2x 7870's on a Corsair VS650w PSU

[Kobz360]

Hey guys. 

 

Now, I'm definitely not doing this now, but for the near future, do you guys reckon I would be able to run 2 7870's off a Corsair VS650? Now AMD recommends min. 600W, but lets be honest, it's always best to ask on here as well. If it'll be pushing it, I'll probably just save the money off getting the PSU as well and just buy a single R9 290 which are $499 here when I've got the money. 

 

*Btw I wasn't sure to put this in PSU's or Graphics Cards, but I guess here was more appropriate*

[Kuzma]

you should be fine unless your CPU is pulling 200W?

[alexyush]

you should be fine, but not sure if you could overclock it like kray kray.. But you should b ight...

[JoshM]

It would work but, i would run a 750w instead, it will be quieter, won't be constantly under stress and give you room for OCing etc 

[alexyush]

get the 780 instead, its cooler and much more quieter and it dropped in price.. Ooo and this is in the near future, so the 780 will b much more cheeper ... 

[TechFan@ic]

You could but I do not recommend it.

The R9 290 is simply a better solution at this point, you get the same amount of GCN cores but because all of those cores are on a single chip you do not lose performance on multi-GPU scaling.
The card also has twice the amount of VRAM & you get a significantly improved architecture that handles physics calculations much better (this is going to really show its benefits with Mantle) & has significantly higher memory bandwidth at its disposal.

So I'd personally recommend selling your 7870 and grabbing an aftermarket cooled 290 when those start coming out.

A 290 & an FX 8320 power requirements come out to about 450-470W so you would still have room to overclock.
 

[alexyush]

It would work but, i would run a 750w instead, it will be quieter, won't be constantly under stress and give you room for OCing etc 

Yep i second that plus i know you would wanna OC the cards, so that might b a problem as well. With the power supply being only 650watts...

[Kobz360]

get the 780 instead, its cooler and much more quieter and it dropped in price.. Ooo and this is in the near future, so the 780 will b much more cheeper ... 

I hope so, at the moment 780 over here is $600, 280X is $380, 290 is $500 and 290X is $650. 

[Kobz360]

You could but I do not recommend it.

The R9 290 is simply a better solution at this point, you get the same amount of GCN cores but because all of those cores are on a single chip you do not lose performance on multi-GPU scaling.

The card also has twice the amount of VRAM & you get a significantly improved architecture that handles physics calculations much better (this is going to really show its benefits with Mantle) & has significantly higher memory bandwidth at its disposal.

So I'd personally recommend selling your 7870 and grabbing an aftermarket cooled 290 when those start coming out.

A 290 & an FX 8320 power requirements come out to about 450-470W so you would still have room to overclock.

 

It's something I'm really considering. I mean XFire is cool and all but I'd really like to get a 290 or a high end card for once and then leave me some room for crossfire later. CrossFiring a 7870 at this point may be irrelevant. 

[TechFan@ic]

It's something I'm really considering. I mean XFire is cool and all but I'd really like to get a 290 or a high end card for once and then leave me some room for crossfire later. CrossFiring a 7870 at this point may be irrelevant. 

I've only just bought a 7970 four months ago & I'm already considering an R9 290, just waiting for non-reference cards.

[Kobz360]

I've only just bought a 7970 four months ago & I'm already considering an R9 290, just waiting for non-reference cards.

mmmm dem aftermarket coolers should in theory, unleash the beasts in those cards. I mean Linus' Reference OC 290 was a monster. 

[Jumper118]

you should be fine unless your CPU is pulling 200W?

Its an amd8 core so itcould be if its got a decent oc on it.

[Gunjob]

Previous owner of 7870CFX with a 650watt PSU and heavily overclocked 3570K you're totally fine. 

[Najuno]

I would also recommend a R9 290 with an after market cooler. Just wait a couple of weeks and you'll be fine.

 

Linus sample was great and it shows that these AMD chips have great potential... unfortunately not with the stock cooler. They really should have started right away from the release of the card with the board partners and just release a small amount of reference cards for benchmark sites and watercooling solutions