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Will this card work for what I want to do?

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  • Radeon
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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September 20, 2014 8:30:20 PM

Hello. I apologize for the vague question and realize this might not help future visitors, but I'm in need of some help and I'm simply not knowledgeable enough to make informed decisions for myself on these grounds. I just like to use my computer, but when it comes to having to make it better or more efficient: I'm out.

Anyway, enough of that. Can anyone help me out with this? That'd be great.

My current PC specs are:
12GB RAM
AMD Phenom 2 Quad Core @ 3.4GHz
Corsair GS 600 watt
Gigabyte 990FXA-UD5
Radeon R7 240 2GB

I need to upgrade my graphics card.

I'm currently looking at this product (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...); The Radeon R9 280x.

I plan to be able to play Star Citizen and any other relatively demanding game.

Can my power supply and system accommodate that card?

Thank you for any help and if you can recommend any other cards that might work in the system as well that would be good but based on what I have read that card seems to be quite good in its field.

Thanks in advance,
Orabrush

More about : card work

September 20, 2014 8:35:37 PM

Yes, you are good. But the 280X might be slightly bottle necked by the Phenom II X4. If it's a Black Edition, you can erase most of that bottle neck by overclocking it.
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September 20, 2014 8:44:37 PM

You shouldn't have 12gb ram in a dual channel mobo.

The Gigabyte R9 280x needs a good quality 600W power supply. - from tiers 1, 2a or 2b of http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-su...

The Corsair GS600 is in tier 2a so it should be OK.
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September 20, 2014 8:46:03 PM

+1^
Part of or all of the RAM may only be running in the slightly slower single channel mode.
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September 20, 2014 9:47:23 PM

i7Baby said:
You shouldn't have 12gb ram in a dual channel mobo.
The Gigabyte R9 280x needs a good quality 600W power supply. - from tiers 1, 2a or 2b of http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-1804779/power-su...
The Corsair GS600 is in tier 2a so it should be OK.


Thanks for the informative reply. There's nothing I can really do about the RAM in the dual-channel mobo now—I bought that mobo from a recommendation from posting on this website the first time, so I don't know what I did there either.

Will that GPU run OK on that PSU even with the other stuff I have it running, or do those not really take up much of the wattage?


clutchc said:
Yes, you are good. But the 280X might be slightly bottle necked by the Phenom II X4. If it's a Black Edition, you can erase most of that bottle neck by overclocking it.


I will be upgrading the CPU in due time, so that's not too much of a bother for now. Thanks for the information. (And yes, it's a Black Edition, so I will try overclocking at some point.)


Thank you both.
Awaiting replies.
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September 20, 2014 10:16:01 PM

The Corsair GS600 is in tier 2a so it should be OK.
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September 21, 2014 8:27:55 AM

Yes, the GPU and PSU are the big power hogs in most systems... yours included. Fans, drives, MB, lights, etc. use very little wattage. You are fine with that PSU.
Upgrading your CPU to something with greater performance will be the way to go. If your MB socket is an AM3+ and not an AM3, that is.
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September 21, 2014 9:17:31 AM

clutchc said:
Yes, the GPU and PSU are the big power hogs in most systems... yours included. Fans, drives, MB, lights, etc. use very little wattage. You are fine with that PSU.
Upgrading your CPU to something with greater performance will be the way to go. If your MB socket is an AM3+ and not an AM3, that is.


OK, I'll trust you on that one—after all, you guys know what you're talking about. I simply do not. That's why I come here! :) 
Perhaps, one day, I should learn ;) 

Thanks for the information again. Also, yes, my socket is an AM3+, so I should be able to do a fairly nice upgrade in a time. Not sure what to do about the RAM in the dual-channel mobo though. That's a brand new mobo, so I can't very well replace it just yet ;) 
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September 21, 2014 6:49:50 PM

What RAM are you using and how is it arranged?
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September 24, 2014 8:00:27 PM

clutchc said:
What RAM are you using and how is it arranged?

Sorry for the late reply.

3x4 RAM, 2 are Corsair and 1 is Team Elite.
It's clocked at ~1340MHz.
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September 25, 2014 11:37:38 AM

orabrush said:
clutchc said:
What RAM are you using and how is it arranged?

Sorry for the late reply.

3x4 RAM, 2 are Corsair and 1 is Team Elite.
It's clocked at ~1340MHz.


Unless you need the extra 4 GB for some memory intensive operations, you will get maybe a 10% performance increase by removing the odd stick and just keeping the 2 matching sticks in their respective slots (opp. channels). 8GB is sufficient for today's gaming.

Or you could find an EXACT match to the odd stick and add it for 4 x 4GB memory.
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