Graphic Card + Power Supply?

[DeathR34PER]

Well, I've been thinking lately, along with my other friends, is that I'm wanting to get an idea of doing CrossFire with my APU, and I've been looking into the AMD R7 250 series. Though, I've been having some issues when I think about it because, when I used Newegg's Power Calculator, it showed me that I'm going over the limit if I do plan on getting a dedicated graphic card.

 

I tried to think it'll be safe enough as my Dell Power Supply is 750 Watt, but when I looked at the Power Calculator, it tells me 789 Watt PSU is needed if I want to run it with a dedicated graphic card.

 

Is it better if I keep my APU Graphics or should I try to fire up with AMD R7 250 video card with the APU? I haven't bought the graphic card yet, but I'm just curious before I do mess something up. If it's not safe just buying a GPU only, then which PSU should I upgrade to then before buying the GPU?

 

AMD A10-7850K Black Edition

Dell 750W Power Supply Unit

 

Video card planning to get -

 

XFX Core Edition 4GB - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150707

 

MSI 2GB OC - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127763

Edited October 24, 2014 by DeathR34PER

[xethier]

be careful with dell systems, occasionally you'll run into a motherboard and power supply that are non-standard and will result in either a non-functional paring or damaged hardware if changed out.

 

check with dell before using standard power supplies.

 

i ran into these years ago, and i have no idea if they continued that behavior.

[ClockworkSpectre]

You need to watch out for the Amperage requirement on the Video card as well,  the wattage is not the only power issue you need to worry about.  Back last year when I upgraded my PC I also had to upgrade my power supply to meet the requirements of the new card.  Even if the wattage is high enough, if your amperage is still to low you may get system shut downs and will probably burn out your power supply and potentially damage other parts of your system.

[JohnProdman]

OEM systems never come with much spare power. If you're planning an upgrade, you'll definitely need a new power supply.

 

Dell premades are ALWAYS OEM.

[DeathR34PER]

Well, my Dell PSU has been running good for over 5 years now, and haven't ran a single problem. Plus, they do have the right connectivity standards to the modern systems without having any conversions or replacements. My Mobo was able to make use out of it, along with my other old video cards, like NVidia 250 GTS and 450 GTS.

 

Well, I guess the GPU is going have to be on Hold then if I do have to find a new Power Supply. I never ran into any shortages or meltdowns on my computer, other than the issue I had with a Touchscreen monitor, and it fried my entire motherboard, but nothing else.

 

EDIT: Sorry, I should of be a bit more specific on WHICH power supply I had.

 

It's the Dell XPS 630i's Power Supply Unit. You guys might want to Google it just in case, along with the image to look into and you'll see what it looks like exactly. I kept the PSU cleaned and checked for any damages, but not a single problem, like I said.

Edited October 24, 2014 by DeathR34PER

[Error989]

VRAM is just it's memory, space to store textures and stuff...more VRAM doesnt mean faster graphics card
750W is waayyyy over what you need for that GPU, even chinese crappy 750W would be able to run 4770k and AMD 290x
that power calculator is sooooooooooooooo wrong it hurts my brain

you should get 270x or nvidia 750ti or something similar since A LOT of games have problems running on more than 1 card and your DDR memory (the one that APU uses) impacts performance of APU a lot
250 wouldnt get you much performance at all (especially in warframe)

but really...750W PSU is an overkill for that system... you could run everything that you have + R9 270x on 400W PSU, 280X on 500W and 290X on 600W

edit: if you have 20A or more on your 12V rail you can run almost any high end card on that PSU
(there's a sticker on it that says 12V and 18 20 or more Ampers, if it says like 22A you can run 280X no problem)

edit2:
let your APU work as a CPU and get a dedicated graphics card

I'd recommend you getting this one if you're on a budget http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487028&cm_re=750ti-_-14-487-028-_-Product (it consumes almost no power at all due to using maxwell architecture, the same one as GTX980)
or if you wanna stay with AMD this one (it's faster)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202050&cm_re=R9_270X-_-14-202-050-_-Product

edit3:
if your PSU has only 18A on 12V rail you can buy Nvidia 750Ti no problem :)
but if it's 750W it should have around 30-40A (even more if it's a quality PSU with a single rail)
 

Edited October 24, 2014 by Error989

[DeathR34PER]

VRAM is just it's memory, space to store textures and stuff...more VRAM doesnt mean faster graphics card

750W is waayyyy over what you need for that GPU, even chinese crappy 750W would be able to run 4770k and AMD 290x

that power calculator is sooooooooooooooo wrong it hurts my brain

you should get 270x or nvidia 750ti or something similar since A LOT of games have problems running on more than 1 card and your DDR memory (the one that APU uses) impacts performance of APU a lot

250 wouldnt get you much performance at all (especially in warframe)

but really...750W PSU is an overkill for that system... you could run everything that you have + R9 270x on 400W PSU, 280X on 500W and 290X on 600W

 

Well, the thing is, is that I'm gonna be doing CrossFire since my APU supports it along with the AMD GPU that I've selected. As much as I would LIKE to get my hands on the NVidia 750 Ti, but I feel like it wouldn't be able to cut it that much. I'll try to avoid the VRAM.

