Is my PC good enough for Sapphire R9 270x 2GB GDDR5 TOXIC Boost?

Mattukr

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May 30, 2014
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Hi there!

I've recently purchased a new gaming PC. Cheap and budgeted. I have a few questions would really appreciate any help, as I'm pretty new to all of this advanced stuff.

I'm looking to buy the Sapphire Radeon Toxic R9 270x, 2GB GDDR5



Firstly, here is my pc specs:

Processor AMD Athlon II X4 750K
Processor Cores Quad Core
Processor Speed 3.40 GHz
Processor Turbo 4.00 GHz
Graphics Specifications
Graphics Card AMD Radeon R7 240
Graphics Memory 2GB DDR3

Drive Specifications
Hard Drive 1TB SATA3 6Gbps
Optical Drive 24x DVD/CD Rewriter

Networking
Wired LAN 10/100/1000 Mbps LAN

Other Specifications
Operating System Windows 8 64bit
Video Outputs VGA/DVI, HDMI
Memory 8GB
Power Supply 500W
Case CiT Venom Mesh Gaming Case with Blue LED Fan
Motherboard Gigabyte F2A55M-HD2
- HD Audio
- 1x PCI Express x16, 1x PCI Express x1, 1x PCI
- 4x back USB 2.0 ports, 2x front USB 2.0 ports

From my gaming experiences so far, I've kinda been disappointed with the graphics display, I know it's super cheap. So I'm looking to buy a new one. Now all I really need to know is:

a) is my computer good enough to get good performance
b) is this compatible with my setup current if I just switch out the graphics card and put this one in?

Thanks so much in advanced for any replies!! :)
 
Solution
Check out this tomshardware article, it may be a great help for ya:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-budget-amd-pc,3807.html (especially the graphic card part)

R9-270X is fine by now only if your PSU supports it. But according to that article R7-260X best fit this CPU (meaning there's not bottlenecking between the CPU and GPU), I would suggest R9-270 as it only needs ONE 6-pin PCI power conductor while R9-270X needs two.

@mickypheonix, what do you mean "The Radeon R9-270X requires 24A on the +12v rail"? If 24A is just for R9-270X it's too much since the 270X has only 170W TDP, [strike]assuming the PSU efficiency is 80%[/strike] the max current it draws is 170W/12V=14.7A=>15A. 24A is probably for R9-280/280X or something else...

Mattukr

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May 30, 2014
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Hi Micky,

I'm not entirely sure actually I'll check it when I get home, never actually opened the case (i bought it premade from a company).

Thanks for the quick reply though I'll try find out and let you know this evening when I'm home.

Cheers,
Matt
 

Maxime506

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Apr 22, 2013
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Check out this tomshardware article, it may be a great help for ya:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/build-your-own-budget-amd-pc,3807.html (especially the graphic card part)

R9-270X is fine by now only if your PSU supports it. But according to that article R7-260X best fit this CPU (meaning there's not bottlenecking between the CPU and GPU), I would suggest R9-270 as it only needs ONE 6-pin PCI power conductor while R9-270X needs two.

@mickypheonix, what do you mean "The Radeon R9-270X requires 24A on the +12v rail"? If 24A is just for R9-270X it's too much since the 270X has only 170W TDP, [strike]assuming the PSU efficiency is 80%[/strike] the max current it draws is 170W/12V=14.7A=>15A. 24A is probably for R9-280/280X or something else, if 24A is for all that will be too sparse as the TDP of CPU and GPU combined will be 270W, and 12*24A=288W, [strike]but as the power efficiency couldn't be 100% it would be dangerous.
[/strike] But are there only the CPU and GPU who use that 12V rail?
For OP, I know the Corsair 430W PSU has 32A output on 12V rail, but it only supports gfx up to 150W (though u could choose 4pin ATX to 6pin convert option but it's not recommended). So if your PSU's total current on 12V rail is less than 32A, you are totally out of game.
BTW thanks @Someone Somewhere correcting my mistake, I build my rig based on that so I may wasted some money on that. But anyway leaving some room for the rig is better than squeezing everything out.
 
Solution

Mattukr

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May 30, 2014
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Wow ok, thanks so much Maxime, that article is perfect for helping me out. I really appreciate the answer! I'll read through that guide and get a better understanding.

Cheers,
Matt