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R9 270X and Second Monitor or R9 280X?

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  • Graphics Cards
  • Monitors
  • Components
Last response: in Components
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May 26, 2014 11:49:39 AM

Hi! I have a really quick question. I recently sold my MSI 7850 2GB Graphics card and I'm looking to get Anne graphics card. I have two options to go with:
1) Get R9 270X and get a second 1080 Monitor
2) Get only a R9 280X right now

Which one should you suggest? Also, I only have a corsair 500 watt power supply, so if I did get only the 280X would my PSU be able to run it? Thanks for any help in advance!!

More about : 270x monitor 280x

a c 342 U Graphics card
a b C Monitor
May 26, 2014 2:58:14 PM

First, does the Corsair PSU have a 2nd 6/8 pin connector for the new card? Normally, a 500W PSU is marginal for a card of the 280/280x class. Not much headroom left.

As to the choice, what CPU does the card have to work with?
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May 26, 2014 3:07:57 PM

clutchc said:
First, does the Corsair PSU have a 2nd 6/8 pin connector for the new card? Normally, a 500W PSU is marginal for a card of the 280/280x class. Not much headroom left.

As to the choice, what CPU does the card have to work with?


I do have a 2nd 6/8 connector. The GPU would be running alongside an AMD FX-8320. Thanks for your help.
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May 26, 2014 3:08:15 PM

clutchc said:
First, does the Corsair PSU have a 2nd 6/8 pin connector for the new card? Normally, a 500W PSU is marginal for a card of the 280/280x class. Not much headroom left.

As to the choice, what CPU does the card have to work with?


I do have a 2nd 6/8 connector. The GPU would be running alongside an AMD FX-8320. Thanks for your help.
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a c 342 U Graphics card
a b C Monitor
May 26, 2014 3:19:16 PM

Then you can easily use the 280X. That would be the wisest choice if you can live w/o the 2nd monitor for awhile longer. Which Corsair 500W do you have, the CX?
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May 26, 2014 3:59:57 PM

clutchc said:
Then you can easily use the 280X. That would be the wisest choice if you can live w/o the 2nd monitor for awhile longer. Which Corsair 500W do you have, the CX?


Yep, I have the CX 500W semi-modular type.
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May 26, 2014 4:01:02 PM

clutchc said:
Then you can easily use the 280X. That would be the wisest choice if you can live w/o the 2nd monitor for awhile longer. Which Corsair 500W do you have, the CX?


Yep, I have the CX 500W semi-modular type.
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May 26, 2014 4:01:17 PM

clutchc said:
Then you can easily use the 280X. That would be the wisest choice if you can live w/o the 2nd monitor for awhile longer. Which Corsair 500W do you have, the CX?


Yep, I have the CX 500W semi-modular type.
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a c 342 U Graphics card
a b C Monitor
May 26, 2014 5:25:32 PM

I was afraid of that. The CX is Corsair's 'value' line of PSUs. It only has a 38A (456W) +12V rail. And it is not know for having the best capacitors. It will probably handle the 280X for awhile. But it will be at its extreme end of capacity doing so. Here is a 280x tested that demanded 290W running Metro2033 and 360W running Furmark. That's 24A for the game and 30A for Furmark. Plus, your FX-8320 is a 125W (10.4A) processor at stock speed. If it was me, I'd upgrade the PSU before I went with the 280X.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-r...

The problems you may see range from simply poor performance to shutdowns and re-boots as the PSU gets over loaded. And of course, you always face the possibility of the PSU failing catastrophically.
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May 26, 2014 5:30:22 PM

clutchc said:
I was afraid of that. The CX is Corsair's 'value' line of PSUs. It only has a 38A (456W) +12V rail. And it is not know for having the best capacitors. It will probably handle the 280X for awhile. But it will be at its extreme end of capacity doing so. Here is a 280x tested that demanded 290W running Metro2033 and 360W running Furmark. That's 24A for the game and 30A for Furmark. Plus, your FX-8320 is a 125W (10.4A) processor at stock speed. If it was me, I'd upgrade the PSU before I went with the 280X.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-r...

