Hello, would first of all like to point out this is my first time on the forums, and pretty much any forum, save a few. Also am sorry if this was posted before, as I'm sure it was but I would like an answer specific for me My system is as follows: i5 2500k @ 4.5 Ghz stable OC. 4GB Corsair XMS3 1600 1.5v MSI Cyclone GTX 460 1GB Factory OC Corsair TX650V2 MSI P67A-GD53 And if it matters I have a 1tb HDD and a wifi card. So basically, with my current system, would I have room for another GTX 460 to SLI with my current PSU? My current PSU only has two 6 pin PCIE connectors, so are molex converters ok to use in SLI? I do not plan on overclocking my CPU any more, and I don't know how much power an SSD uses, but I was planning on adding a 60gb in the future, and possibly going to 8GB RAM. In case you were wondering, this is mainly so I can play BF3. Would be very grateful if anyone could help me out, thanks. P.S Sorry for the wall of text.
Welcome to the forum 650W is plenty, but you will need 4x spare molex connectors for the extra two 6-pin PCI-E connectors. By way of reference, my system is more power hungry than yours and with a single GTX460 1GB it draws "only" 365 watts during furmark, which is known to be an unrealistically strenuous test.
Yes but wait for BF3 to come out, try it with the 460 and see how it goes...you may find that the upgrade is not warranted..too many people are panic buying/upgrading before the game is actually out it could even be a flop thought doubtful..just wait first before spending another £100-140 on something you may not need just yet....especially if you have a smaller screen..
Given that you'd need 4 spare molex connectors as LennyRhys said I would err on the side of caution. You're probably going to have 2 molexes running from the same cable, maybe more which means you'll be negating the use of 4 molexes rather than 2. A lot of power down lower gauge wiring. Having said all that, corsair make really good PSUs so it'll more than likely not bother it.
Ok, thanks for the answers, so I just had a quick check and the PSU has 10 molex I believe, two of which are in use (CCs and case light) All my fans are connected up to my motherboard, so I guess this means it's more stable to use the converters? Also, is it any better to have one of the native 6 pins in each card, then only one converted to each as well? I'm trying BF3 tomorrow, but I'm also doing this for the ability of Nvidia Surround.
damnit fingers, how am i supposed to get my post count up if you keep finishing off threads... the single 460 will play bf3, but looks like you will need heavier gunfire than a 460 can muster if you want ultra...food for thought
Just a small footnote; overclocking my GTX 460 to 810MHz on the core in SLI allows games to run so much more smoothly, so it's worth putting the effort in to see how far you can overclock each card individually to find a happy medium for an SLI overclock.
The GTX460 and GTX470 are quite far apart in performance but with a core speed of roughly 875MHz the 460 is equal to a stock 470 (tested extensively on my system before I sold the 470). That was my main reason for changing to a 460, since I always ran the 470 at stock; the 470 cost me £180, the 460 cost £65 lol.
