Widescreen Gaming Forum

Lo all.
just thought i would share an intresting issue i had.
I am running 3 480gtx's in sli and surround at 6100x1200 with a 980x cpu and performance was very good. I can run bad company 2 at mostly medium to high settings with aa and af set to 2(any higher starts to kill the framerate) and framerate stays at 60, but drops to about 45 to 60 if i up everything to high.
I was having a issue with the pc randomly rebooting after a while, so figured it was the psu(cosair 1200watt) so i added a spare 1000 watt psu and have the second psu running 2 of the 480's. Now the reboots are gone, but suprisingly my pc performance has also improved with the additional power.

I can now run bad company 2 with everything set to high and aa and af set to 8 and the framerate is locked at 60. It would seem that the system was been starved for power.
I have always said that a good psu is a must for system stability, but i didnt think it could improve performance as well on high power rigs.

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intel x79
2 way 780ti's under water
Intel 4760 extreme @ 4GHz
3 x 42 inch screens @5860x1080
16 gigs xmp ram @2200

That's completely interesting. When I build my next build, I'll make sure to get a decent power supply.

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Display: | 3 x Dell Ultrasharp 3007WFP-HC @ 7680x1600 | Dell u3011 |

I could tell something was wrong when you said you used medium to high settings and were getting between 45 to 60 frames. My single 5850 averages 40 fps @5916x1080 all settings maxed with no aa and hbao off.

Good tip on the psu

how do you "power on" the second psu ?

You can get adaptor cables that basically join the second PSU's ATX connector to the first so that pushing the power button gets both to fire up. My Silverstone TJ07 came with one (no idea where it is ATM, though. :()

Or you can ghetto mod it. ;) http://www.overclock.net/power-supplies/14455-multiple-power-supply-guide.html

thanks i din´t know about the adapter

but i had to test a couple of psu´s some years back and they teach me to use an bobbypin to start them up
this would be a bit inconvenient for an 24/7 setup :D

I would of thought that AX1200 could of handled it, a heavily overclocked SLI (2) 480 setup with a 980 draws around 950w from the wall, I might ask how much other stuff you have hanging on the 12v rail of the PSU, but I am amazed it didn't cope!

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I can see it yeah.

I hooked up a power-meter to my rig (980x and 3 480's) when gaming.



(this is with the video cards at stock.)

That rig would break me from the power bill and turn my bedroom into a sauna! My single 5870 can raise my room over 10 degree's easy with a couple of hours gaming.

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The 1200 is on its limit , and it will be ok for up to an hour at first, then it will start to reboot more and more often under full load, and the psu it too hot to touch by then. so it does seem like its simply drawing to much power. and it will be ok for a while if i allow the psu to cool down again, i do plan to keep the second psu hooked up all the time to distribute the load more evenly.
the heat isnt a factor as i have the rig water cooled and cpu or gpu temps would be lucky to ever hit 50 celsius even under full load

_________________
intel x79
2 way 780ti's under water
Intel 4760 extreme @ 4GHz
3 x 42 inch screens @5860x1080
16 gigs xmp ram @2200