Is it absolutely necessary to have a 1,000W power supply for this PC build?

Is it absolutely 100% imperative to have a 1,000W power supply for the following PC build?

*Core i7 7700K
*16GB DDR4 RAM
*ASUS Maximus IX Hero motherboard
*Two-way SLI Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 ASUS RoG/STRIX edition

I’m in the process of building this, one part at a time as soon as I can afford it, and I’ve been eyeing the Corsair AX 860 Platinum 860-watt power supply.

I read a lot of positive reviews about the unit.

I think 1000 watts would be overkill unless you plan to have a serious SLI setup in the machine (I’m talking 4-way or even 8-way). The reason why is because recent GPU generations from both Nvidia and AMD have gotten far more power efficient.

How do you set up 4 or 8 way sli. i didnt know there was a board that could support it. also . I didn’t think that sli was really the way to go . i thought that blender used multiple graphics cards better if they weren’t linked?

Should I be able to get away with using an 860W platinum-rated PSU?

the safest bet is to calculate the wattage under max load, then double if you plan on running max alot, or 1.5x if you it will be more casual.

PSU efficiency is probably more important then wattage. a really good 800 watt platinum could actually get you 1000 watts at peak efficiency.

research OEM’s, find out who actually designed unit, not just the guys who get to slap the sticker on it. EVGA, Corsair, etc each have 2 or so different OEM’s depending on the line.

There are web sites where you can do a theoretical build (like this one) and it’ll tell you the power requirements. One of the things you have to take into consideration is power supply fading (not sure it’s called that, but it gets the point across). Power supplies, over time, will weaken and output less and less power, so the PS that’s just enough today will be lacking a year from now. And if you plan on keeping your PS in harness for five years, by the end of the fourth year, it could very well be less than adequate.

The other thing that’s handy about using a power supply calculator like the one cited above is that it’ll prompt you for all the little things you may forget to include. Your best bet is to go through the process with more than one of these PSC sites and believe the results when at least two of them are close to the same recommendation. Then add a percentage based on how long you expect the PS to be in service, something in the range of 10% per year.

This would be my personal choice https://pcpartpicker.com/product/zhgPxr/evga-power-supply-220p20850x1. The AX860 is an older Model and relatively expensive now (the AX series had some issues at their and said to have high failure rates too).

Keep in mind that if you want the dual 1080’s for rendering, then you shouldn’t put them in sli configuration. Just placing the 2nd 1080 in the next free pcie slot would be enough. If you want them for gaming too, then sli has a meaning.

Not just for rendering, I also play games like GTA V, Fallout 4, Skyrim Special Edition, The Division, etc…

i heard sli is way more painful then its worth. one 1080 should be plenty for gaming.

but there should be a software switch to turn it off even with the bridge installed.

What’s your monitor, then? If we’re talking about 1080p, then 2x1080’s is a total waste of money. From 1440p and up it’s more meaningful. Keep in mind that, generally, it’s better to get one high-end gpu for gaming than two lower-end in sli (issues with drivers etc).

In your place I would start with a single 1080ti and add another one in the future, if this was necessary for rendering performance.

I can’t speak to your specifig rig, but in the past I’ve had a non-prime 750W PSU replaced by a prime brand 650W. The efficiency of the PSU (80+) will help.