Could I plop a R9 280 or 290 on this and would it be wise?

T

TomRL

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CPU
AMD FX-8350 31 °C
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 799MHz (11-11-11-28)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-78LMT-USB3 (Socket M2) 31 °C

I currently have an AMD R7 260 which seems a bit under-powered compared to the CPU. I'm mainly concerned about whether my Motherboard is compatible. I'm already assuming my 500 watt PSU isn't enough.
 
Depending on quality the 500W should handle a R9 280. R9 290 is in another class of power consumption though.
 
If the CPU is stock then it should be enough. If the CPU is over clocked (especially using added voltage) then I believe it wouldn't be enough. And I'm talking overclocking the CPU only and not the GPU.
 
If you are okay with 2GB, maybe you should consider R9 285. It has slightly lower power consumption but better performance than R9 280. 285 also have TrueAudio and Freesync. 280 don't support both and 290 don't have TrueAudio.

Edit: correction
 
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Rurouni said:
290 don't have TrueAudio.
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Hm, it should have trueaudio, as both it and the 290 GPU were introduced at the same event. Wikipedia claims 260, 285, 290/5 series cards support it.

Not that it makes much of a difference though, as I've found no way to enable it in drivers - if there even exists such a setting - nor any options relating to trueaudio in any game I've played either. So for all intents it makes zero difference really as software support seem to fall roughly in the "fuckall" category.
 
I'd rather go with the 280X than the 285, since the 50% more memory should make a rather big difference even in 1080p from now on, and the price difference is getting really small.
The 280X will be fine with a 500W PSU as long as it's a good brand (one that can actually do 500W).



For the 290X you'll need a good 650W PSU, at least.
Both the 290 and 290X support TrueAudio, naturally.

RsI2Ne1.jpg
 
OT
But I need TrueAudio to succeed, otherwise my poor Kaveri will be burdened by audio processing.... also HSA needs to succeed, otherwise I'll just have a slow CPU....
 
I take it I have to open up the pc to make sure I have a good PSU. If it's not a corsair I'll get a new one.
 
TomRL said:
I take it I have to open up the pc to make sure I have a good PSU. If it's not a corsair I'll get a new one.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it would be a good idea to make sure what your voltage rails are capable of supplying, and if you also have an 8-pin PCI-E plug. Your R7 260 should be using a single 6-pin IIRC.

Just take the side-panel off and you should be able to see a table of values on the side of the PSU.
 
Grall said:
Hm, it should have trueaudio, as both it and the 290 GPU were introduced at the same event. Wikipedia claims 260, 285, 290/5 series cards support it.

Not that it makes much of a difference though, as I've found no way to enable it in drivers - if there even exists such a setting - nor any options relating to trueaudio in any game I've played either. So for all intents it makes zero difference really as software support seem to fall roughly in the "fuckall" category.
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Thief has an option for a less-than-astonishing reverb effect if you have Trueaudio. It certainly seems dead in the water at this point.
 
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Went on Dinopc and built a pc identical to my own. It says that I'd need to change my PSU for the amd R9 280 standard version. Might have to go with the gtx 960, which just about works with my psu. Is the R9 285 lower on power consumption? I wouldn't mind a bit of extra Vram.
 
swaaye said:
Looks like the 285 actually sucks a bit more power.
http://techreport.com/review/26997/amd-radeon-r9-285-graphics-card-reviewed/8
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That's the the OC version. The standard version should consume a tiny bit less than 280.

Anyway, looking at http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-radeon-r9-285-review,5.html they recommend 500w PSU. Of course the processor is different, but I believe 500w is enough for 280/285. The PSU needs to be able to output real 500w (500w after factoring the efficiency).

Edit: 960 should be a good choice. The performance between it and 285 is comparable but with lesser power consumption. I personally would go with GCN, but that's because I'm using Kaveri and it's probably for the best to stay within the same architecture.
 
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The problem with 500W PSU is how much Amp they have on the 12V rails, how much watt is available for the 12V rails.. if the PSU can only use 450W on the 12V rails, counting the efficiency and time it can deliver it. counting the CPU, the motherboard power, some HDD /SSD, fans etc etc
.. It's Bbetter to allways have a bit of margin.

This said, it could work pretty well.

I have make run 2x 7970 ( 280x ) + an I7 2600K@5ghz + a tons of HDD/SSD and fans for my watercooling radiators, without any problem on a 650W PSU ( this said i have not keep the system with this PSU a long time )
 
@lanek Many power supplies these days are basically 12V power supplies, with 100% of their max rated output theoretically available to the 12V rail(s). 5V and 3.3V outputs are provided through DC-to-DC converters from the 12V source feed.
 
500 watt PSU should be fine if it's a half decent brand.

Friend of mine with overclocked i7 + 32 gig RAM + R9 290X + 10 mechanical HDDs + multiple fans still pulls less than 400 watts at the power socket. At 100% CPU load and 100% GPU load, he's pulling ~390-395 watts from the wall socket. So the PSU is providing less than that to the computer components.

Regards,
SB
 
My 3930k and 7970OC at "stock" speeds (the "OC" card runs at 950/1450) along with eight sticks of 4GB ram (1333Mhz) and six SSD's in RAID0 will idle at 180W at the wall and loads up at about 600. X79 was never a power efficient chipset though ;)

You should see it at 4.5Ghz CPU, 1150/1500 GPU and 1666MHz 1T RAM speeds :D
 
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