Best GPU for 600W PSU

[Joaquin Rivera Lopez]

Hello everyone, as the title says i'm looking to buy a new GPU for my PC in the $300-$500 price mark. I have a 600W PSU and i'm not looking into OC just yet.

My PC Specs are the following:

Intel Core i7-4790K w/vanilla fan
Asus Z97-K
16 Gb DDR3 - 1800Mhz RAM
Seagate Barracuda 7200.14 1TB
Kingston SSDNow 120GB
Thermaltake TR2 600W PSU
2x120mm Thermaltake Case Fans

Should I buy the new r9 390 GPU? or perhaps the r9 390x? Is the 980 worth it? Or my PSU will be a problem with the r9 3xx series so i should go with a 970 instead for a value purchase. Thank you all very much!

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Any single card is perfect for 600w. So yes a r9 390x will be fine with your system.

For 500 dollars I would say that a GTX 980 would be the best for that amount (if you can find it for 500). depending on pricing (here for me it is 800 bucks). Other than that the r9 390x or new r9 fury (nonX) would be great as well. As the r9 fury is meant to beat the GTX 980 and is in between the 980TI AND 980.

If you're just playing at 1080p though the GTX 970 is still the best bang for your buck and later if you decide to overclock it clocks up amazingly and is just under a GTX 980 when overclocked.

-good luck

 

[Joaquin Rivera Lopez]

Any single card is perfect for 600w. So yes a r9 390x will be fine with your system.

For 500 dollars I would say that a GTX 980 would be the best for that amount (if you can find it for 500). depending on pricing (here for me it is 800 bucks). Other than that the r9 390x or new r9 fury (nonX) would be great as well. As the r9 fury is meant to beat the GTX 980 and is in between the 980TI AND 980.

If you're just playing at 1080p though the GTX 970 is still the best bang for your buck and later if you decide to overclock it clocks up amazingly and is just under a GTX 980 when overclocked.

-good luck

I've been looking at a lot of reviews and benchmarks. It seems the best bang for my buck is the r9 390 as it beats the gtx 970 slightly in performance, it's 30 bucks cheaper and since it's newer, it will get better updates (not mentioning the extra 4 gb of vram). My only concern is the TDP as lot of the reviews show the r9 390 consume up to 321W under full load and I'm not sure my 600W PSU can handle that. Any opinion on that thought?

 

[rcald2000]

Unfortunately the Thermaltake TR2 is untested on the Tom's Hardware PSU tier list. If you go for the R9 390, consider ordering it from Amazon, so that you have the option of a no-hassle return. I personally owned a MSI GTX 970 4G Gamer card on a 685 watt power supply that came with my Dell Precision. I've also considered trying out the R9 390, although the customer ratings aren't as high as the 970. It's annoying that the 970 prices haven't lowered by $30 to $45 yet.

*** PSU tier list ***
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

*** Graphics cards power requirements ***
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

 

[Joaquin Rivera Lopez]

Unfortunately the Thermaltake TR2 is untested on the Tom's Hardware PSU tier list. If you go for the R9 390, consider ordering it from Amazon, so that you have the option of a no-hassle return. I personally owned a MSI GTX 970 4G Gamer card on a 685 watt power supply that came with my Dell Precision. I've also considered trying out the R9 390, although the customer ratings aren't as high as the 970. It's annoying that the 970 prices haven't lowered by $30 to $45 yet.

*** PSU tier list ***
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html

*** Graphics cards power requirements ***
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

Thanks for the reply, unfortunately the "no-hassle return" option isn't available for me as I live in south america and will be traveling to the US for a week only (without my PC). I don't think my PSU is bad but also can't consider it a Tier 1/2. I think i'll be going for the R9 390 but this PSU issue is giving me a headache... nvidia gpu's TDP is so much better than amd's 🙁 Just wish someone could tell me if the 390 runs on a mid tier 600W PSU

 

[rcald2000]

@Joaquin

Honestly, if I were in your situation, I would go for the R9 390. The TDP is 275 watts for that card, and your 4790K has a TDP of 88 watts. I really wouldn't stress. I see that MSI's card requires one 6 pin and one 8 pin PCIe power connector. I'd bet anything that they include a 6-to-8 pin adapter. Purchase any brand of the R9 390 and enjoy it.

