AMD R9 280x with 550w Corsair PSU

[darthbadar]

Hello guys, I've been planning to upgrade from my aging GTX 560 so I can play next-gen titles. After some researching, AMD's newly released 280x have the best price/performance ratio in my region. The question is, can my 550w psu handle the graphics card?

 

[coozie7]

Providing it has at least dual 6 pin PCI-E leads, yes, you can use a 6-to-8-pin converter for the r9s' 8 pin socket if the PSU has only 6 pin leads.
If the system is not overclocked this would be 'good' if it's overclocked or has a lot of fans/HDDs it would be 'adequate'. 😉
As a matter of interest, exactly what are the current specs?

 

[lonewolf7]

Indeed you can.

Power consumption AMD Radeon R9-280X
1.System in IDLE = 119W
2.System Wattage with GPU in FULL Stress = 350W
3.Difference (GPU load) = 231W
4.Add average IDLE wattage ~10W
5.Subjective obtained GPU power consumption = ~ 241 Watts

AMD R9 280X - On your average system the card requires you to have a 550 Watt power supply unit.

 

[darthbadar]

Providing it has at least dual 6 pin PCI-E leads, yes, you can use a 6-to-8-pin converter for the r9s' 8 pin socket if the PSU has only 6 pin leads.
If the system is not overclocked this would be 'good' if it's overclocked or has a lot of fans/HDDs it would be 'adequate'. 😉
As a matter of interest, exactly what are the current specs?

my current specs are:

CPU: Core 2 Quad Q8400
RAM: 4 GB
Graphics Card: GTX 560

Currently I play at 1280x1028, and aiming to get 60 fps in newer games.

 

[potpolima]

no problem unless you have 3 HDDs

 

[coozie7]

At such a low resolution and with an older gen (but still capable) Quad CPU a R9 280 is far more GPU than the current rig needs so I suggest you install and play those games first to gauge how the current system performs before upgrading.
Depending on exactly which GTX560 is installed (560, 560 Ti or 560 Ti 448 core) an upgrade may not actually be much use anyway-the 560 Ti 448 should be fast enough for the current CPU/rez.
All the above assumes you're not going to up the monitor rez to 1080.

 

[darthbadar]

At such a low resolution and with an older gen (but still capable) Quad CPU a R9 280 is far more GPU than the current rig needs so I suggest you install and play those games first to gauge how the current system performs before upgrading.
Depending on exactly which GTX560 is installed (560, 560 Ti or 560 Ti 448 core) an upgrade may not actually be much use anyway-the 560 Ti 448 should be fast enough for the current CPU/rez.
All the above assumes you're not going to up the monitor rez to 1080.

I'm using the 560. In games like Arkham Origins, I'm getting 30-40 fps with physx on and on some places it dropped to 15 region. Also, I'm planning to get Battlefield 4 and would like to get 60 fps on high. Is it enough?

 

[coozie7]

Hmmmm.
If you want to keep PhysX you'll have to look at an Nvidia card, with a AMD card it'll cripple the frame rate, if it's available at all.
Certainly a R9 280 is going to have a field day with most games at that resolution but maximum FPS will be limited by the CPU, although probably at nearly mad numbers.
If the motherboard can support SLI you could look at a GTX760 with the 560 as dedicated PhysX, but that will require a power supply upgrade.

 

[darthbadar]

Hmmmm.
If you want to keep PhysX you'll have to look at an Nvidia card, with a AMD card cripple the frame rate, if it's available at all.
Certainly a R9 280 is going to have a field day with most games at that resolution but maximum FPS will be limited by the CPU, although probably at nearly mad numbers.
If the motherboard can support SLI you could look at a GTX760 with the 560 as dedicated PhysX, but that will require a power supply upgrade.

I'm willing to give up physx so I can get a better graphics card. What I'm aiming here is to get a next gen console graphics quality with playable fps on 1280x1020 by upgrading to 280x.

 

[coozie7]

The R9 should give the system a BIG boost, just bear in mind the CPU is an older gen part, and is clocked lower than the current mid/high end CPUs' so expect it, rather than the card, to struggle in some of the current CPU intensive games.
One last suggestion, but I think you've already looked into this: Consider the R9 270.
One last, last point: Again, I suspect you've already looked into this, but our (i5 750 in my rig) venerable CPUs can respond well to a little tickle with the overclocking stick...Just a thought. 😉

 

[Embra]

Is your CPU OC'ed? Would you consider OCing it if not?

 

[darthbadar]

Guys, thank you for your suggestions. But my motherboard just died on me. So, I'll hold off upgrading my graphics card and find a good replacement.