Corsair VX550W for which card

[scotinthecity]

Hi guys
I wondered if anyone could advise a reasonably priced GPU for a VX550W
I have been happily running an 8800GT and was about to upgrade to the R9 270X OC 2GB from Sapphire when i read a number of amazon reviews saying it blew up peoples 500W PSUs.

Is this a danger for me with the 550w Corsair? If so, would the 750ti be my best bet?

Much appreciated in advance!
Mike

 

[Raiin]

a 550w is more than enough for a r9 270 you can even run a r9 280 if you want, that corsair Psu is good. those 500w psu that blew up were probably something by Diablotek or logistic, they wont even output half of that before blowing up, your good to go with your corsair 550w

 

[scotinthecity]

a 550w is more than enough for a r9 270 you can even run a r9 280 if you want, that corsair Psu is good. those 500w psu that blew up were probably something by Diablotek or logistic, they wont even output half of that before blowing up, your good to go with your corsair 550w

Hey, thanks for your reply. I'm just a little terrified that mine might blow! I do have a few usb devices and of course a Pentium g3258 and a SSD and HDD and DVDR drive all running into it.

It just puts me off that amazon has more than five reviewers saying that the R9 popped their 500w PSU.

 

[smackers_12]

a 550w is more than enough for a r9 270 you can even run a r9 280 if you want, that corsair Psu is good. those 500w psu that blew up were probably something by Diablotek or logistic, they wont even output half of that before blowing up, your good to go with your corsair 550w

That corsair psu is acceptable, its not great. OP should be fine with an r9 270x on it though. I wouldnt try overclocking it more that how it comes, or overclocking the cpu at the same time.

 

[scotinthecity]

a 550w is more than enough for a r9 270 you can even run a r9 280 if you want, that corsair Psu is good. those 500w psu that blew up were probably something by Diablotek or logistic, they wont even output half of that before blowing up, your good to go with your corsair 550w

That corsair psu is acceptable, its not great. OP should be fine with an r9 270x on it though. I wouldnt try overclocking it more that how it comes, or overclocking the cpu at the same time.

So if i opted for the gtx 750ti would that be an all round smarter (safer) option for my PSU?

I have my CPU default overclocked to 3.6GHz (a 400mhz gain) but could disable overclocking of course.

Right now im on an 8800GT 512MB so I guess the 750ti would be a significant gain anyway, I just want to make sure Im giving my pc bang for buck and since these two cards are the same price on Amazon right now it seems like this would be the BETTER choice but I just dont want the better choice to also blow up my new mobo, cpu and ssd.

 

[Math Geek]

you should have no problems running a 270x on that psu. even with a modest oc of the pentium. it is plenty of power. it won't blow up or burn down your house. don't fall victim to the fear mongering.

at most you would be using 100w for the cpu + 175w for gpu + another 50w for "other" = ~325w or 27 12v amps. that psu has 41 12v amps so even with this high estimate you're only using ~65% of the psu's rated power. this is plenty "safe" and even for an average psu like the vx550, it is not even close to pulling too much power. sleep well, it will run fine.

and the 270x is a lot better than the 750ti. even the ftw edition of the 750ti super overclocked did not match a reference 270. so a 270x would be that much better.

 

[scotinthecity]

you should have no problems running a 270x on that psu. even with a modest oc of the pentium. it is plenty of power. it won't blow up or burn down your house. don't fall victim to the fear mongering.

at most you would be using 100w for the cpu + 175w for gpu + another 50w for "other" = ~325w or 27 12v amps. that psu has 41 12v amps so even with this high estimate you're only using ~65% of the psu's rated power. this is plenty "safe" and even for an average psu like the vx550, it is not even close to pulling too much power. sleep well, it will run fine.

and the 270x is a lot better than the 750ti. even the ftw edition of the 750ti super overclocked did not match a reference 270. so a 270x would be that much better.

Hey man
Thanks for this helpful reply. it really cleared things up for me. I opted to buy the 270x based on your recommendation. From what I understand the VX550W is considered a very solid PSU in it's class, though maybe a little old now.

