New acquisition of video card and PSU, some questions

tmrolyy

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Jul 13, 2015
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Hello,


I've bought a used reference-model MSI R9 290 with a Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme III cooler on top of it instead of the original reference cooler and decided to buy a Sirtec EP-750S, 750W, ATX 2.3 PSU to power it.

My system:

ASUS H81M-E motherboard
Intel Core i5 4440 CPU
16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR3 1600 Mhz Kingston Hyper-X Beast memory
1 x 120 GB Samsung EVO 850 SSD
1 x 60 GB Kingston V300 SSD
1 x 1TB Seagate Barracuda HD

Dell S2240L 21.5" monitor

Questions:

1. Will that PSU be able to efficiently and safely power all my system after I add the R9 290?
2. Would I be able to do some overclocking on the R9 290, considering its a reference model + aftermarket cooler and considering the PSU I bought?
3. Is the R9 290 still a strong performer and a high-end card or it's not so great anymore?
4. How is the i5-4440, would it bottleneck my card or should I consider upgrading to a higher-end i5 or i7 CPU or it's good and I can stay with it? I'm looking to get significant performance if I do upgrade, my budget is not unlimited though.


Thank you for your help and time.
 
Solution
1. I've never heard of that brand before, but if it's reputable then it will power the card no problem. All you really need is a good 600w psu tbh.

2. Yes you can easily overclock it with an aftermarket cooler.

3. The 290 is a mid-high range, but it is no longer a top dog. That goes to the 980 ti and the Fury X.

4. the i5-4440 will be fine. Not worth an upgrade yet.

Azn Cracker

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1. I've never heard of that brand before, but if it's reputable then it will power the card no problem. All you really need is a good 600w psu tbh.

2. Yes you can easily overclock it with an aftermarket cooler.

3. The 290 is a mid-high range, but it is no longer a top dog. That goes to the 980 ti and the Fury X.

4. the i5-4440 will be fine. Not worth an upgrade yet.
 
Solution

azca

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yes, but I do not recommend that you do crossfire. One R9 290 will be more than plenty for you and a lot of games do not support crossfire at all



 

tmrolyy

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Jul 13, 2015
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One other question. I've seen that the non-reference R9 290s have quite a few fps advantage in games compared to the MSI R9 reference that I will get. Is it possible to reach or exceed the performance level and FPS of those non-reference cards, like the Sapphire R9-290 Vapor X? What must I do to be on the same level? Trough overclocking ? I got a decent 750W PSU and a Arctic Cooling Accelero Extreme III after-market cooler on my reference MSI R9 290, so wondering if I can get my card to performe the same or better as those later cards.
 

Azn Cracker

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Yes if you overclock the reference model you should get the same performance.

Most of the aftermarket ones are factory overclocked. That's why they are a little faster. They are using the same chip and such.

The only thing difference is the cooler that comes with it. Sometimes partners like Sapphire modify the board as well, which would allow one to get better overclocks.
 

tmrolyy

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Jul 13, 2015
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ok, nice. on the reference model MSI R9 290 with the aftermarket cooler and PSU that I got , would I be able to overclock it higher than the Saphire for example? or higher than most? actually how high can I go, what are my limits?