Feb 19, 2018

What Size PSU Do You Need?


Calculating Correct PSU Capacity for Your Mining Rig

How do you determine how big of a Power Supply Unit (PSU) to buy for your mining rig? Believe it or not this is really easy. Every GPU has a "TDP" (Thermal Design Power - or think of it as "Total Drawn Power" if that's more intuitive). TDP is the standard maximum power draw of the GPU at 100% usage. The table shows the TDP for a single card.

  1. Use the table to add up the watts used for your cards;
  2. Add 150 W to that number to account for your other rig accessories (CPU, motherboard, RAM);
  3. Employ the 80% rule: multiple your number by 1.25 (or 5/4);
  4. That's it. That number is the minimum PSU capacity you should use!

Nvidia TDP
GTX Titan Z 375 W
GTX Titan X 250 W
GTX 1080ti 250 W
GTX 1080 180 W
GTX 1070ti 180 W
GTX 1070 150 W
GTX 1060 6GB 120 W
GTX 1060 3GB 120 W
GTX 1050ti 75 W
GTX 1050 75 W
GTX 980ti 250 W
GTX 980 165 W
GTX 970 145 W
GTX 960 120 W
GTX 780ti 250 W
GTX 780 250 W
GTX 750ti 60 W
AMD TDP
Vega 64 295 W
Vega 56 210 W
RX 580 185 W
RX 570 150 W
RX 560 75 W
RX 480 150 W
RX 470 120 W
RX 460 75 W
R9 Fury 275 W
R9 390x 275 W
R9 390 275 W
R9 380x 190 W
R9 380 190 W
R9 370x 180 W
R9 290 275 W
R9 280x 250 W
R9 280 200 W
Next step? Buying the right PSU:

Some Examples:

In case it helps.
- 6 1080ti Rig -
Each 1080ti runs at up to 250 W. You have six of them. 6 x 250 W = 1500 W. Add the 150 W of "extras" (CPU, RAM, etc) to get 1650 W. 80% rule: Multiply 1650 W by 1.25 and you have 2063 W needed. Obviously you'll need to run multiple Power Supply Units to get up to 2063 W.
- 8 1070 Rig -
The 1070 consumes 150 W each. Multiplied by 8 = 1200 W. Add 150 W for "extras" equals 1350 W. Multiply by 1.25 and you have 1688 W.
- 3 1060, 1 580 Rig -
1060's run at up to 120 W each. The 580 runs at up to 185 W. Add it all up to get 545 W. Add 150 W "extras" to get 695 W. Multiply by 1.25 equals 869 W.
- 2 Vega 56's, 2 Titan X Rig -
A Vega 56 is 210 W. A Titan X is 250 W. 2*210 + 2*250 = 920 W. Add 150 W for 1070 W. 80% rule gives 1338 W.
- 6 1050ti Rig -
1050ti TDP is 75 W. Multiplied by 6 cards is 450 W. Add 150 W, then 80% rule gives 750 W needed.