9800 GTX BE PSU SLI Question
 

So, I have a 9800 GTX BE (Black edition) and seeing how gthe price has droped so much in the past few weeks, I would like to get myself another to SLI.

My question is how much PSU will I need to keep everything running smooth. Just rebuilt the PC abotu a month ago and got a OCZ 750w Sli rdy PSU.

Now seeing the GFX uses 2x 6pin connecters, Im curious will this 750w be enuff to SLI the cards.

Any input or advice would be much help.

Thanks,
Pro

(System specs: 8400@3.4, MSI P7N Plat. OCZ 750Psu, Vistax64+sp1, OCZ 8gigs sli ready ram@2.1v)

750W is sufficient for SLI with 9800GTX,

TY very much kind sir. Now to hope the gain from the SLI will be noticable and worth the 230bucks hehe.

Will post with new 3dmark scores when I get it : )

Triple SLI I do know will not pass :)

Ok so, my 2nd card should be in soon, and I come to beg advice yet again.

So, I have 2x HD's in my computer. One running vista ultimate w/ Sp1 and one running XP HE Sp3.

So, Im not really looking to OC the cards any, and my core is already done. Im looking for advice on what OS to use for the best preformace from my rig.

Vista or XP- All I do is game and watch movies.

Second question is, among all the beta and forceware drivers out there, what would you recommend to give my GPU's what they need to, version wise. There is soooo many : (

And lastly, My MB came with 1x Sli link, but my cards have room for 2x- Will I need 2 links or will 1 do? Again, I only have 1 atm.

TY very much for all you help you have given me thus far,

~Proweed

- XP still offers best gaming experience, faster at same IQ
- the latest official forceware drivers should do nicely; don't go beta unless you don't care about stability ;)
- 1xSLI bridge is enough for SLI. The second connector is for Tri-SLI config only

Ok, small problem atm. Installed the card on lunch break and come to find out, I dont have enuff power connecters to use 2x 6pin's per card. Even with converting the 4pins into the 6. Making 2x 6 pins leaves me without 2x 4 pins for the CD roms... lol

Can I use just 1 6pin per GFX card? Will it affect my proformance? Should I look into a new PSU? lol

Never ending struggle.

TY much for you always as always

without both connectors performance of the card will be in "low" mode due to insufficient power. You can use Y-splitter for the 4-pin CDrom to salvage extra connectors

Ok, Hope Im understanding this right.

With the Y connectors, I can connect both sides and use 1x side for the 6pin and 1 side for the roms? Kinda like a jump configuration. If I can do that, I will have enuff to power everything I believe.

I would make sure to split rails though. that you don't hook up all 6-pin to the same set of 4-pin molex.

The Y-splitter will allow you to add one extra 4-pin "per split";

Thanks alot man, ABout to get off in 9min and go home an dplay with my toy!

Gonna post some pics of the rig also so you can see how she looks, kinda messy but <3

I expect no less with that many cables needed just for VGA power :D

Ok, so- Home, got the newest forcware from Nvida drivers 175.19. got the power situation all better.

Now for the bad news, I ran a 3dmark06 and scored a whoping 1kpoints more >>

Not quite sure what Im doing wrong or what is configured wrong. Device manager says both cards are working with the drivers, SLI is enabled via Nvida control panel.

Clueless

Gonna pop over to my XP hard drive, do the driver thing and see what happens. Hopefully will return some better results.

let me know what http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/ says

for the 1st card


for the 2nd card

Now, I have the cards power setup as 1x 6pin from the PSU to each card and 1x buddy 4-> 6pin to complete it.


The odd thing is the box GPU came with the Y connecters, yet, in an insert that was also in the box, showing how to configure the power, it says XFX does NOT support the 4pin to 6pin connections. Very odd delima

Another thing is the shader clocks seems to be half what they were rated at, but Im just assuming thats because of the SLI setup.

NVIDIA SLI seems to be enabled ok; do you have a game installed you can easily check FPS (fraps) at a certain save point; then try with SLI enabled/disabled.

The only games I have after my reformats awhile back is WoW on the Vista side. I am gonna install CoD:4 again tonight and Ill post some SS's.


Other thought: You think they are struggling for power? Anyway to check?

Since I have gone this far, Might as well think hard about ebaying my 1month old PSU and finding one with 4x6pins connecters just to eliminate that wiring issue.

Barely broke 16k 3dmark06 on XP >>

yes it may be a power issue if the PSU can not delivery enough Amps on the required rails and forces one of the GPUs to run in "low power 3D mode". IF you have an older AT(X) PSU lying around, you could hotwire it to power one of the VGA cards.

I guess when 750W SLI ready was released, they weren't counting on 2xPCIe per card :/