Supplemental psu for videocards

[Beomagi]

http://www.home2000.net/client/fspgroupusacom/proddetail.asp?linenumber=230

Kinda neat - could be a godsend to people wanting a nice new power hog, but lacking enough power.
May also work well as supplemental power for alternative stuff - raid arrays, pumps, coolers etc.

Little pricey imo though
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817104019
$90 on the egg.

[Arcmanov]

I think a 600-watt, dual-rail power-supply might be just as good yes.  If it was supplying additional 4-pin outputs, then it woulda make more sense.

Still a good idea though.

[richjob]

I have a power supply thread I just put up.  We could discuss it there.

You shouyldn't NEED another power supply if you buy a good one in the first place.

Spend the $$$ and buy good one time.

[W1nTry]

Not bad at all. It does raise the question of having more than 1 point of failure as in the other thread, the PSU has come under fire many times as a prime suspect when things go awry. However the questions I ask is, what happens should this supplimental PSU fail while you're running SLI or Xfire? will your cards then overload your PCIe capabilities? will the whole machine shutdown instantly? what exactly controls its on and off functions? is it syncronous with the normal PSU? so that when I power up the machine it powers up as well? and down accordingly? these are all important questions, although the APF is a great feature and honestly as a whole it could be alot more affordable than a single 6-800W PSU, rem the APF part.

[Arcmanov]

^^^^^There is actually a 4-pin molex to plug into your main system PSU, so I guess it would 'glean' sync info through that

[W1nTry]

^^^^^There is actually a 4-pin molex to plug into your main system PSU, so I guess it would 'glean' sync info through that

Interesting... although there is also a what appears as ~ 10-12 pin connector and from the newegg pics it has the CPU square 4 pin connector and some others I couldn't make out. I was thinking the 4 pin molex as the power out to the vid cards and that other conenctor the monitor (read 'glean') connector.

[TrinireturnofGamez]

 looks nice... but i'd rather have ONE 600 watt psu.. if you look at bench sites the real power consumption of those systems with SLI/Crossfire are like 400 watts max... Add a little for capacitor aging and voltage spikes a 450 watt true power will hold you good... 

[W1nTry]

Well I not too sure about that yuh know trini. There are other things to consider in these PSUs than I think most ppl realise. The cooling of the PSU, active/passive PFC, detachable connectors, overload/overvoltage protection, effeciency and the absolute maximum power or sustainable power. Alot of ppl see 500W and thing great, 500W normal, when in fact that may refer to 350-400W running 500 peak at x # of hours etc. Also that overvoltage/overload is a real necessity in T&T with T&T and all. PFC also is desirable to be active. The size of the cooling solution will affect the air flow in ur case and/or its ability to dissipate all the heat generated by teh PSU. The size will also affect the noise levels. I honest would cosider having dual psu vs. single LARGE. As it stands I just last night came to the sad realization that my thermaltake 480W was unable to power my 4400+ and it's by NO means low on specs... I think it's just getting on in age, but still I trust it over the 550W generic that I have my rig on temporarily. I've seen MANY rigs need over 400W, far less for SLI and Xfire rigs. This dual PSU is a good idea imho.