Out of interest, if the PSU DID suddenly go Kaput, how would that affect the components? I know the H81 Plus mobo i use has some built in protection, but im still a total novice to all this stuff....and in addition, would there now be no room for me to upgrade to a i5 or i7 core at a later stage without also having to upgrade my PSU?

Sorry to be a pain, but you've been very helpful so im latching my confused tech claws into you on this now

Michael.

 

[Math Geek]

if the psu were to fail it would more than likely do no damage to the system. it has active controls in place and would just shut down and not start up again. this of course is not 100% since anything can happen. but in only a very rare and unlucky failure would i expect to see any part damage from this psu.

you can upgrade to an i5/i7 later on that psu as well. the only thing it won't like is any major overclocking. it is not wired for high long term draw and is not suggested for such uses. but a locked i5/i7 or even an unlocked one with a modest oc would be ok with the 270x. it's not that the psu is junk but rather that it is just not designed for high draw uses like high end overclocking and dual gpu's.

and keep the questions coming. that is why we are here

 

[scotinthecity]

if the psu were to fail it would more than likely do no damage to the system. it has active controls in place and would just shut down and not start up again. this of course is not 100% since anything can happen. but in only a very rare and unlucky failure would i expect to see any part damage from this psu.

you can upgrade to an i5/i7 later on that psu as well. the only thing it won't like is any major overclocking. it is not wired for high long term draw and is not suggested for such uses. but a locked i5/i7 or even an unlocked one with a modest oc would be ok with the 270x. it's not that the psu is junk but rather that it is just not designed for high draw uses like high end overclocking and dual gpu's.

and keep the questions coming. that is why we are here

Gosh, this is both helpful and interesting!

I believe right now my CPU is overclocking without additional voltage draw. It is 1.175v and 3.6ghz via the AISuite 3 overclocking tool. Yes, im clearly an overclocking n00b as well!

I have had worries about the PSU before because it really does give it a bit of welly whenever i put the computer through start up. My biggest fear is that one day it goes POP, so I was toying for weeks with the R9 270X 2GB OC. I dont intend to OC this GPU in any way shape or form for that reason, but I do still worry it might be too much for my pc and considering if just spent a good few hundred quid upgrading other components, seeing those amazon reviews was enough to have me remove and re-add it to my basket no less than a million times.

As this is my first proper upgrade project (I dont count the PSU or GPU upgrade i did before as they were bit by bit) i guess i really dont want to fuck up my beloved PC.

So im guessing the people on Amazon who's 500w psus failed was due to poor quality brands? I am so hugely confused by the way that graphics cards state their power draw, and specifically the conflicting information on this card!

 

[Raiin]

you should have no problems running a 270x on that psu. even with a modest oc of the pentium. it is plenty of power. it won't blow up or burn down your house. don't fall victim to the fear mongering.

at most you would be using 100w for the cpu + 175w for gpu + another 50w for "other" = ~325w or 27 12v amps. that psu has 41 12v amps so even with this high estimate you're only using ~65% of the psu's rated power. this is plenty "safe" and even for an average psu like the vx550, it is not even close to pulling too much power. sleep well, it will run fine.

and the 270x is a lot better than the 750ti. even the ftw edition of the 750ti super overclocked did not match a reference 270. so a 270x would be that much better.

Hey man
Thanks for this helpful reply. it really cleared things up for me. I opted to buy the 270x based on your recommendation. From what I understand the VX550W is considered a very solid PSU in it's class, though maybe a little old now.

Out of interest, if the PSU DID suddenly go Kaput, how would that affect the components? I know the H81 Plus mobo i use has some built in protection, but im still a total novice to all this stuff....and in addition, would there now be no room for me to upgrade to a i5 or i7 core at a later stage without also having to upgrade my PSU?

