Official GIGABYTE Forum
Questions about GIGABYTE products => Motherboards with Intel processors => Topic started by: shadostalker on July 28, 2010, 04:59:39 pm
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hi all
I've just received my GA-X58A-UD3 motherboard rev2 and wondered which would be the best choice of psu to go for when i intend to link 3 pci-e graphics cards eventually if not straight away? I also see from other posts here that some psu's are causing problems with annoying sounds, has anyone found the ideal one to avoid this? Also this will be my first attempt at building a system with crossfire or SLI(not sure which yet) and wondered if all used graphics cards are powered by one pci-e plug when linked or do they all need one individually requiring a psu with 3 of these?
any help would be appreciated
thanks shado
p.s. sorry if this is long winded or noobish, will be my first ever post :)
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There are several exellent PSUs on the market . Personnally I like the Corsair HX1000 for your setup. I have the Corsair HX850 and am very pleased with it and it also carries a seven year warranty.
This would give you plenty of good, clean power for your graphics triple. You will need a seperate power source for each card.
over to you onemilimeter....
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You may consider one of the Gigabyte own branded PSUs (http://www.gigabyte.com/products/list.aspx?s=51&ck=41). I believe Gigabyte must have tested their PSUs with their motherboards and they should work well with UD3R.
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Yes the Odin Pro 1200 would be a nice choice.
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I'm not sure where is the OP from... but I think not many major PC retailers in UK carry Gigabyte PSU stock... weird...
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Yes the Odin Pro 1200 would be a nice choice.
That's a great unit! If one is bad luck to get a problematic Gigabyte PSU unit which does not work well with the motherboard, it will be easier for Gigabyte to provide tech. support because they know "in-and-out" of their PSU and motherboard.
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He's from the UK. I think that http://www.overclockers.co.uk carries some of their power supplies. Just checked they definitley don't have the Odin Pro 1200. In fact I did a search through Gigabyte's own website for suppliers and there wasn't any in the UK for that PSU and very few for any of their PSUs. I think they need to wake up and start marketing.
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If your going to put three HD 5970 you might need more then 1000W but here's two more to look at:
1000W Coolermaster SilentPro M1000 Modular
1000W Silverstone ST1000-P Strider Modular
Single +12V rail is the way to go with bronze/silver/gold certified.
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Agreed about the single 12volt rail, definitely the safest bet. I think that 1000w of certified power should be enough for any three gfx cards that keep within the ATX standard but obviously you don't know what's coming along next so to be safe you certainly could go bigger.
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thanks for the replies everyone.
Had to do some more thinking (my head hurts), just wondering if it's worth putting 3 cards in as one of the slots is *8 and would cause a bottleneck or am i wrong? and if it does knock them all down to *8 would it still be beneficial?
Thanks again for the heads up on the psu's :D
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Its not some much a bottleneck but more of a scaling performance in most games where you don't get any or must more FPS in a three card setup then a two card setup and depending on the game might scale better (if at all) for SLi then CF and so on.
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Thanks again for the reply, it's been a great help here and i am looking forward to getting started. I am thinking now that 3 cards may be a little overkill for my needs and will probably go for the cheaper 2 card setup. Will let you know how i get on :D
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No problem glad to help. I think you are right about not going for the full three card option probably better to get two really good cards and crossfire them.
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SLi with GTX 460 is good.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-460-sli-review/5
But you can't 3-way SLI them only the GTX 470 & 480 can.
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SLi with GTX 460 is good.
http://www.guru3d.com/article/geforce-gtx-460-sli-review/5
But you can't 3-way SLI them only the GTX 470 & 480 can.
Personally I prefer the ATI cards at the moment but any of the better cards dualed up would be good.
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you guys are awesome, it's been great to get some ideas from ones that know their stuff. I have always tended to go for the nvidia cards in the past and stuck with them more through habit than education, as the first time i had to make the decision ati cards seemed to be getting a lot of dislike for their compatibility with a lot of games (going back a while now tho) from reviews i read. Does this still occur or are they both on relatively equal terms now?
Thanks in advance for the reply
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If anything the ATI cards are out in front. The only nVidia card the 480 is great but it doesn't actually conform to the ATX standard and uses too much power. Saying that it is a mean beast! The top of the range ATI Radeon cards are also briliant and have what is known as eyefinity - you can link up monitors to have a surround vision sort of thing. Absolutely breathtaking when you see it done properly. 8) 8) 8) All of the top 5xxx series cards have this option. Both makes are very good but the ATI Radeons usually are more powerfull and quieter. If you want a quiet card look at the Sapphire Radeon Vapor-X series they are much more silent than the standard run of the mill cards.
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Cost for performance of a single card vs performance of multi-card setup (in your case multi-card setup) at what resolution you be using and compare that to benchmarks to workout the cost for value that is the best.
Note: drivers used in benchmarks play a big part in how well the cards do in the tests.
Going SLi or CF is just one or the other both do the same thing.
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at the moment i have gone for the coolermaster silent pro m1000 and for the budget i am considering the sapphire rad hd5770 vapor-x 1024mb with 2*dvi/hdmi, would this be suitable? price falls just short of £150 so not too high for a pair at £300 or would you suggest pushing the boat out a little further with the budget on something better?
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The PSU would seem to be fine choice and the 5770 is a nice card. A lot depends on what your main use of your system is. I would take it from your talking about multiple graphics cards that you want to play games, if so the 5850 would be a better choice. It is 256bit rather than 128bit and is a more powerful card in general.
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Your not going to need 1000W for a pair of HD 5770 you can run them on a 600-650W PSU
so for some other cards:
HD 5830 or GTX 460 750W
HD 5850 or GTX 470 750W+ ATi lists 600W but many PSU's at that power output don't have 4 PCI-e connectors which is why both groups I listed is the same.
Going to leave out HD 5870 and GTX 480 because for you to list HD 5770 must be out of your budget.