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I have a question about R9 280X

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  • Intel i7
  • Intel
  • Noctua
  • Gigabyte
  • Systems
  • Build
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July 9, 2014 12:42:32 PM

Hello guys. My current build is:
- Intel Core I7 4770K
- Noctua NH-L9i
- Gigabyte GA-H97M-D3H
- Crucial Ballistix Sport 1600 Mhz
- Samsung 840 Evo 500GGB
- EVGA GeForce GTX 660 SC
- Corsair 350DW
- CX500

Is it worth upgrading my GPU to R9 280X DirectCU? I'll only be playing on a 1080P monitor and plan to stay at that resolution for at least a couple more years!

More about : question 280x

July 9, 2014 1:16:33 PM

Definitely. The extra 3GB RAM will also help with games using more VRAM and higher resolutions.
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July 9, 2014 6:23:54 PM

I'd say it would be well worth it. More games in recent times seem to chew up more memory than they used to, I'm beginning to think the whole "2GB is more than enough" statement may become out dated soon. See Assassin's Creed 4 and Wolfenstein New Order. New Order even locks out higher settings when it detects less than 3GB of VRAM. I have ran MSI Afterburner in the backround while running these 2 games, and they both run 2500 MB or so @ 1080P when I crank up the settings. You would benefit quite a bit over the GTX 660, especially with a CPU that strong. You would probably need a bigger power supply though:( 
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July 9, 2014 6:49:59 PM

Hmm thanks for the answer guys. Definitely looking for a bigger PSU as well because I'm planning to crossfire in the future. I think I'm getting 800W PSU.
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July 9, 2014 7:25:19 PM

An 800 Watt PSU would be plenty for any 280X out there. As far as Crossfire goes, I'm not exactly sure what the requirement would be. Sapphire recommends a 1000 Watt PSU for CFX on a Vapor-X, which is an 8+8 power connector configuration. But this sounds like overkill to me. I think the DCU II is an 8+6 so it should demand slightly less power than the Sapphire one does. I have never ran dual GPU's though so I'm not entirely sure about the power demands of doing it. I'm curious though so hopefully somebody can weigh in on that aspect.
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July 9, 2014 11:22:31 PM

Keenan Johnson said:
An 800 Watt PSU would be plenty for any 280X out there. As far as Crossfire goes, I'm not exactly sure what the requirement would be. Sapphire recommends a 1000 Watt PSU for CFX on a Vapor-X, which is an 8+8 power connector configuration. But this sounds like overkill to me. I think the DCU II is an 8+6 so it should demand slightly less power than the Sapphire one does. I have never ran dual GPU's though so I'm not entirely sure about the power demands of doing it. I'm curious though so hopefully somebody can weigh in on that aspect.


I see. So what PSU would you think is best for CF R9 280X's? I see that you have an R9 280X, how is it in games like Skyrim or Battlefield 4? Specially on a 1080P monitor?

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July 10, 2014 7:17:39 PM

Hmmm, kind of hard for me to determine exactly what wattage would be needed. I've never ran dual GPU's before, so I'm not really sure on the ins and outs of doing it. That being said, I notice that when reading some reviews on Newegg, several users stated they were running R9 290's and 290X's on a 1000 Watt PSU. I went over to the extrem power supply calculator tool and plugged your specs into it adding the 2 280X's. It calculated that the system would use 768 Watts @ 100% load. Going by this, a high quality 850 Watt PSU should be up to the task. Now if you're a heavy overclocker, or plan on running that route in the future, I'd say a 1000 Watt PSU would be the best bet to ensure you dont overload the PSU. Looking at the Corsair RM series on Newegg, the price difference is only $10 from the 850 Watt to the 1000 Watt. Personally, I would go for the 1000 Watt simply to ensure I would have no problems in the future. So in short, a quality 1000 Watt PSU for the extra overclocking headroom, or a quality 850 Watt for plug and play operation. Just be sure to get a certified one. Most PSU's in that power range are gold Certified at the least if they are certified. The ones that aren't should be avoided. Corsair, XFX, Seasonic are a few good brands which I've had great luck with over the years.

