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PSU shopping help (I've been looking too long) (budget build)

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  • Power Supplies
  • Homebuilt
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July 1, 2014 11:46:46 PM

Earlier this year I built a computer pretty cheaply by scouting sales for like 2 months and using parts we had on hand. The basis of the build is "AMD based air cooled budget gaming system for under $800". Now the parts that I recycled from my previous rig are lacking the power I want.

PC Specs:
AMD A10 5800k CPU
EVO 212 Cooler
ASRock fm2a75 pro4 mobo
2x8GB Kingston HyperX 1600 DDR3
2x2GB G-skill 1600 DDR3
OCZ Vertex3 120GB SSD
WD 1TB HDD
GeForce GTX 275 (donation from brother)

The GPU and the power supply are on the chopping block. I am looking to go for a Dual 270x rig but I am seriously unsure about what kind of requirements I'm going to need to meet. I'm sure I need to have proper ventilation for these puppies. The things I'm not sure about is what should I be using to ventilate and power these cards. Any suggestions?

Edit: i just checked my motherboard specs and I think I am going to be mad

Please tell me that this "2 x PCI Express 2.0 x16 slots (PCIE2 @ x16 mode; PCIE4 @ x4 mode)" means that the mobo can run both pci slots at x16 mode

Because I first read it as the main one is x16 and the second will run at x4

More about : psu shopping long budget build

a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b U Graphics card
July 1, 2014 11:56:56 PM

For good quality at a good price, the XFX (any), Antec HCG, and Rosewill Capstone are solid.

1-5 Power Supply Tier List
Credit to dottorrent. Original thread: See full content
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a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
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a b U Graphics card
July 1, 2014 11:59:31 PM

Your motherboard cannot crossfire . The second slot can be used for a graphics card too using a technology AMD call CrossfireX . The second card gets choked at x4 unless its pretty basic .

Buy one good graphics card and forget crossfire

Use this
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
to size and shop for your power supply
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July 2, 2014 12:05:11 AM

damric said:
For good quality at a good price, the XFX (any), Antec HCG, and Rosewill Capstone are solid.



Thanks for the reply,
However, my meaning for posting was more geared towards "How much power does will a dual R9 270x rig need"
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a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
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July 2, 2014 12:09:13 AM

550W of quality power for one. 650W for two. 750W for two OC'd.
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July 2, 2014 12:14:46 AM

Outlander_04 said:
Your motherboard cannot crossfire . The second slot can be used for a graphics card too using a technology AMD call CrossfireX . The second card gets choked at x4 unless its pretty basic .

Buy one good graphics card and forget crossfire

Use this
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
to size and shop for your power supply


So when I bought this mobo with two PCIE x16 slots (fully intending to do a Crossfire build) what I really bought was a POS? Or are you saying I need that crossfire cable that links the cards?
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July 2, 2014 12:18:27 AM

damric said:
550W of quality power for one. 650W for two. 750W for two OC'd.


Good to know. Thanks
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a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a c 136 B Homebuilt system
a b U Graphics card
July 2, 2014 1:55:01 AM

LuminuS said:
Outlander_04 said:
Your motherboard cannot crossfire . The second slot can be used for a graphics card too using a technology AMD call CrossfireX . The second card gets choked at x4 unless its pretty basic .

Buy one good graphics card and forget crossfire

Use this
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm
to size and shop for your power supply


So when I bought this mobo with two PCIE x16 slots (fully intending to do a Crossfire build) what I really bought was a POS? Or are you saying I need that crossfire cable that links the cards?


nothing you can do will let you run two cards at their potential .
The board is good for its purpose . Your choice was poor if its capabilities are not what you need
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July 2, 2014 2:04:38 AM

Outlander_04 said:
nothing you can do will let you run two cards at their potential .
The board is good for its purpose . Your choice was poor if its capabilities are not what you need


My question now is how the actual hell can they advertise the mobo as "Quad Crossfire ready" and not have the ability to actually crossfire in the slightest?(Dual graphics aside) Very frustrating...
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a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b B Homebuilt system
a b U Graphics card
July 2, 2014 9:47:24 AM

LuminuS said:
My question now is how the actual hell can they advertise the mobo as "Quad Crossfire ready" and not have the ability to actually crossfire in the slightest?(Dual graphics aside) Very frustrating...

Because technically if you put two dual GPU cards in the board, it can CrossFire them for four-way power. However, yes, the card in the x4 slot will be throttled due to limited slot bandwidth. At least this is the way I'm reading their claim. But yes, I think that's pretty dubious advertising.

