R9 280X on a 600 watt PSU?

[games_maxed]

Is it safe? Card is a Sapphire dual-x R9 280X. It's rated to require 750W but I've heard a couple people running on a lot less than that. I know what can happen if the PSU isn't enough. I just want to know if anyone knows how much power this card actually draws?

 

[HiTechObsessed]

600w is more than enough for the 280x. You could run a 280x on a quality 500w PSU. The key to power supplies is quality, not quantity. Stick to a goox SeaSonic or XFX if you can. Here's a link to a 620w from SeaSonic for a good price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096&clickid=wRQ2anVvZ2ojydj0TkxpxX9eUkTyi7UF2wcNVE0&iradid=97618&ircid=2106&irpid=79301&nm_mc=AFC-IR&cm_mmc=AFC-IR-_-na-_-na-_-na

 

[games_maxed]

600w is more than enough for the 280x. You could run a 280x on a quality 500w PSU. The key to power supplies is quality, not quantity. Stick to a goox SeaSonic or XFX if you can. Here's a link to a 620w from SeaSonic for a good price:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151096&clickid=wRQ2anVvZ2ojydj0TkxpxX9eUkTyi7UF2wcNVE0&iradid=97618&ircid=2106&irpid=79301&nm_mc=AFC-IR&cm_mmc=AFC-IR-_-na-_-na-_-na

Well I've already got my 600W PSU. If I buy another PSU, it will be 1000W+, maybe even 1250W. I've got a friend with a Corsair RM850 and he's running my card right now (Dogecoin mining). But my case has much better cooling than his. His case has a total of 4 fans, mine has 7. Only one of his is 120mm, all 7 of mine are 120mm. Which would be better? Card is sitting at 67C right now in his case. One other problem I just thought of is this card is 8-pin PCI-E. My PSU is only 6-pin. Is there anything I can do about that?

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Depending what 280x you buy, there is usually a 6 to 8 pin adapter included.

And there is absolutely no need whatsoever in a PSU that size. 1250w could power 4-way CrossFire/SLI lol The 850 he has enough for Crossfire.

What brand/model PSU do you have?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

A Radeon R9-280X needs at least 30amps on the 12v rail and a 550W power supply.

Here is one that will do the job.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $64.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-03 14:59 EST-0500)

 

[games_maxed]

Depending what 280x you buy, there is usually a 6 to 8 pin adapter included.

And there is absolutely no need whatsoever in a PSU that size. 1250w could power 4-way CrossFire/SLI lol The 850 he has enough for Crossfire.

What brand/model PSU do you have?

I plan to have a setup like that soon. I'm mining Dogecoin, making about $250/month at current rates, which will go up. Most of the money I make from this will be going towards upgrading almost everything. I'm looking at an ASrock mobo with 3 PCI-E 3.0 slots and need to also get a new processor. I'll probably get the Haswell Pentium for temporary since it's only $70, but in long term I plan to get a 4770K or better, with up to 3 R9 280X's or better, maybe even 4 or 5 cards once I get the coins really rolling in. I'm just future-proofing my power source!

Current PSU is a Coolmax VL-600B. Hint, hint: I don't have much money right now. I'm lucky my friend loaned out the money to me so I could get that 280X.

 

[games_maxed]

A Radeon R9-280X needs at least 30amps on the 12v rail and a 550W power supply.

Here is one that will do the job.


PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant / Benchmarks

Power Supply: XFX 650W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($64.99 @ NCIX US)
Total: $64.99
(Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available.)
(Generated by PCPartPicker 2014-02-03 14:59 EST-0500)

If I'm reading the box my PSU came in correctly, mine has 51 amps and 450 watts on the 12v rail. So am I good?

 

[HiTechObsessed]

If it's a single 12v rail you'll be fine, especially if it's for mining right now. The rest of your system won't be drawing much power at all. I would upgrade as soon as you can though lol

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

It's not sufficient to run the card because of poor quality and overstated power , a very bad PSU for mining.

