SLI POWER SUPPLY

Hello, this is my first post to this newsgroup, I just picked up an
Gigabyte K8N Motherboard with SLI Capabilties. Is it necessay to purchase a
SLI specific power supply if you do not have another Video Card?

Thanks for all that respond!

On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:57:32 -0500, MR G <BangGO.net> wrote:

>Hello, this is my first post to this newsgroup, I just picked up an
>Gigabyte K8N Motherboard with SLI Capabilties. Is it necessay to purchase a
>SLI specific power supply if you do not have another Video Card?
>
>Thanks for all that respond!


No

MR G wrote:
> Hello, this is my first post to this newsgroup, I just picked up an
> Gigabyte K8N Motherboard with SLI Capabilties. Is it necessay to purchase a
> SLI specific power supply if you do not have another Video Card?
>
> Thanks for all that respond!
>
AIUI the visible external difference between an SLI-capable PS and a
regular one is the fact that the former has two of the external power
connectors to feed two graphics cards. If you have only one graphics
card you need only one of that flavor of connector so an SLI supply
isn't needed. The invisible difference is that the SLI-capable supply is
able to provide much more power on the 12V lines, something like 30+
Amperes. Again, if your needs are less you don't absolutely need the
SLI-specific supply.

That said, if I was building a system that might, even under
currently-unimaginable conditions, be upgraded to SLI while I owned it
I'd bite the bullet during the initial build and use the beefier supply.
Too much power capacity can't hurt anything now and later you might be
glad to have it. The price difference doesn't seem that great when
factored into the cost of a build.

--
John McGaw
[Knoxville, TN, USA]
http://johnmcgaw.com

MR G wrote:
> Hello, this is my first post to this newsgroup, I just picked up an
> Gigabyte K8N Motherboard with SLI Capabilties. Is it necessay to purchase a
> SLI specific power supply if you do not have another Video Card?
>
> Thanks for all that respond!
>

You only *need* an SLi PSU if you plan to run 2 video cards in SLi
mode. If not it is not a necessity. My personal recommendation though is
to go ahead and get a good SLi capable PSU so it's there if you do
decide to do it. I don;t recommend skimping on power, I've seen a few
CPUs grenaded by cheap ones.

--
I used to have abs. Now, I've just got ab.
One big ol' Ab. - BigSkiff www.titanspot.com

Pyongyang sounds more like the sound effect an ACME catapult makes
as it goes off at precisely the wrong moment for Wile E. Coyote. -
Cadbury Moose