By the way, are you upgrading from another graphics card, or are you just using HD4000 integrated graphics right now? Either way, I'll bet that you're in for an amazing experience with your graphics card upgrade.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

The r9 390 just pulling ahead in front in most titles. It also has 8gb's of vram 😉

However the GTX 970 has slightly less power draw and overclocks amazingly to just beating the r9 390 when overclocked as well.
Personally I would go r9 390, since at 1080p some games can use over 4gb's of vram (or 3.5gb's) and it is slightly faster at stock. Also if you plan to go Crossfire the 8gb's is perfect.
One drawback is it has DX12 support as it is an older architecture and the GTX 970 supports a higher version of DX12 (when it comes out)

Your PSU is fine, if it's gold rate is correct, my card when overclocked pulls about 310w. At stock it pulls about 275w. The 390 is also a rehash of my r9 290 but slightly better in everything.

-good luck

Quick answer, go for the r9 390 it pulls ahead by a little in FPS and the extra power draw is nothing to be largely concerned about. I run it on a Corsair bronze 600w PSU.


edit: since it's also cheaper where you are, for me because it is new it's roughly 80 dollars more than a 970.

 

[Joaquin Rivera Lopez]

@Joaquin

Honestly, if I were in your situation, I would go for the R9 390. The TDP is 275 watts for that card, and your 4790K has a TDP of 88 watts. I really wouldn't stress. I see that MSI's card requires one 6 pin and one 8 pin PCIe power connector. I'd bet anything that they include a 6-to-8 pin adapter. Purchase any brand of the R9 390 and enjoy it.

By the way, are you upgrading from another graphics card, or are you just using HD4000 integrated graphics right now? Either way, I'll bet that you're in for an amazing experience with your graphics card upgrade.

I bought my pc 5 months ago and was saving up some money to buy the GPU. I had an old HD 6670 that can run GTA V at 25fps at minumum

Thanks for your advice, i'm going for the r9 390 do come by, I will tell you guys how everything went.

 

[rcald2000]

Wow man. That's going to be quite an upgrade. I've only had a few graphics cards in my entire lifetime:

Geforce 2 MX400 -> ATI x1950 Pro -> HD 4670 -> GTX 970 -> GTX 980 Ti

When I upgrade from my HD 4670 to the GTX 970, it was a huge upgrade. Witcher 3 wouldn't even load with the 4670; game flat out refused to load.

- Rob

 

[Anonymouselite5]

@Joaquin

Honestly, if I were in your situation, I would go for the R9 390. The TDP is 275 watts for that card, and your 4790K has a TDP of 88 watts. I really wouldn't stress. I see that MSI's card requires one 6 pin and one 8 pin PCIe power connector. I'd bet anything that they include a 6-to-8 pin adapter. Purchase any brand of the R9 390 and enjoy it.

By the way, are you upgrading from another graphics card, or are you just using HD4000 integrated graphics right now? Either way, I'll bet that you're in for an amazing experience with your graphics card upgrade.

I bought my pc 5 months ago and was saving up some money to buy the GPU. I had an old HD 6670 that can run GTA V at 25fps at minumum

Thanks for your advice, i'm going for the r9 390 do come by, I will tell you guys how everything went.

Run some benchmarks on the card as well 😉 The 390 is a newer version of my card. It'd be good to see if their changes made improvements.
Also you could compare to your old card, should be almost triple .

 

[Joaquin Rivera Lopez]

Wow man. That's going to be quite an upgrade. I've only had a few graphics cards in my entire lifetime:

Geforce 2 MX400 -> ATI x1950 Pro -> HD 4670 -> GTX 970 -> GTX 980 Ti

When I upgrade from my HD 4670 to the GTX 970, it was a huge upgrade. Witcher 3 wouldn't even load with the 4670; game flat out refused to load.