So my question is why you specifically want dual 270X. What gaming loads are you planning to run where this will be useful? If you're planning to drop $400 on graphics, why not just grab a 290? It makes your PSU requirement a lot simpler and won't be impacted by your board's limited PCIe slot lanes. If you've already got one 270X ( which I didn't read above, ) then yes, adding a second wouldn't be so bad.
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July 2, 2014 3:00:33 PM

RedJaron said:

Because technically if you put two dual GPU cards in the board, it can CrossFire them for four-way power. However, yes, the card in the x4 slot will be throttled due to limited slot bandwidth. At least this is the way I'm reading their claim. But yes, I think that's pretty dubious advertising.

So my question is why you specifically want dual 270X. What gaming loads are you planning to run where this will be useful? If you're planning to drop $400 on graphics, why not just grab a 290? It makes your PSU requirement a lot simpler and won't be impacted by your board's limited PCIe slot lanes. If you've already got one 270X ( which I didn't read above, ) then yes, adding a second wouldn't be so bad.


I don't plan on doing much but gaming with friends and I don't need or want the super hi fidelity that most people are after when they build a PC. I suppose I could go with just a 290X but thats still much more expensive than the dual 270Xs I was looking at. I don't care about quietness as I am in a room where others constantly have their loud machines and tv's running. Also because in every benchmark I've seen the 270x in Crossfire outperforms most of the other cards and the ones it doesn't are more expensive than my setup

Literally all I care about is the power:p rice ratio hence the reason this is a budget build
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a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
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July 2, 2014 3:10:46 PM

I said 290, not 290X. The former is only ~$400. Still why do you want to pair a pair of 270Xs with an A10 chip?
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July 2, 2014 3:35:50 PM

RedJaron said:
I said 290, not 290X. The former is only ~$400. Still why do you want to pair a pair of 270Xs with an A10 chip?


okay a r9 290. I suppose I could go with just a 290 but that's still more expensive than the dual 270Xs I was looking at. Also because in every benchmark I've seen the 270x in Crossfire outperforms most of the other cards and the ones it doesn't are usually more expensive than my setup

Literally all I care about is the power : price ratio hence the reason this is a budget build

Also I don't know what you mean by pairing with an A10 that's just the CPU I am using. I chose the A10 because it looked like the best chip I could get for my AMD based budget build.
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a b 4 Gaming
a b ) Power supply
a b B Homebuilt system
a b U Graphics card
July 2, 2014 5:21:49 PM

I ask about the A10 because when building any system, you generally need to balance the various sub-systems so bottlenecks aren't introduced. The A10 is very much a budget chip and the 290(X) is a top-shelf GPU. Typically those don't get paired together since in some gaming situations the A10 becomes the bottleneck and the 290 would be underutilized. The same but reverse would happen if you matched an i7-4930K with a R7 250.

Let's start this a different way. What games do you play ( or want to play, ) what resolution is your monitor, and what graphic detail settings are you hoping for? If my hunch is correct, you might be satisfied with a $200 - $300 single card than either option we've been discussing so far.
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July 2, 2014 5:57:59 PM

RedJaron said:
I ask about the A10 because when building any system, you generally need to balance the various sub-systems so bottlenecks aren't introduced. The A10 is very much a budget chip and the 290(X) is a top-shelf GPU. Typically those don't get paired together since in some gaming situations the A10 becomes the bottleneck and the 290 would be underutilized. The same but reverse would happen if you matched an i7-4930K with a R7 250.

Let's start this a different way. What games do you play ( or want to play, ) what resolution is your monitor, and what graphic detail settings are you hoping for? If my hunch is correct, you might be satisfied with a $200 - $300 single card than either option we've been discussing so far.


I play Battle Field 4, Arma3, DayZ, Watch Dogs and want to play GTA 5. I don't like max settings but I like the game to look and function better than good. Over 40 FPS is a necessity. My monitor is an ACER G236HL (1080p).
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July 2, 2014 9:48:13 PM

On a single monitor, a 770 or 280X should be sufficient for that. I'm more worried about the A10. Arma, Watch Dogs, and big BF4 multiplayer maps want a lot of CPU resources. It'll probably be just good enough now, but I'm willing to bet it will get outclassed in the next year or so on these bigger, more demanding games.
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a c 466 4 Gaming
a c 107 ) Power supply
a b B Homebuilt system
a c 147 U Graphics card
July 2, 2014 9:51:14 PM

As stated, the a10 is a low end CPU and not meant for use with a dedicated GPU.

You should have gone with an fx6300 and an am3+ motherboard. The a10 will bottleneck high end GPUs and limit game performance in some games.
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