Running graphic cards on seperate power supplies.

[S13FX]

Ok,So recently I put together a computer since parts were a dime a dozen.

Specs are. Biostar mobo with 4 gigs of ram expendable to 16 gigs AMD 790gx+ chips set (cross fire ready) AMD Trip Core cpu 500Watt OCZ power supply have a couple laying around the house.

And full water cooling system.

My questions is as follows. For this system I only purchased one

Visiontek ATI HD4670 card (running at 16x) right now.

And didn't realize that Id would have money for a second card so soon.

So here in lies my question instead of me going out and buying a 1000watt power supply, could I just use one of the extra 500watt power supplies I have laying around and just run both my graphics cards off of that?

Or would that not be enough?

[audtatious]

How would that even work or be controllable?

[Hijacker]

It's easy to run two PSUs. you just have to connect the ATX plug of the secondary to the on circuit of the primary's ATX plug. It's a simple power and ground circuit.

As far as if that 1000W PSU enough power supply, I would say yes. I'm running a 9950 quad core, an Asus 790FX chipset, and 2 HD4870s off of one 1350W PSU right now with no issues.

[S13FX]

So basically two cards wont drain the single 500watt if thats its only purpose right.

[Looneybomber]

So basically two cards wont drain the single 500watt if thats its only purpose right.

Well, PSU's have a rated wattage based on the total output of the 3v, 5v, and 12v outputs....But you should still be just fine. I'm sure your PSU can put out 425-450w to the 12v rails and I doubt those cards will pull 200w.

I can tell you I'm running a Phenom 9950, OC'd to 3ghz, and a single 4870, OC'd just a tiny bit. My PSU is rated for 625w and I have yet to see my fan speed hit 600rpms. As you can see from the picture, I'm not exceeding 60% of my PSU's capacity.

[drftsil8ty]

if your running two cards on a 500watt ps your going to the ps in about 6 months or sooner. plus your computer wont be able to run at max performence. just buy one 800watt ps and make your life easy...