- Rob

Im getting the feeling my upgrade from the HD 6670 to the R9 390X will be just as big of an upgrade. Got a deal for US$ 420 for a 390X so i'm going for it.

Will be buying it next week (Asus Strix btw)

 

[Joaquin Rivera Lopez]

@Joaquin

Honestly, if I were in your situation, I would go for the R9 390. The TDP is 275 watts for that card, and your 4790K has a TDP of 88 watts. I really wouldn't stress. I see that MSI's card requires one 6 pin and one 8 pin PCIe power connector. I'd bet anything that they include a 6-to-8 pin adapter. Purchase any brand of the R9 390 and enjoy it.

By the way, are you upgrading from another graphics card, or are you just using HD4000 integrated graphics right now? Either way, I'll bet that you're in for an amazing experience with your graphics card upgrade.

I bought my pc 5 months ago and was saving up some money to buy the GPU. I had an old HD 6670 that can run GTA V at 25fps at minumum

Thanks for your advice, i'm going for the r9 390 do come by, I will tell you guys how everything went.

Run some benchmarks on the card as well 😉 The 390 is a newer version of my card. It'd be good to see if their changes made improvements.
Also you could compare to your old card, should be almost triple .

I think comparing to my old card the r9 390x i'm buying will just make the HD 6670 look like a 1mb gpu card :lol:

I will benchmark it though just to show you guys how well this new beast performs 😉

 

[Joaquin Rivera Lopez]

Hey guys just wanted to give you an update on my final decision and purchase.

I got the r9 390x from asus (w/ directcu II). Installed it on my pc and checked afterburner for temps. This is were the problems started... the card was running at 60°C idle and 85 at load w/o any OC. On top of that when running some benchmark SW, the PSU proved to be insufficient (apparently TT TR2 600w 80+ bronze isnt enough for this card).

As I really was excited to play some games with my new rig, i went over my budget and bought a 1000W CM Silent m2 PSU. Went ahead and installed it. Everything seemed to be ok but when i ran GTA V, the GPU would overheat.

I had to make something so i disassembled the GPU fan (goodbye warranty), cleaned the horribly applied stock thermal paste and used a better one in an appropriate manner...

VOILA! Temps went down to 40 at idle and 65 at full load. I couldnt be happier now (expect for some driver issues with GTA V). The card performs incredibly well. If anyone out there is looking to buy a r9 390x card, perhaps you should consider getting the msi version as it seems to be the most stable one.

 

[Anonymouselite5]

Hey guys just wanted to give you an update on my final decision and purchase.

I got the r9 390x from asus (w/ directcu II). Installed it on my pc and checked afterburner for temps. This is were the problems started... the card was running at 60°C idle and 85 at load w/o any OC. On top of that when running some benchmark SW, the PSU proved to be insufficient (apparently TT TR2 600w 80+ bronze isnt enough for this card).

As I really was excited to play some games with my new rig, i went over my budget and bought a 1000W CM Silent m2 PSU. Went ahead and installed it. Everything seemed to be ok but when i ran GTA V, the GPU would overheat.

I had to make something so i disassembled the GPU fan (goodbye warranty), cleaned the horribly applied stock thermal paste and used a better one in an appropriate manner...

VOILA! Temps went down to 40 at idle and 65 at full load. I couldnt be happier now (expect for some driver issues with GTA V). The card performs incredibly well. If anyone out there is looking to buy a r9 390x card, perhaps you should consider getting the msi version as it seems to be the most stable one.

Shame, you must have got a bad sample. Asus are usually pretty good.
Although a problem on the Asus r9 290, they used a bad cooler that didn't make connection with some components. It was also Direct CU II. Since apparently (don't quote me on this) they used the gtx 780 cooler on it.
Thought the 390 series was direct CU III which is much better.

Well glad you fixed it.

edit: also odd, Im running my r9 290 heavily overclocked on a bronze 600w psu. Sure it does maybe get pushed but it still runs.

 

[red2481]

The thermaltake tr2 is a very poor power supply. I was going to get it, but got an evga supernova 650 watt instead