is my psu enough?

locrieth

locrieth

locrieth

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Ok so I'm looking to upgrade my graphics card. I've been looking at the sapphire R9 290 OC TRI-X for a while and I'm looking to get one at the end of the month for my birthday. I have a Corsair 750TX (recently got RMA'd after about 6 years, so I got a brand new one a few months ago), which I'm sure will be fine for 1 x 290, but I'm debating saving for the next few months after and getting a second. Do you guys think that will be enough power? The rest of my spec is in my sig. I had a look on extreme psu calculator and power wise it reakons 647 Watts.....
 
It "should" be ok but just keep in mind that these cards can pull up to 316w fully loaded (see here) so on particularly demanding games a pair of these cards could push you over the limits of the psu.


***Edit*** In this review they get a single card to pull 336w while gaming.
 
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Looking on that first link the 316W is for the 290x, not the 290. The standard 290 looks like its max is 263W. If i work on the assumption that the difference between the standard 290x and the sapphire tri-x 290x max is only 1 watt difference, could i assume that the the max for the sapphire 290 tri-x is likely to be only 1-2 watts more than the standard 290?
 
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although the second link appears to show a spike at 336W, so if they both peaked at the same time we are looking at 672W leaving 78W for everything else for that split second. Is mantle likely to help in this scenario as the cpu is going to be utilised less?
 
just run through extreme psu calculator again and set the same kit in there as before but changed from 90% utilisation to 100% and it reakons 713W. Also in general isnt the wattage rating on a psu for constant max, but it can peak higher for short bursts?
 
I really wouldn't risk it. Your psu has 744w on the 12v rail. The TX range are not as good as they were when first launched and were made by Seasonic. Corsair changed the OEM to a cheaper one with different internals and the reviews showed that these units were not as good. They are now discontinued. Buy a new psu around 850w and sell your nearly new TX750 to recoup some of the cost.
 
Any recommendations on reasonably priced 850+ psus. Would you go higher than 850? I might potentially oc CPU and gpus in the fullness of time
 
Would be aiming for higher than 850w for Crossfire. Whats the budget for the new PSU?

When these cards get toasty, they draw a fair bit more power. My single 290x set up, overclocked with a 8350 triggered the over current protection in my 750w fatal1ty PSU, which had pretty decent internals. Changed to a 1000w Superflower to replace it when i installed my 4770k, as i am aiming to Crossfire eventually.

These things really eat power when overclocked but so long as the PSU you choose can keep well and the cooling is adequate, all is well!
 
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Not sure on budgets yet, but I'm hoping to get the first 290 end of the month, then it'll be a few months before i can afford to get another let alone a PSU too. I guess maybe £100-150 max for the PSU suppose 1000W ideally.
 
Also on a side note, is the power draw much difference if I'm running 3 screens at 5670x1080?

I've never set up a crossfire or SLI set up before, does the secondary card have the same kind of power draw as the primary card? As i know it will only utilise the memory from the primary card...
 
It will have the same power draw but realistically, you need that much grunt for pretty gaming on three screens.

Superflower platinum 1000w is £161 i think and is among the best with a 10 year warranty.
 
It's white so it wont fit colour-wise with anything, but I've never been bothered about that. It sits under my desk in my Antec P180 so I can't see inside it anyway, that's why I'm not bother about the yellowness of the graphics card :)
 
They are awesome PSU's. If it makes you feel better the black one is available from OCuk and will probably see a special offer or two before you end up buying it.
 
I'll have to keep my eyes peeled, but as i said before I'll probably have a few months before I've got the budget together for it. I do quite like the lit up modular ports on them :)
 
Oh perhaps the policy changed. My Superflower is the 1000w platinum and had 10 year warranty listed in the description when i purchased it, but this was a few months back and it cost £179.99. I also have the gold 1000w which came with 5 year warranty.
 
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