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What PSU for a 290x?

Drake5

Drake5

Drake5

Soldato
Joined
12 Dec 2005
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Current specs is i5 4670k, 8GB DDR3, 280x. 550W OCZ PSU. Thinking about upgrading to a 290x, would it be worth it? I guess I'd also have to upgrade my PSU as well?
 
A 550w will be fine - Your current psu should be ok for gaming.

I think I got 500w odd with my MSI LE and a Overclocked 4770k, I did run Furmark and prime together.
 
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RJC said:
A 550w will be fine - Your current psu should be ok for gaming.

I think I got 500w odd with my MSI LE and a Overclocked 4770k, I did run Furmark and prime together.
Click to expand...

Really? Because some people were saying last time that a 550W might not be enough for a 290x.
 
Tom_D said:
Really? Because some people were saying last time that a 550W might not be enough for a 290x.
Click to expand...

I think it will be ok. I have a 7970 @ 1200MHz in a system with 7 hard drives and a 500W Seasonic psu and the total system usage is about 410W in the Valley benchmark. This is about the max it uses since no game would stress the card as much as that benchmark.

Check out the last chart in this review and they have the usage for the 290x as 295W peak. Allow another 100W for the system and its still way under 550W.

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/radeon-r9-290x-hawaii-review,review-32808-29.html
 
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Id have thought 550w would be plenty. Done some testing earlier on with my setup in sig, highest i seen in game was 620w, mainly hovering around 550w. Thats with sli 780's and an overclocked 4790k.
 
I think the max I've seen my 290x pulled was around 330W, and that's with the core voltage increase to 1.4v and power limit increase to +50.

On stock clock, generally the max it pull is only around 225-270W on average.

But it might worth you double-checking the rated 12v rail output on that OCZ 550W just in case.
 
550w for the most part is fine, however yours is an OCZ unit :p
If it's fairly new, i would keep it. If it's getting a bit long in the tooth swap it out for a newer better PSU ;)
 
I wouldn't trust a 290X to an aged OCZ 550W PSU.

550W is fine if you have a recent, Gold 90+ single 12V rail power supply.
 
Superflower leadex series or evga G series get reccomended a lot. 650w ono for a single card, if you wanted to go xfire later id hazard a guess at 850w mimimum.
 
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As it's OCZ, i'd definitely advise you go look at getting a newer PSU. 650W+ will be perfectly fine, from a reputable manufacturer.

I remember my last OCZ, split rails and couldn't handle the power that i thought it could. Awful.
 
Yep should be grand, used an older hx 850 with the cards in sig prior to buying the 1000w superflower.
 
A high quality branded 550W would be fine especially at stock speeds. If overclocking it I'd personally want a bit more headroom. The Corsair TX850 will be more than enough!
 
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