gpu power supply question

[dragon]

I am buying two GPU and it says 600 watts for the GPU but since I am going to use 2 of them do I need 1200w?

[AMX]

What exactly does it say?
Is 600W the actual power consumption of the GPU?

If you have two GPUs consuming 600W each, you need a 1200W PSU just to feed them, with no capacity left for the rest of the system.

[TronPaul]

More likely that's the recommended wattage including a normal mid gaming/graphics rig. There are a couple of wattage calculators (this and this for examples) if you hit up the google. Most likely you'll need one or two 6 pin power connectors per card. My 700 watt PSU can handle a 780 and a 560 with a beefy i7. I'd recommend a PSU with 700-800 watts for dual video cards.

[DaveJB]

You need to look at the connectors the PSU has to offer. If it has two 8-pin (or "6+2 pin") and two 6-pin connectors, and isn't some cheap, crappy brand, it'll almost certainly be powerful enough for your needs.

[Starglider]

I am buying two GPU and it says 600 watts for the GPU but since I am going to use 2 of them do I need 1200w?

No GPU uses 600 Watts. The most powerful currently available card, the Radeon 295X2, has a max TDP of 450W in 'Uber mode'. Normal GPUs are in fact limited to 250W max by the electrical specifications of the PCI-E slot. Assuming you do not have a monster dual-Xeon workstation 800W will almost certainly suffice. I have dual-linked 1200W PSUs in some of my PCs but that's because they have 8 GPUs and 2 CPUs each, all overclocked.

[Borgholio]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/rad ... 50-29.html

They measured power draw at a peak of 290w for the Radeon R9 290x. Thing is insane.

[DaveJB]

Remember when they introduced the dedicated 75W connector back when PCI-Express was brought in ten years ago, and proudly proclaimed it (along with the ~50W available through the slot) should serve the needs of any graphics card for the foreseeable future? How naive we were...