The problems you may see range from simply poor performance to shutdowns and re-boots as the PSU gets over loaded.


Damn, would the GTX 760 also require a bigger PSU? That's another option I'm looking at.

Thanks for your help again though.
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May 26, 2014 5:30:38 PM

clutchc said:
I was afraid of that. The CX is Corsair's 'value' line of PSUs. It only has a 38A (456W) +12V rail. And it is not know for having the best capacitors. It will probably handle the 280X for awhile. But it will be at its extreme end of capacity doing so. Here is a 280x tested that demanded 290W running Metro2033 and 360W running Furmark. That's 24A for the game and 30A for Furmark. Plus, your FX-8320 is a 125W (10.4A) processor at stock speed. If it was me, I'd upgrade the PSU before I went with the 280X.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-r...

The problems you may see range from simply poor performance to shutdowns and re-boots as the PSU gets over loaded.


Damn, would the GTX 760 also require a bigger PSU? That's another option I'm looking at.

Thanks for your help again though.
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a b U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 5:44:19 PM

basketball762 said:
clutchc said:
I was afraid of that. The CX is Corsair's 'value' line of PSUs. It only has a 38A (456W) +12V rail. And it is not know for having the best capacitors. It will probably handle the 280X for awhile. But it will be at its extreme end of capacity doing so. Here is a 280x tested that demanded 290W running Metro2033 and 360W running Furmark. That's 24A for the game and 30A for Furmark. Plus, your FX-8320 is a 125W (10.4A) processor at stock speed. If it was me, I'd upgrade the PSU before I went with the 280X.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7400/the-radeon-r9-280x-r...

The problems you may see range from simply poor performance to shutdowns and re-boots as the PSU gets over loaded.


Damn, would the GTX 760 also require a bigger PSU? That's another option I'm looking at.

Thanks for your help again though.


AH . .unfortunately clutchc missed a few things. first of all the test setup is an ivy bridge-E setup that is overclocked so its overall power consumption would be similar to greater than your setup. (depending what voltage/overclocking you have on the cpu).

also those measurements are taken from the wall, so PSU efficiency wasn't taken into account. its likely to be 90% or less than what is being drawn from the wall. so as the power draw is 290 to 311 its likely to actually be 261 to 281.

edit: furmark puts an unrealistic load on the gpu - it will NEVER come close in real world usage.

a CX500 can handle a 60% load no problem. (not ALL of that is 12 volt rail . . .)
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a b U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 5:45:42 PM

270x and new power supply. Could probably overclock the 270x.

I bought a bunch of high power power supplies but I am too cheap to shell out $200 or $300 for a video card. So I am waiting a couple years for the 270 and 280 to drop to around $100.

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a c 342 U Graphics card
a b C Monitor
May 26, 2014 6:19:51 PM

From the above article:
"One of the advantages of our new testbed is that IVB-E and the testbed as a whole draw a lot less power under load and idle. This makes it easier to isolate video card power consumption from the rest of the system, giving us more meaningful results."

But I did overlook the fact that the load was measured on the primary side of the PSU where we have to take power factor into consideration. In fact, I still don't find that stated in the article, but no doubt that is how it was measured.
I didn't think the IVB-E @ 4.2GHZ would be all that out of line with its 4.0 turbo speed since I'm sure all cores would not have been in full use anyway. Nevertheless, point taken.
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a b U Graphics card
May 26, 2014 6:34:16 PM

ya know i read that and thought "draws less power compared to what?" :heink: 

and i'll admit that i would like to see the OP get the best card possible but IF they are OCing, which does increase power up to an additional ~60 watts for a vishera, that CX500 will not be fond of it.

so if i may amend my recommendation:

stock clocks - ok

overclocking - get a better PSU.
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