So far I have been very happy with my 280X. It has been overclocked to 1170 MHz on it's core with a slight voltage bump, but even when it was stock @ 1070 MHz, it was still very fast. I do play on a 23" 1080P monitor, but I don't play those 2 games unfortunately. I can tell you it handles Metro Last Light, Tomb Raider, and Wolfenstein New Order all on max settings. Assassin's Creed 4 required some tweaking in the control panel to overcome Ubisoft's badly optimized V-Sync, but after tweaking it runs that game at maxed settings except for AA and God rays, which is at 4X and Normal respectively. So far I have yet to come across a game which cannot run on the highest preset on this card. Some will run at less than 60 FPS when more visual candy is enabled, such as Tomb raider when 4x SSAA is enabled (I hate FXAA) runs at around 40 FPS or so. I'm pretty happy with those results. Originally wanted an R9 290, but had to compromise to a lower price point. At the price point the 280X is at, there isn't much else out there. The GTX 770 lost out for me simply because it has less VRAM, and I was not about to fall victim to the whole "2GB is more than enough" campaign. I fell for that once before when "1GB is more than enough" was going around, and we all know how that went.
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July 10, 2014 10:10:34 PM

Keenan Johnson said:
Hmmm, kind of hard for me to determine exactly what wattage would be needed. I've never ran dual GPU's before, so I'm not really sure on the ins and outs of doing it. That being said, I notice that when reading some reviews on Newegg, several users stated they were running R9 290's and 290X's on a 1000 Watt PSU. I went over to the extrem power supply calculator tool and plugged your specs into it adding the 2 280X's. It calculated that the system would use 768 Watts @ 100% load. Going by this, a high quality 850 Watt PSU should be up to the task. Now if you're a heavy overclocker, or plan on running that route in the future, I'd say a 1000 Watt PSU would be the best bet to ensure you dont overload the PSU. Looking at the Corsair RM series on Newegg, the price difference is only $10 from the 850 Watt to the 1000 Watt. Personally, I would go for the 1000 Watt simply to ensure I would have no problems in the future. So in short, a quality 1000 Watt PSU for the extra overclocking headroom, or a quality 850 Watt for plug and play operation. Just be sure to get a certified one. Most PSU's in that power range are gold Certified at the least if they are certified. The ones that aren't should be avoided. Corsair, XFX, Seasonic are a few good brands which I've had great luck with over the years.

So far I have been very happy with my 280X. It has been overclocked to 1170 MHz on it's core with a slight voltage bump, but even when it was stock @ 1070 MHz, it was still very fast. I do play on a 23" 1080P monitor, but I don't play those 2 games unfortunately. I can tell you it handles Metro Last Light, Tomb Raider, and Wolfenstein New Order all on max settings. Assassin's Creed 4 required some tweaking in the control panel to overcome Ubisoft's badly optimized V-Sync, but after tweaking it runs that game at maxed settings except for AA and God rays, which is at 4X and Normal respectively. So far I have yet to come across a game which cannot run on the highest preset on this card. Some will run at less than 60 FPS when more visual candy is enabled, such as Tomb raider when 4x SSAA is enabled (I hate FXAA) runs at around 40 FPS or so. I'm pretty happy with those results. Originally wanted an R9 290, but had to compromise to a lower price point. At the price point the 280X is at, there isn't much else out there. The GTX 770 lost out for me simply because it has less VRAM, and I was not about to fall victim to the whole "2GB is more than enough" campaign. I fell for that once before when "1GB is more than enough" was going around, and we all know how that went.


I will definitely look into a bigger power supply before I even start thinking of crossfiring these two beasts haha. Anyway, thanks for your insight of this card. I can't wait to receive mine in the morning and start gaming with it. I don't plan on overclocking the card just yet though. I'm gonna wait till I get a bigger power supply and my second 280x before overclocking!
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July 11, 2014 5:20:42 PM

Awesome, glad to help! That card and your CPU will make a very nice combo. I didn't overclock mine right away either, I just enjoyed the performance increase over the HD7850 based rig this one replaced for awhile:)  Enjoy and good luck with the crossfire journey too!
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July 11, 2014 5:42:34 PM

Keenan Johnson said:
Awesome, glad to help! That card and your CPU will make a very nice combo. I didn't overclock mine right away either, I just enjoyed the performance increase over the HD7850 based rig this one replaced for awhile:)  Enjoy and good luck with the crossfire journey too!


Hey man. I got the R9 280x and paired it with an EVGA 750w PSU. Hope this is enough for this card and future crossfire. Thanks man!
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July 11, 2014 7:48:45 PM

Nice! EVGA makes nice power supplies and should easily handle it. I've been running a Corsair CX 750 750 Watt for about 6 months now and have had no issues with it. And my CPU chugs alot more power than yours does hahaha. It might be close with a crossfire, but it could possibly do it. Hopefully it works well for you!
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