Will I have enough Juice?

Coxy7840 · 7 Feb 2015 at 08:13

Hey Overclockers,

I'm currently looking to upgrade my Mobo, Processor & add an additional Graphics Card, Here is my current rig:

1. Processor - Intel Sandybridge i5-2500K Unlocked Core i5 Quad-Core Processor (3.30GHz, 6MB Cache, Socket 1155)

2.Motherboard - AsRock Z68 Extreme3 Gen3 Motherboard, Socket 1155, PCI-Express 3.0, DDR3, USB 3.0, HDMI, 7.1 HD Audio, ASRock Instant Boot

3.Memory (RAM) - Corsair CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9B 16GB (4x4GB) 1600MHz CL9 DDR3 Vengeance Blu Memory Four Module Kit

4.Hard drive(s) - Samsung 120GB SSD 840 EVO SATA 6Gb/s Basic + Hitachi HDT721010SLA360 ATA Device (931 GB)

5.Graphics card(s) - Asus Radeon R9 290 "Voltage Unlocked" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

6.Power supply (PSU) - Seasonic G series 750w '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply

7.Case - BitFenix Ghost Silent Tower Case - Black

8. Cooling - Corsair Hydro H110 280mm High Performance Liquid CPU Cooler

And Here is what I will be changing for my Mobo and my CPU:
1 x Gigabyte Z97X-Gaming 7 - Devils Canyon Core i7 4790K CPU & Motherboard Bundle

And the card I will be adding to XFire my rig:
1 x Asus Radeon R9 290 DirectCU II OC 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card

Will I encounter any power issues with my current PSU?
Thanks in advance guys

Threepwood · 7 Feb 2015 at 09:01

Maybe, you could try first, I use 850w with two 290p's.

Why upgrade your CPU and MB, if you don't mind me asking? Why not just start with the extra GPU and see how it feels?

I'm still on 2500k, don't see any real reason to upgrade, esp right now.

Divine Pain · 7 Feb 2015 at 12:22

That psu is fine with your setup.

Edit: did not see the extra 290 :/ hmmm not sure, you'd be pushing it maybe

pastymuncher · 7 Feb 2015 at 13:52

You are not going to see much of a performance increase from upgrading the motherboard and cpu. A overclocked 2500k is still a very capable cpu and Ivybridge and then Haswell/DC are only small incremental performance steps over one.

Not really sure about the psu. 290's are pretty power hungry and I can see a pair in crossfire coming close to 700w total system power even without any overclocking. I wouldn't really want to run it that close and would prefer a 850w+ psu.

sastusbulbas · 7 Feb 2015 at 16:38

Custom PC did a 4k article, their test system with two 290's pulled 720w from the wall, I am pretty sure that was an X99/5930k @ 4Ghz/16gb ram/1 SSD/Cooler Master Nepton 280L. They found three 290's to offer the best minimum fps but the system measured 1010w power draw.

Hoping to get a new PSU myself, as I plan on getting new GPU's this year and was looking at 2x 290X or 2 of AMD's new 390X if that is what they call it, even tempted with a 295 X2 card. I was given advice stating 750w with 850w as overkill, yet no calculator I have used has advised less than a 1000w PSU with 860 odd watts being the stated power draw of a pair of 290X in a Vario D5 watercooled MicroATX system.

I am not interested in changing from my 4770K/Z87 system, as Custom PC's article showed very minimal losses at 4k with that, only a few FPS, regardless of PCI lane restrictions. And I would rather try and keep it to two GPU's than change to full ATX and three cards.