Recommendation: Replace right away don't risk your other components.

Tier 5 - Other than the units listed above for any of these brands, NOT RECOMMENDED. Replace ASAP if you have one.

A-TOP Technology
Apevia
APEX (SUPERCASE/ALLIED)
Aspire(Turbo Case)
ATADC
Athena Power
ATRIX
Broadway Com Corp
Coolmax<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Deer
Diablotek
Dynapower USA
Dynex
EagleTech
FOXCONN
FSP Everest
HEC Orion
Hiper Type-R
Huntkey
I-Star Computer Co. Ltd
In Win
JPAC COMPUTER
Just PC
Kingwin Inc.
Linkworld Electronics
Logisys Computer
MGE
MSI
NMEDIAPC
Norwood Micro/ CompUSA
NorthQ
NZXT
Okia
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rocketfish
Rosewill
SFC
Shuttle
Skyhawk
Spire Coolers
Star Micro
STARTECH
Thermaltake Purepower NP
Thermaltake Purepower RU
Thermaltake TR2 (and TR2-RX)
TOPOWER TOP
Ultra X-Connect
Ultra X2 >greater than 700 watt
Ultra LSP
Wintech
XION
YoungYear
Zebronics

 

[ko888]

AMD Reference Design Radeon R9 280X 3 GB GDDR5
(graphics card only power consumption)
• Peak Power (Gaming): 207 Watts
• GPGPU (Bitmining): 257 Watts
• Maximum Card Power (FurMark): 300 Watts

Non-reference design cards with factory overclocking will draw more power.

For crypto-currency mining you should not be basing the graphics card's power consumption on the power consumption reached using gaming because the PSU will end up being undersized (i.e. inadequate).

If you use the FurMark power consumption for PSU sizing you will ensure that you have enough power capacity for crypto-currency mining.

If your PSU has a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 42 Amps or greater and has at least one 6-pin & one 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors it should work.

Your CoolMax VL-600B only has a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 37.5 Amps and only one 6-pin PCI-E power connector.

 

[games_maxed]

It's not sufficient to run the card because of poor quality and overstated power , a very bad PSU for mining.

Recommendation: Replace right away don't risk your other components.

Tier 5 - Other than the units listed above for any of these brands, NOT RECOMMENDED. Replace ASAP if you have one.

A-TOP Technology
Apevia
APEX (SUPERCASE/ALLIED)
Aspire(Turbo Case)
ATADC
Athena Power
ATRIX
Broadway Com Corp
Coolmax<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Deer
Diablotek
Dynapower USA
Dynex
EagleTech
FOXCONN
FSP Everest
HEC Orion
Hiper Type-R
Huntkey
I-Star Computer Co. Ltd
In Win
JPAC COMPUTER
Just PC
Kingwin Inc.
Linkworld Electronics
Logisys Computer
MGE
MSI
NMEDIAPC
Norwood Micro/ CompUSA
NorthQ
NZXT
Okia
Powmax
Q-Tec
Raidmax
Rocketfish
Rosewill
SFC
Shuttle
Skyhawk
Spire Coolers
Star Micro
STARTECH
Thermaltake Purepower NP
Thermaltake Purepower RU
Thermaltake TR2 (and TR2-RX)
TOPOWER TOP
Ultra X-Connect
Ultra X2 >greater than 700 watt
Ultra LSP
Wintech
XION
YoungYear
Zebronics

Okay, well my friend, as I said has a Corsair RM850, so I'll leave it in there until I can upgrade. I'm still dead set on at least 1000W for my next PSU. I'm looking at a Cougar CMX 1000. Will that be fine?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

RM850 < Is fine as long as it's from the newer lots.

 

[games_maxed]

RM850 < Is fine as long as it's from the newer lots.

Newer lots? What do you mean by that exactly?

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Some of the RM750 and 850 units had issues.

