Re: New rig problem: direct pcie 16x connection is slower than 1x riser
Holy crap, I just measured the rig at 1100 watts total with my new meter! Each card is drawing roughly 320 watts, so you're right on the mark. I've been pushing that corsair 850W supply pretty hard... I'm actually amazed it has worked this well. Surprisingly, the supply feels cool to the touch and the fan is barely spinning. Might be time for a higher-wattage supply or some other setup to split the load.
Yeah these cards draw a surprising amount of current. I have 4 in each rig, 3 cards and the mobo hooked up to a 1300 Watt PSU and the 4th card hooked up to a 600 Watt. PSUs actually run more efficient when they are not pushed to the max. I ran a voltage monitor to test things out, and the PSU is actually doing a surprisingly good job even at 1100 watts:
http://i.imgur.com/B5dpY3O.png
The slight dip in the voltage chart is when I started the mining, but it's holding 11.928 V on the 12 V line under this crazy load (the vertical bar is the "cursor" where the voltage is displayed, not a giant outlier spike). There is a slight ripple in the 3.3 V, maybe caused by pci-e bus use... maybe my second powered 1x riser will reduce this.