Planning to take the plunge...will it be time for a power-up?

[doesntevenMATer]

The short of it:

 

I am adding a custom loop to my system. I don't believe my current power supply will be able to handle the extra draw from a pump. What is an appropriate wattage to get when it comes time to shop for a new PSU? I would like a little wiggle room with the power output. I'd rather it idoling and never having to ramp-up over constantly pushing towards its limits just to keep average usage going. 

 

My current system config is in my profile as well as PCPartPicker 

 

 

 

The long of it:

 

I'm not sure if anyone else is like me, but I'm not one to purchase all of my PC components at once, build the system, and be satisfied with that until it dies. I enjoy researching the latest and greatest, bargain shopping, and general tinkering with my system so needless to say it is ever evolving. 

 

A while back I ran across a cheap refurbished 660 Ti to match the one I already had. I'm not a hardcore gamer and had no plans on spending a ton on a current generation graphics card so this looked like an easy way to upgrade my graphics performance and the cool factor of my build. Looks are sometimes deceiving. 

 

I knew my Asus Gryphon Z87 supported SLI, but no where did it spell out that to enable SLI your cards would have to be in the first and second PCIe slots. I would have assumed since Asus is a huge player in the graphics game because of their DirectCU II coolers' performance that their motherboards would lend themselves to their use by having the corresponding PCIe slots for SLI further apart so the acclaimed cooling could actually work. My non-reference non-blower style cards were going to choke.

 

I gave it a shot anyway, but as expected when I started up a game internal temps just kept going up and up. I tried rigging an extra fan to blow directly between the two cards, using a PCIe riser cable and literally hanging the lower card a little further down, and lastly i attempted a ritualistic sacrifice. Nothing helped. 

 

Back to the drawing board for me. I guess buying a new motherboard would be the next logical step. Research. Research. Research. Don't fuck it up again.

 

After a ton of digging through forums, reviews, hogwash, etc. I found there is exactly ONE existing mother board that uses the first and last PCIe slots to enable SLI configurations. {{cRiNgE}} The Gigabyte G1.Sniper M5 seemed like my only option. I've had bad experience with Gigabyte products in the past, but tried my best to remain optimistic. If nothing else the board's bright green color accents were a welcome change from the desert camo and poop inspired palate of the Gryphon. 

 

Now we're up to the present day configuration and SLI works like a charm, but I HATE GIGABYTE MOTHERBOARDS! I suppose since an Asus board was my first I've been spoiled. I do not expect random BSOD because the Motherboard LAN drivers suck. I do not expect to have practically zero fan control from within Windows. I do not expect the overclock in BIOS to constantly be different from the overclock stated in "EasyTune". I need my Fan Expert back. I miss my Thermal Tuning. I miss knowing that my system is stable and my data will be there when I wake up.

 

Upgrade time again I suppose. Let's spend some more money. The plan is now to go back to the Asus Gryphon Z87 and install a custom water cooling loop to keep my two GTX 660 Ti's cool even though they will be right next to one another (adding a CPU water block later down the road). I'm still teaching myself all of the "in's and out's" of piecing together a custom loop, but I do konw it will require the use of a pump which I assume can gulp a good bit of power. My current power supply is a Corsair RM 650 which I'm surprised is able to keep up as the system is now. 

 

Ideally what wattage should I bump up to to compensate for the extra power draw from a pump? 

 

This little SLI debacle has been a headache and a half and cost me 10x more than I ever wanted to spend. I guess if I would have just purchased a new graphics card in the first place I would have saved myself a lot of frustration. Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. At least it keeps me busy. 

[Whaler_99]

What pump do you have in mind?

 

If you are getting a 12V laing variant, then about 24 watts, the 24V one can draw up to 33 watts.

 

Don't forget, when adding some res, you need some good SP based fans, which will also draw a bit.

 

Now, short of using a kill-o-watt to accurately know what your current draw is, it is kind of hard to know if 33 watts will push you over the edge. In theory, with a good 650 PSU, it should be able to accommodate...