950GX2 was...