Sapphire R9 280X

[Guest]

Hello, I have a Thermaltake TR2 600W PSU. Will this be enough for this card? I don't plan to cross fire or anything, and I have a 270X currently but I plan on upgrading. How much more performance can I expect with running games like Tomb Raider on max? Also, I live in a hot climate especially in summer time what are normal temp's for this card. Thank you in advance.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

There isn't too much of an increase you'll see from a 270x to a 280x. I doubt that would be worth the money.

And the TR2 isn't too great of a power supply, and the 280x can draw some power when it wants to, I would be wary of the 280x on that PSU.

 

[Guest]

Understood, and thank you for the help and the reply. My reason for upgrading was my XFX 270X runs hot which can cause games to crash, which has happened on a favorite of mine RE4. I know the GPU temp is the culprit because i tested my theory. I waited until night when it cooled down and the sun went down, and i cranked the fans up to 100% and it worked fine. I tried cranking the fans up earlier that day but it was still too hot, and I've ran into this problem before. My previous card was a Sapphire which i never had any temp issues with after tweaking the fan speed slightly even in my hot climate. I figured i might look into a 280X, but I'll save the extra and pick up another Sapphire 270X most likely a vapor-x model the brand i should have went with from the start. I'll hold onto my XFX card as well, and i can always CF down the road if it's ever needed.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

The 280x draws considerably more power, and therefore will run warmer in general. Have you tried setting a temperature target on the 270x to throttle at a lower temp?

What was your old card? The new R9 series runs pretty warm. Changing to Sapphire's version won't do all that much. What I would recommend first is to replace the stock thermal paste on the 270x with some Noctua NT-H1 and make sure it's tightly secured.

 

[Guest]

I didn't consider that about the 280X, and i have tried with manually adjusting fan speed. Even at 100% it runs hot. I don't know much about throttling, but i assume it has to do with voltage or lowering the clock speed which is currently at it's default at 1050Mhz. I don't really OC my cards. My old card was an HD7790. I will look into the thermal paste solution as well. Thanks again, the help is appreciated.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

Yeah, the 7790 runs much cooler than the 270x and the 280x, so that could be why as well.

Try downloading MSI Afterburner: http://event.msi.com/vga/afterburner/download.htm

And drop down the power limit option. Select the temperature target to be priority, and set it lower. The 270x has a temp target of 85, I would try setting it to 75 and see if that does anything for you. It'll throttle a little more (which you're right, it does decrease clock rate) but should stay cool enough for you then.

 

[Guest]

Downloading now, I'll try what you recommended. Hopefully that should fix it. I was impressed with the Bonaire GPU in the 7790, it rarely went above 44 and idled at well below 40 if memory serves me right and it was clocked at 1100Mhz. My XFX Pitcairn GPU idles at 47 going well above 50 under load while being clocked at 50Mhz slower. Though I should keep in mind two different GPU's two different cards. Both are good GPU's. Plus I guess it can depend on the game as well, most of my others run okay high temps or not.

 

[HiTechObsessed]

The 7790 also has far fewer Stream processors and such, so is requiring much less power.

But yeah try the temp target, and also might try the power limit to around 90% or so, that essentially just limits the power the card will draw (effectively the same as a temp target, but might as well try it lol)

 

[Guest]

Problem fixed, thank you for the help. I really appreciate it. I do have a couple final question's though, I thought it would be better to ask here than start a new topic. When I upgraded to my 270X I gave my brother my 7790 for his rig, it still continues to be a workhorse. lol My question's regard CF. I heard a 7790 will CF with a R7 260X is this true? Also, my next question is a two part question. I still plan to pick up a Sapphire card at some point to CF will it CF with my XFX card, and my PSU only has two PCI express power connectors should I use the Molex adapters or pick up another PSU? Just asking for advice. I was looking at a Solidgear 850E PSU that has 2 PIC 6 pin and 2 PCI 6+2 pin connectors. I know Solidgear has mixed reviews and there a little known brand to my knowledge, but the PSU is in the sweet spot price wise for someone on a budget. Any advice on this PSU would be welcomed as well.