Sorry to be a pain, but you've been very helpful so im latching my confused tech claws into you on this now

Michael.

buying a r9 270x is not wise, the r9 270 and x version are the same card, your better of getting a r9 270 which is cheaper and offers the same performance, if anything the best price to performance atm is the r9 280 and r9 290.

150$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161449&cm_re=r9_270-_-14-161-449-_-Product

190$
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202112&cm_re=r9_280-_-14-202-112-_-Product

 

[Math Geek]

the experts have torn apart and tested all kinds of psu's and ranked them based on quality. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

this list is a huge help when shopping and deciding. when people say "it is a tier 3 psu" or something like it, they are referencing this list. the vx is an older version of the cx series i believe making it an average tier 3 unit. it has taken me a while but i am finally understanding all the little things that make it a tier 1 vs tier 3 or 4 unit. it gets real technical with microsecond power spikes and all kinds of other things i only superficially understand. but i do trust the list and the experts who made it

what i have discovered is that 500w is meaningless. what is important is the quality of the build and how the various voltage rails are configured. i have seen 750w psu's with less power available to the important parts than a quality 350w one!! so i would assume someone on amazon saying it fried their 500-550w psu probably had a cheap one. more than likely one that came with a prebuilt system. prebuilts use the cheapest most craptastic psu's made to keep costs down.


a manufacturer will say "550w minimum" when in reality a quality 450w one would be fine. they do this to account for the cheap psu's out there.most of the time a brand also has crap psu's they sell that really would need such high numbers to run the card. the power parts run off the 12v rail of the psu. so a strong 12v rail is what is important over total watts. a 600w psu (for example) will have that power split over the 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails. most of it should be the 12v rail. a crap psu will have 150w to the 12v rail and the rest to the lower volt rails that really don't run much. so this psu would be useless for any kind of decent cpu/gpu combo. but a quality unit will have 575w or more for the 12v rail. this of course will allow for much better parts to be used.

that is the basics of what the power needs means. some manufacturer's are actually beginning to state 12v rail amp needs rather than total wattage since the number can be so meaningless overall.

 

[scotinthecity]

the experts have torn apart and tested all kinds of psu's and ranked them based on quality. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

this list is a huge help when shopping and deciding. when people say "it is a tier 3 psu" or something like it, they are referencing this list. the vx is an older version of the cx series i believe making it an average tier 3 unit. it has taken me a while but i am finally understanding all the little things that make it a tier 1 vs tier 3 or 4 unit. it gets real technical with microsecond power spikes and all kinds of other things i only superficially understand. but i do trust the list and the experts who made it

what i have discovered is that 500w is meaningless. what is important is the quality of the build and how the various voltage rails are configured. i have seen 750w psu's with less power available to the important parts than a quality 350w one!! so i would assume someone on amazon saying it fried their 500-550w psu probably had a cheap one. more than likely one that came with a prebuilt system. prebuilts use the cheapest most craptastic psu's made to keep costs down.


a manufacturer will say "550w minimum" when in reality a quality 450w one would be fine. they do this to account for the cheap psu's out there.most of the time a brand also has crap psu's they sell that really would need such high numbers to run the card. the power parts run off the 12v rail of the psu. so a strong 12v rail is what is important over total watts. a 600w psu (for example) will have that power split over the 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails. most of it should be the 12v rail. a crap psu will have 150w to the 12v rail and the rest to the lower volt rails that really don't run much. so this psu would be useless for any kind of decent cpu/gpu combo. but a quality unit will have 575w or more for the 12v rail. this of course will allow for much better parts to be used.

that is the basics of what the power needs means. some manufacturer's are actually beginning to state 12v rail amp needs rather than total wattage since the number can be so meaningless overall.

This is very useful.

So if my VX unit is from tier three, we should still be okay? In testing reviews the PSU rated very well across the board

It looks like the VX series is tier 2 on overclockers
http://www.overclock.net/t/667515/reference-power-supply-tiers and generally is well regarded in with strong stability results in all testing so FINGERS CROSSED that will be just dandy.

If not, im hoping the high quality of the PSU will protect any components from damage!

