Which R9 270x is the best for me?

[Joshua Lange]

I've been looking through GPUs for the past couple of days and I've come to the conclusion that the R9 270x model is the best model for my needs. What I need advice on now is which one exactly I should buy. Here's what I'm looking for:

-low need to overclock; my current card has a locked voltage so I've gotten used to not overclocking. Also, it ruins the warranty so I figure let's not test the limits of my card.

-Quiet: I already have enough fans in my PC, I don't need another bunch of loud fans. Currently my system is barely noticeable if I turn the main fan down to the lowest setting (like if a car drives by outside I can't hear the computer kind of quiet) So I'd like to keep that.

-I know I've really narrowed the options down, but if anybody has another idea, please explain your idea. I've done comparisons on TigerDirect.ca and they've given me the below specs.

Apologies, couldn't find the spoiler option. Anyways, your advice, as usual is always helpful!

in case the image link doesn't work:
http://i.imgur.com/khvVFHn.png

Kind Regards,
Josh.

 

[Suztera]

If budget is tight then getting the R9 270 and overclocking it to a R9 270X speed is one option. Ideally this is the best bang for your buck situation.
If you don't mind paying the extra cost of a slightly small performance increase then any R9 270X will do. All R9 270X will perform similarly.

At idle all the r9 270X will be quiet to an extent. When gaming, you may notice the fans a bit more.

 

[Praveen926]

You should get the sapphire one cause it has the best cooling system...REMEMBER TEMPERATURE AFFECTS PERFORMANCE.if not then ASUS OR GIGABYTE anything would do the best...dont go for xfx or powercolor cause they dont have any coolng system....

 

[Scampi]

The Sapphire Toxic is one of the best variants of AMD cards, It's LONG though.. It will give you the best performance out the box. Noise is pretty subjective, but i'd imagine the 3 fans will cool it better & should't run at high rpm.

On your average system a R9 270X requires 24 Amps on the 12v rail, a 500W PSU minimum & 2 x6-Pin PCIE

 

[Joshua Lange]

On your average system a R9 270X requires 24 Amps on the 12v rail, a 500W PSU minimum & 2 x6-Pin PCIE

Is there any way that I can check to see what kind of amperage I have on my 12V line? Will it be listed in my power supply's manual or online somewhere?

 

[oxiide]

On your average system a R9 270X requires 24 Amps on the 12v rail, a 500W PSU minimum & 2 x6-Pin PCIE

Is there any way that I can check to see what kind of amperage I have on my 12V line? Will it be listed in my power supply's manual or online somewhere?

If its convenient to do so, if you can look inside your case the PSU will have a sticker on one of its sides with a chart of its rails and their current. If you know your PSU's make and model you can find it online as well, I'm sure.

All of the options you listed are top-tier card makers and very good products. They will differ mostly in their cooler, though all are still very good coolers. Note, however, that the last one ($169.97) is an R9 270, not an R9 270X. Its a fair bit slower, though as someone said earlier you can overclock it to 270X levels.

 

[Joshua Lange]

On your average system a R9 270X requires 24 Amps on the 12v rail, a 500W PSU minimum & 2 x6-Pin PCIE

Is there any way that I can check to see what kind of amperage I have on my 12V line? Will it be listed in my power supply's manual or online somewhere?

If its convenient to do so, if you can look inside your case the PSU will have a sticker on one of its sides with a chart of its rails and their current. If you know your PSU's make and model you can find it online as well, I'm sure.

All of the options you listed are top-tier card makers and very good products. They will differ mostly in their cooler, though all are still very good coolers. Note, however, that the last one ($169.97) is an R9 270, not an R9 270X. Its a fair bit slower, though as someone said earlier you can overclock it to 270X levels.

All right, thanks for that information, I'll have to open up the side of my computer and check it out!

Now... I just found this card and I'm baffled as to why it is priced as it is;

http://www.tigerdirect.ca/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=8796896&CatId=7387

(pardon the lack of hyperlink)

It's got twice as much GDDR5, but it's only 20 dollars more. What gives?

 

[Suztera]

Not worth it if you just using a single 4GB R9 270X. It's more useful for running in crossfire at higher resolution than 1080p.

 

[Joshua Lange]

Not worth it if you just using a single 4GB R9 270X. It's more useful for running in crossfire at higher resolution than 1080p.

So I should just go for the 2Gb version and save myself a couple bucks? I don't think I'll be getting a second monitor for a while so that may be the best option for me

 

[t99]

I have the same series MSI 270x but the single fan model and even with 1 fan maxing it out for long periods it runs very cool. I think is msi is best built, the quality of their parts are superior.

 

[Joshua Lange]

I have the same series MSI 270x but the single fan model and even with 1 fan maxing it out for long periods it runs very cool. I think is msi is best built, the quality of their parts are superior.

My current card is actually MSI and it's had some issues, none heat related ( I think it never got above 70C when I maxed it out with Furmark and Unigine Heaven so that was good). Couple driver errors, but if the company comes through with the replacement driver then I probably will buy from them again because, until the issues started it was a pretty good little card.