New R9 295x2 gaming rig. Advice on parts?

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NakedSnakeAO

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Oct 31, 2013
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Hi all - first time poster, long time lurker :D

I recently got a hold of an XFX R9 295x2 8GB graphics card on cyber monday and decided to make a gaming rig around it. Long term goal (another year or two) is to play games at 4k on a single display at 60hz. In the short term, I'd like to step up from a 2 year-old Alienware x51 (1st gen). Here is what I think I can salvage from the x51:

Intel i5-3330 3.0 Ghz LGA 1155 processor
8GB (4GB x 2) DDR3 1600 RAM
1TB HDD

What I humbly request sage advice on:

Motherboard - needs to support crossfire (2 x GPU on the single gfx card), would like to be able to OC the i5-3330 to 3.6 Ghz or is it worth it to get a i7-4790K for $275?
Is a watercooling solution needed for OC the i5-3330 setup or only the i7-4790K?
PSU - will 750W work, or should I spring for 850+?

Would like to keep the budget under $600 for the mobo, PSU and potential water cooling/ i7 CPU upgrades.

Thanks in advance, TH.


 
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johnnyb105

johnnyb105

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Feb 18, 2013
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You will more likely run into a bottleneck trying to use the older I 5 go with at least a I 5 -4690k a lga 1150 board another 8 gig of ram if you can 2x4 use your older ram pray it plays well with your new ram @ 1600 reuse the TB drive and any burner that's installed . Also go with at least 1000 watt good power supply can recommend a few if you like. Hope this helps the rest of your system wont work with a newer build more less ....
 
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NakedSnakeAO

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Oct 31, 2013
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My main concern was whether the i5-3330 would bottleneck in gaming. If it will for most popular 2014 games by a big margin (more than 15fps), I'll invest in the i7 + watercooling for some future proofing. Is 16GB ram really necessary for gaming though? I could use a good recommendation on cases since the R9 295x2 is about 10 inches long, so I'm worried about whether part picker is taking that into account with it's compatibility mode.
 
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ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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For a system using a single AMD Reference Design Radeon R9 295X2 graphics card AMD specifies a minimum of a 1000 Watt or greater system power supply. The power supply should also have a maximum combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 69 Amps or greater and have at least two 336-Watt 8-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors. (Minimum system power requirement based on a PC configured with an Intel Core i7 3.2GHz 130 Watt TDP processor.)

Note that AMD has greatly exceeded the allowed power draw of 150 Watts that is allowed through the 8-pin PCI Express supplementary power connector as defined by the PCI Express standards. Some PSUs with multiple +12V rails, because of their design, will not be able to provide enough power through their 8-pin PCI Express supplementary power connectors to power that Radeon R9 295X2.
 
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NakedSnakeAO

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Oct 31, 2013
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Thank you for the info. I don't know much about power draw, but is the 1000W just to be on the safe side? I've seen reviews of the card with setups running on 850W and thought the 1000W was precautionary for OCing the heck out of an i7. The price difference is pretty significant, so I'd rather take the performance hit without OC if that's the case than spend 1.5x or 2x the cost for a bigger PSU at 1000-1200W. Thanks again for the help!
 
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ko888

ko888

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Feb 18, 2009
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900 Watts would have been recommended if you could find any reputable PSU manufacturer that makes them. 850 Watts is too close to the edge of being inadequate so AMD recommended the next most common jump up in PSU capacity and that happens to be 1000 Watts.

You don't want to be running a PSU at or near its maximum capacity because that will greatly shorten its operating life.
 
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NakedSnakeAO

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I understand. I'll look out for a good deal on a 1000W PSU in that case. Thanks for your help. :bounce:
 
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GhislainG

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Jul 16, 2008
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You should read reviews like http://www.anandtech.com/show/7930/the-amd-radeon-r9-295x2-review and check the total system power draw or http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-295x2-review-benchmark-performance,3799.html and check the card's power draw. Once you read those reviews you'll probably come to the conclusion that a quality 1000W PSU is more than enough.
 
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