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Bridging two 500w passive power supplies?

2K views 22 replies 12 participants last post by  pioneerisloud 
#1 ·
So. I have a Corsair AX850 in an otherwise dead silent case.

The power supply makes a low volume fuzzy/hiss noise. Not like a beep. Staticy. Basically I RMA'd the PSU and the replacement does the same thing.

What a joke.

So. Is it possible to bridge two of these:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=308&area=

For 1000 watts?
 
#2 ·
no problem

http://www.speedy3d.com/articles/case_mod_p3/index.shtml

the article is old but it still applies, psu's havent changed much over the years

and yes you can get for example get one p6 connector from one psu and other from the other one into the same video card or whatever configuration you like, personally i dont run 2 full featured psus but have been using a 300w boosterx dedicated 12v psu in combination with my main psu's for years
 
#4 ·
#5 ·
#6 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by FEAST View Post

So. I have a Corsair AX850 in an otherwise dead silent case.

The power supply makes a low volume fuzzy/hiss noise. Not like a beep. Staticy. Basically I RMA'd the PSU and the replacement does the same thing.

What a joke.

So. Is it possible to bridge two of these:

http://www.silverstonetek.com/product.php?pid=308&area=

For 1000 watts?
You could, but its not recommended. Its usually better to use a single PSU.

Why do you need 1000w anyway? Your 6870 crossfire setup would work flawlessly off just one of those PSU's.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by pioneerisloud View Post

You could, but its not recommended. Its usually better to use a single PSU.
Why do you need 1000w anyway? Your 6870 crossfire setup would work flawlessly off just one of those PSU's.
Not doing crossfire >> quad monitors.

Also, even with my overclock, 4 drives, and some pci hardware in the mix? That seems like a lot to run off of 500w?
 
#8 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by FEAST View Post

Well I'm not doing crossfire, I'm doing quad monitors.
Also, even with my overclock, 4 drives, and some pci hardware in the mix? That seems like a lot to run off of 500w?
Monitors aren't powered off of the power supply
wth.gif


and 4 drives, and misc PCI hardware don't add much power usage.
 
#10 ·
The goal here is combining the 12V rails? I read the bridging guide (the one at the beginning of the thread) but I still wonder, will bridging like this make it safe to pull more amps off one of the power supplies 12V rails than originaly rated? If it did not I cannot see a benifit to bridging over a single power supply.Can someone construct a scenario (complete with components selected and how they are plugged in)to make bridging the way to go? I just don't see a clear advantage yet,perhaps a emergency "get me through this" solution I can understand,but not a dedicated first decision method.
 
#12 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by FEAST View Post

Yes but the GPU's have to work harder.
doh.gif
even if you just use one monitor with your cards, the power requirements will still be the same. it's not like your gpu will gonna be twice more powerful when you connected two monitors, or even 4.

furmark the cards with one monitor = 1x power consumption
furmark the cards with four monitors = 1x power consumption
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by ghostrider85 View Post

doh.gif
even if you just use one monitor with your cards, the power requirements will still be the same. it's not like your gpu will gonna be twice more powerful when you connected two monitors, or even 4.
furmark the cards with one monitor = 1x power consumption
furmark the cards with four monitors = 1x power consumption
Yes but who runs furmark while using cpu power. Having multiple monitors on a card will put the memory clocks 10x higher and the core 3x higher at idle. So when I am stressing my cpu I will be using more power overall. Nobody every maxes their power consumption. But you do have a point the power will be similar under GPU load - which is never - for me.
 
#14 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by FEAST View Post

Yes but who runs furmark while using cpu power. Having multiple monitors on a card will put the memory clocks 10x higher and the core 3x higher at idle. So when I am stressing my cpu I will be using more power overall. Nobody every maxes their power consumption. But you do have a point the power will be similar under GPU load - which is never - for me.
the point is, if your power supply can provide enough power for the cards at full load using only one monitor, your power supply can also do that even if you use multiple monitors.

the full load of a gpu using a single monitor = the full load of a gpu using multi monitors
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by FEAST View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by pioneerisloud View Post

You could, but its not recommended. Its usually better to use a single PSU.
Why do you need 1000w anyway? Your 6870 crossfire setup would work flawlessly off just one of those PSU's.
Not doing crossfire >> quad monitors.

Also, even with my overclock, 4 drives, and some pci hardware in the mix? That seems like a lot to run off of 500w?
Yes even then a good quality 500w is more than sufficient for your system. I can run GTX 580 SLI off my 650w. If I can do that, you can run HD6870 crossfire off a good quality 500w without worry.
 
#16 ·
#17 ·
A single good 500W unit is plenty for 6870 CFX, though I'd suggest getting a better unit that te NIghtjar 500... the Kingwin Stryker is cheaper and easily the best passive PSU on the market.
 
#18 ·
I dumped as close to your system as I could approximate (guess) here: http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

With OC'd CPU at 4.7, 2 6870s, 4 HDDs, 1SSD, 4 modules RAM, an optical drive, a few PCI-E cards, 4 case fans, 100% load on all components, it estimates ~730w power draw from your PSU. A single 850w PSU would suffice, but if you're fully loading everything at the same time (unlikely since you're not crossfiring--assuming only one card load at a time it would be ~625w full load).

You can probably better-approximate your system than I could, since I was just guessing.

Personally, I wouldn't chance bridging two 500w PSUs when a single slightly higher PSU (than 500w) would suffice.
 
#19 ·
#21 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by guyladouche View Post

I dumped as close to your system as I could approximate (guess) here: http://extreme.outervision.com/PSUEngine

With OC'd CPU at 4.7, 2 6870s, 4 HDDs, 1SSD, 4 modules RAM, an optical drive, a few PCI-E cards, 4 case fans, 100% load on all components, it estimates ~730w power draw from your PSU. A single 850w PSU would suffice, but if you're fully loading everything at the same time (unlikely since you're not crossfiring--assuming only one card load at a time it would be ~625w full load).

You can probably better-approximate your system than I could, since I was just guessing.

Personally, I wouldn't chance bridging two 500w PSUs when a single slightly higher PSU (than 500w) would suffice.
You should know better than that man.
wink.gif


Use this PSU Calculator, if you're going to use any at all:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1140534/psu-calc-final-release/0_50

His system, according to Phaedrus' calculator, needs a good quality 500w unit at most.
 
#22 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by pioneerisloud View Post

You should know better than that man.
wink.gif

Use this PSU Calculator, if you're going to use any at all:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1140534/psu-calc-final-release/0_50
His system, according to Phaedrus' calculator, needs a good quality 500w unit at most.
!! I didn't even know about this !!
wheee.gif


So I used that, entered pretty much the same info I put into the web-based calculator--agreed, with one card loaded, no need for more than a 500w PSU. What I don't understand is how it handles CPU overclock?

Thanks for mentioning the PSU calc.
 
#23 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by guyladouche View Post

Quote:
Originally Posted by pioneerisloud View Post

You should know better than that man.
wink.gif

Use this PSU Calculator, if you're going to use any at all:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1140534/psu-calc-final-release/0_50
His system, according to Phaedrus' calculator, needs a good quality 500w unit at most.
!! I didn't even know about this !!
wheee.gif


So I used that, entered pretty much the same info I put into the web-based calculator--agreed, with one card loaded, no need for more than a 500w PSU. What I don't understand is how it handles CPU overclock?

Thanks for mentioning the PSU calc.
Phaedrus' PSU calculator assumes high air overclocks already and gaming loads. There's a checkbox for F@H loads, and a checkbox for over 40% overclocks on the CPU (water).
 
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