The corsair VX 550w has 492w available on its 12v rail and then 140w available on lower rails.

I am assuming that provides more than ample overall headroom for the R9 270X OC?

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/psus/2008/05/06/corsair-vx550w-power-supply/5

 

[scotinthecity]

the experts have torn apart and tested all kinds of psu's and ranked them based on quality. http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1804779/power-supply-unit-tier-list.html

this list is a huge help when shopping and deciding. when people say "it is a tier 3 psu" or something like it, they are referencing this list. the vx is an older version of the cx series i believe making it an average tier 3 unit. it has taken me a while but i am finally understanding all the little things that make it a tier 1 vs tier 3 or 4 unit. it gets real technical with microsecond power spikes and all kinds of other things i only superficially understand. but i do trust the list and the experts who made it

what i have discovered is that 500w is meaningless. what is important is the quality of the build and how the various voltage rails are configured. i have seen 750w psu's with less power available to the important parts than a quality 350w one!! so i would assume someone on amazon saying it fried their 500-550w psu probably had a cheap one. more than likely one that came with a prebuilt system. prebuilts use the cheapest most craptastic psu's made to keep costs down.


a manufacturer will say "550w minimum" when in reality a quality 450w one would be fine. they do this to account for the cheap psu's out there.most of the time a brand also has crap psu's they sell that really would need such high numbers to run the card. the power parts run off the 12v rail of the psu. so a strong 12v rail is what is important over total watts. a 600w psu (for example) will have that power split over the 3.3v, 5v and 12v rails. most of it should be the 12v rail. a crap psu will have 150w to the 12v rail and the rest to the lower volt rails that really don't run much. so this psu would be useless for any kind of decent cpu/gpu combo. but a quality unit will have 575w or more for the 12v rail. this of course will allow for much better parts to be used.

that is the basics of what the power needs means. some manufacturer's are actually beginning to state 12v rail amp needs rather than total wattage since the number can be so meaningless overall.

One last thing
I guess overclocking my CPU would be out of the question with this card installed? I am overclocking to modest gains at 3.6ghz without any voltage boost right now. Its on 1.175v input, which i understand is standard...

 

[Math Geek]

your modest oc with the 270x should be fine. but i would not try for any major oc with watercooling and such. and a second look does raise the vx a notch over the cx series. they are good enough psu's for what you do with it. just keep the oc nice and safe with no power limit increases and you should be running smooth. i have a 270x and like its performance for the price i paid. i'm not a hug gamer but it runs what i play at 1080p on high settings easy. not all the eye candy is turned on but i'm not that worried about that so long as it plays smooth.

 

[scotinthecity]

your modest oc with the 270x should be fine. but i would not try for any major oc with watercooling and such. and a second look does raise the vx a notch over the cx series. they are good enough psu's for what you do with it. just keep the oc nice and safe with no power limit increases and you should be running smooth. i have a 270x and like its performance for the price i paid. i'm not a hug gamer but it runs what i play at 1080p on high settings easy. not all the eye candy is turned on but i'm not that worried about that so long as it plays smooth.

Legend.
I will only safely overclock based on the standard voltage then Thanks so much for your help.

 

[Math Geek]

no problem. enjoy the new gpu

 

[scotinthecity]

no problem. enjoy the new gpu

Hey, so i bought the new GPU and all i got was a BSOD as well as the occasional failed boot with long cyan vertical stripes on my screen.,

The drivers havent recognised the card properly either.,
Disaster.

 

[Math Geek]

did you fully uninstall the old drivers before putting the new card in? this can cause issues with a new card. other basic issues can be the card not fully seated in the slot and not using both 6 pin power connectors. i know these are basic but always a good place to start.

there are also a lot of driver issues for the 270 cards and it may be needed to do a manual install of the driver and not rely on the package installer from amd. however the driver should not cause any failed boots since windows has to be running for the driver to fail. a failed boot suggests more along the lines of the card not being installed right. or you may have gotten unlucky and gotten a bad card. it does happen at times.