Overpowering PSU by 2%...dumb question

[SirEvan]

I've gotten into *coin mining lately, and have started building a system to handle 6 GPU's.   I had bought a single EVGA 1000 G2  PSU to run 3 AMD R9 280x cards, plus a dual core amd processor, and was bumping around 850-940 watts average.   I have since bought 6 R9 290's, and am waiting on parts to build an open frame case for the rig.  In the meantime, I've swapped the 3  280x's for 3 290's,  but now I look at my kill-o-watt meter, and it's showing around 999-1020 watts.    This is going to be dumb, as I already know that drawing more wattage than the PSU is rated for will shorten it's life, possibly cause shutdown/reboots, or burn up the PSU and/or the components in the computer.  

 

Question is though, since I've ordered 2x 1300w psu's to power all 6, will running the three cards at possibly 2% more power than the PSU is rated for be ok for say, a week or so?  I know EVGA is probably a lot better with their builds than some of the chinese brands, but I really don't want to shut down mining operations for a week while I wait on larger power supplies to come in.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

The sustained load to your PC is less than what you see at the wall because PSUs are not 100% efficient. What this means is that if you are seeing 1020W pulled at the wall that you have a load of around ~816W on the PSU since it is 80 Plus rated. You would see around ~1250W at the wall if you were hitting 1000W loads. So based off of that you should be fine.

 

Note: I would take the exact numbers with a grain of salt because of variation on the efficiency, etc. But, the fact still stands that you should be somewhere around 150-200W away from the max load your PSU can output.

[+John Teacake MVC]

I hope you havent bought all that just for BitCoin! You are wasting your time now with the hashing rates. You would be far better off investing in some FGPA or ASIC Hardware. Good Luck though! Your going to need it ... 

[SirEvan]

I hope you havent bought all that just for BitCoin! You are wasting your time now with the hashing rates. You would be far better off investing in some FGPA or ASIC Hardware. Good Luck though! Your going to need it ... 

NAh not bitcoin,  Scrypt mining.  I've already made ~1 BTC off it in around a month, (mining + gambling on dice sites), Bitcoin is WAAAAY too difficult to be profitable, SCRYPT mining is the only profitable thing now :)  I'm waiting for aluminum tubing to come in to build an open frame for the cards (6 r9 290's), after which I'll probably ramp up to another 6 card rig (when the price gouging comes down.

 

 

The sustained load to your PC is less than what you see at the wall because PSUs are not 100% efficient. What this means is that if you are seeing 1020W pulled at the wall that you have a load of around ~816W on the PSU since it is 80 Plus rated. You would see around ~1250W at the wall if you were hitting 1000W loads. So based off of that you should be fine.

 

Note: I would take the exact numbers with a grain of salt because of variation on the efficiency, etc. But, the fact still stands that you should be somewhere around 150-200W away from the max load your PSU can output.

oh duh. lol that's right ,well the evga unit is a gold unit, so it's 87% efficient at 100%, so you're right.  Duh. thanks for fixing my (as stated) dumb question :)

this was the psu I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438010, so looks like i can cancel my RMA, since I should be within spec.

[snaphat (Myles Landwehr) Member]

oh duh. lol that's right ,well the evga unit is a gold unit, so it's 87% efficient at 100%, so you're right.  Duh. thanks for fixing my (as stated) dumb question :)

this was the psu I bought: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817438010, so looks like i can cancel my RMA, since I should be within spec.

 

Yeah you should be within spec

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

what motherboard supports 6 graphics cards? :huh:

[He's Dead Jim]

what motherboard supports 6 graphics cards? :huh:

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2064502/crazy-asrock-motherboards-support-6-graphics-cards-for-hardcore-bitcoin-mining.html