Personally , I don't like the RM Series.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=123484

 

[ko888]

RM850 < Is fine as long as it's from the newer lots.

Newer lots? What do you mean by that exactly?

The affected units with the thermal problem are in lot codes < 1341 (i.e. the first four digits of the S/N.)

If the PSU's Serial Number begins with 1341 or higher then the thermal problem is suppose to be fixed.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Thanks for the info ko888

 

[games_maxed]

AMD Reference Design Radeon R9 280X 3 GB GDDR5
(graphics card only power consumption)
• Peak Power (Gaming): 207 Watts
• GPGPU (Bitmining): 257 Watts
• Maximum Card Power (FurMark): 300 Watts

Non-reference design cards with factory overclocking will draw more power.

For crypto-currency mining you should not be basing the graphics card's power consumption on the power consumption reached using gaming because the PSU will end up being undersized (i.e. inadequate).

If you use the FurMark power consumption for PSU sizing you will ensure that you have enough power capacity for crypto-currency mining.

If your PSU has a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 42 Amps or greater and has at least one 6-pin & one 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors it should work.

Your CoolMax VL-600B only has a combined +12 Volt continuous current rating of 37.5 Amps and only one 6-pin PCI-E power connector.

Can you tell me how you got 37.5 Amps? I'm least familiar with PSU's out of all parts.

 

[games_maxed]

RM850 < Is fine as long as it's from the newer lots.

Newer lots? What do you mean by that exactly?

The affected units with the thermal problem are in lot codes < 1341 (i.e. the first four digits of the S/N.)

If the PSU's Serial Number begins with 1341 or higher then the thermal problem is suppose to be fixed.

If the PSU was purchased from Newegg about 3 months ago, would it be the newer lot? If you can't say, I can check in with my friend later.

 

[games_maxed]

Some of the RM750 and 850 units had issues.

Personally , I don't like the RM Series.

http://forum.corsair.com/v3/showthread.php?t=123484

Hm. This might explain why the inside of his case gets so hot? He doesn't have a whole lot of cooling right now (we're working on modding his case even more) but his watercooled 4770K got up to 50C+ during the Cinebench CPU benchmark. Isn't that a little high? My Phenom II X6 didn't exceed 30C during the same benchmark.

 

[ko888]

Can you tell me how you got 37.5 Amps? I'm least familiar with PSU's out of all parts.

See the 450W under the +12V1, +12V2 & +12V3 rails?

Using Ohm's Law:

450 Watts ÷ 12 Volts = 37.5 Amps

I highly doubt that the CoolMax VL-600B is really able to provide 37.5 Amps on its combined +12V rails. The fact that they only include one 6-pin PCI-E power connector is a dead giveaway that the +12V rails are weak.

 

[games_maxed]

Can you tell me how you got 37.5 Amps? I'm least familiar with PSU's out of all parts.

See the 450W under the +12V1, +12V2 & +12V3 rails?

Using Ohm's Law:

450 Watts ÷ 12 Volts = 37.5 Amps

I highly doubt that the CoolMax VL-600B is really able to provide 37.5 Amps on its combined +12V rails. The fact that they only include one 6-pin PCI-E power connector is a dead giveaway that the +12V rails are weak.

Oh, I had no idea that's how you figure that. Thanks. I knew I was getting a cheap PSU when I bought it. I just needed something better than the 450W Antec I did have.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

That's why I stated that above about the overstated power on the unit.

 

[games_maxed]

That's why I stated that above about the overstated power on the unit.

Is the power badly overstated? I mean, how do they get away with that? I knew that generic PSU's were known for this but I thought branded ones generally avoid this. Sorry, I didn't catch quite what you were saying then.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

There are quite a few out there that are not overstated specs wise.

SEASONIC , XFX , Antec , are all first rate names in supplies.

 

[ko888]

Disreputable brands put liar labels on their products to lure the unsuspecting consumers into buying their products.