390 on 550W PSU

[serenity2718]

Hi everyone, I have decided to upgrade from my current 770 (Witcher 3 plays terribly on my card) to a 390 (or 290X if the price difference is big enough). My questions are:

1. My PSU is SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply. Would that be ok with a MSI Gaming 390 or 290X?
2. I game on 1440p. Would the 8G in 390 help much or is it better to get 290X for ~40 dollar cheaper?

Thanks!

 

[Suztera]

Yes the G 550W should be fine with a R9 390 or R9 290X.
For certain games such as GTA V, then it will help.

 

[Forgotten031511]

1) I would look to upgrade your PSU. The R9 290 cards require 750W PSU, although they don't use that much, that is what AMD requires. So you MIGHT be able to run that card on that PSU, but I would certainly get a new PSU soon. The R9 300 cards also require a good amount of power. Might I recommend this PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N0652

2) The higher the resolution, the more VRAM you need. 2GB is good for 1080p, 4GB is good for 1440p, and 6GB+ is needed for 4K...those of course of just my rules of thumb for good FPS. If you want 1440p gaming on the top titles, the extra VRAM will help a lot.

In my personal opinion, either card will work for you at 1440p. The R9 290 cards showed great performance at 1440p and the R9 300 cards are just re-branded with more VRAM and slightly higher clock speeds. So for the $40, for me I would, but it really depends on your budget.

 

[Suztera]

1) I would look to upgrade your PSU. The R9 290 cards require 750W PSU, although they don't use that much, that is what AMD requires. So you MIGHT be able to run that card on that PSU, but I would certainly get a new PSU soon. The R9 300 cards also require a good amount of power. Might I recommend this PSU: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA24G28N0652

2) The higher the resolution, the more VRAM you need. 2GB is good for 1080p, 4GB is good for 1440p, and 6GB+ is needed for 4K...those of course of just my rules of thumb for good FPS. If you want 1440p gaming on the top titles, the extra VRAM will help a lot.

In my personal opinion, either card will work for you at 1440p. The R9 290 cards showed great performance at 1440p and the R9 300 cards are just re-branded with more VRAM and slightly higher clock speeds. So for the $40, for me I would, but it really depends on your budget.

It doesn't require 750W. It recommends 750W. The 750W recommendation is based on low quality 750W psu.
A quality 550W psu such as Seasonic G 550W will be enough for a R9 390.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

Can you post a complete list of components? Knowing what components you have means that we can calculate an accurate TDP, otherwise, everyone is just guessing.

 

[bignastyid]

Depends on the rest of your system. Under load the 390 is going to draw ~250-300w by itself. If you have a 220w AMD cpu a 550w psu isnt going to cut it, if you have a 125w CPU then you be getting really close, if you have a 88w or lower then it maybe OK but I wouldn't suggest overclocking. Normally for the 290 and 290x I would suggest atleast a good 600w+ psu and the 390 and 390x are just rebrands.

 

[serenity2718]

Thanks for the advice! My full system is:

CPU: Intel Core i5-4670K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor (Purchased For $229.00)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler (Purchased For $35.00)
Motherboard: Asus Z87-A ATX LGA1150 Motherboard (Purchased For $145.00)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-1866 Memory (Purchased For $124.00)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $75.00)
Storage: Samsung 840 EVO 250GB 2.5" Solid State Drive (Purchased For $109.00)
Storage: Western Digital Red 3TB 3.5" 5400RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $120.00)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Black 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive (Purchased For $80.00)
Video Card: MSI GeForce GTX 770 2GB LIGHTNING Video Card (Purchased For $360.00)
Case: Corsair 400R ATX Mid Tower Case (Purchased For $60.00)
Power Supply: SeaSonic G 550W 80+ Gold Certified Semi-Modular ATX Power Supply (Purchased For $59.00)
Optical Drive: LG UH12NS30 Blu-Ray Reader, DVD/CD Writer (Purchased For $50.00)
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional SP1 OEM (64-bit) (Purchased For $0.00)
Wireless Network Adapter: Rosewill RNX-N250UBE 802.11b/g/n USB 2.0 Wi-Fi Adapter (Purchased For $11.00)
Monitor: Asus PB278Q 60Hz 27.0" Monitor (Purchased For $430.00)
Monitor: Asus VS24AH-P 24.0" Monitor (Purchased For $210.00)

 

[serenity2718]

My CPU is slightly OCed to 4.4GHz. If my current PSU is gonna be a problem, am I better off going with a 970 then (though I'd very much rather not do that given how fast my Kepler card dropped in performance)?

 

[bignastyid]

It will probably work but if you want to start overclocking then I suggest getting a bigger PSU.

 

[bignastyid]

My CPU is slightly OCed to 4.4GHz. If my current PSU is gonna be a problem, am I better off going with a 970 then (though I'd very much rather not do that given how fast my Kepler card dropped in performance)?

The 970 Is a good alternative, and will run just fine on that PSU even with overclocking the cpu and gpu. The 970 is just 1 FPS better than the 390x @1440p.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_390x_gaming_8g_oc_review,15.html

 

[Forgotten031511]

My CPU is slightly OCed to 4.4GHz. If my current PSU is gonna be a problem, am I better off going with a 970 then (though I'd very much rather not do that given how fast my Kepler card dropped in performance)?

The 970 Is a good alternative, and will run just fine on that PSU even with overclocking the cpu and gpu. The 970 is just 1 FPS better than the 390x @1440p.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_390x_gaming_8g_oc_review,15.html

I swear by the GTX 970 as the BEST Cost-to-Performance ratio card on the market, it still out performs the R9 390X cards and holds it's own on any game in 1080p and most in 1440p. Aside from the Fury and GTX 980 Ti cards, the GTX 970 is simply the best! Average costs in the US is about $320

 

[serenity2718]

Wow so even after upgrading to 390X or 970, at 1440p I'm still only looking at ~40 fps in Witcher 3? That's a little disappointing, but I guess I can't really justify buying a 980 after spending 400 bucks on my current 770 a little over a year ago...

Thanks everyone! I'm going to pick up a MSI or Asus 970 I think.

 

[bignastyid]

Wow so even after upgrading to 390X or 970, at 1440p I'm still only looking at ~40 fps in Witcher 3? That's a little disappointing, but I guess I can't really justify buying a 980 after spending 400 bucks on my current 770 a little over a year ago...

Thanks everyone! I'm going to pick up a MSI or Asus 970 I think.

I'm glad I bough the 4gb versions of the 770 my 2 cards are still going strong, but im only running 1080p@144Hz.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

I'm a little late to the party, but yes, a GTX 970 is an easy recommendation and will suit your PSU nicely.

 

[serenity2718]

Just to update, I was gonna hold off for a 4th July sale, but Newegg has the MSI gaming LE version 970 for 299 today so pulled the trigger. Thanks for the advice everyone!

 

[veltix01]

Is the r9 390x alright for sf leadex 550w or seasonic 550w?