 

EDIT: I'll try and see if I can look into the NVidia 750 Ti, barely noticed it's now on sale. Plus, I'm somewhat on a tight budget.

Edited October 24, 2014 by DeathR34PER

[Error989]

Well, the thing is, is that I'm gonna be doing CrossFire since my APU supports it along with the AMD GPU that I've selected. As much as I would LIKE to get my hands on the NVidia 750 Ti, but I feel like it wouldn't be able to cut it that much. I'll try to avoid the VRAM.

 

EDIT: I'll try and see if I can look into the NVidia 750 Ti, barely noticed it's now on sale. Plus, I'm somewhat on a tight budget.

tell me the model number of your PSU... if it's ANY boxy one like this one

it can handle 750Ti no problem :)

750Ti consumes like 60-70W at 100% load

I would not recommend you even taking a look at crossfire, most games cant run on 2 graphics cards, some crash constantly and some work but it's just asking for problems (and 750Ti is 2x faster than 250+APU crossfire)

this graph shows you what a crappy card 250 is (if you crossfire it with your APU you get 20-70% more performance, it's still like 3x slower than 750Ti)

Edited October 24, 2014 by Error989

[DeathR34PER]

That's the exact same model and everything. I'll try and see, again, look into the NVidia, thanks!

[Error989]

That's the exact same model and everything. I'll try and see, again, look into the NVidia, thanks!

I think that they use the same PSU on all of their builds cause that PSU is a bit much for that system :P tho it has 4 12V rails running at 18A so it's not ready for the highest end of GPUs but it could run mid-high end no problem if you connected lets say 2nd and 3rd rail to the gpu's power plug

edit: your PSU has 2 18A rails but still that can run 750Ti no problem :)

but yes 750Ti is your best bet :) and you would be able to use PhysX in Warframe :P

as I already said this one is an AWESOME bang for your money http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487028&cm_re=750ti-_-14-487-028-_-Product

(the same one costs $230 here where I live)

edit2: you said that you had 450 gts? cause it consumes 2x more power than 750Ti

Edited October 24, 2014 by Error989

[SSI_Kryptix]

Id say get Gtx 970 and for power supply Corsair RM1000

[Error989]

Id say get Gtx 970 and for power supply Corsair RM1000

you know that that would cost like $500 right? he said that he's on a budget... and 1000W is an overkill... 500-550W can handle GTX 970...

best option for him is to get 750Ti (even if he got 970 he would need a better cpu, meaning new motherboard...that's $700-800)

750Ti would be great for him, it can run BF4 at ultra at 1080p and doesnt consume much power at all AND it's really cheap...best bang for the buck... (and the cpu wouldnt bottleneck his gpu)

Edited October 26, 2014 by Error989

[xethier]

you know that that would cost like $500 right? he said that he's on a budget... and 1000W is an overkill... 500-550W can handle GTX 970...

best option for him is to get 750Ti (even if he got 970 he would need a better cpu, meaning new motherboard...that's $700-800)

750Ti would be great for him, it can run BF4 at ultra at 1080p and doesnt consume much power at all AND it's really cheap...best bang for the buck... (and the cpu wouldnt bottleneck his gpu)

 

actually, looking over everything, if you can cram in a gtx 760, you'd probably be a bit better off.

it's below the price break and the power consumption requirements aren't *that* much higher.

[Error989]

actually, looking over everything, if you can cram in a gtx 760, you'd probably be a bit better off.

it's below the price break and the power consumption requirements aren't *that* much higher.

750Ti uses Maxwell (same as 970 and 980) meaning it consumes A LOT less power and is in his price range... you're acting like everyone has millions

760 is around $200

R9 270X would be better for less money

Edited October 27, 2014 by Error989

[xethier]

750Ti uses Maxwell (same as 970 and 980) meaning it consumes A LOT less power and is in his price range... you're acting like everyone has millions

760 is around $200

R9 270X would be better for less money

 

170 to 210, yeah. as i said, below the price break. (350+)

 

marginally more expensive than the 750 ti (about $30) for an almost 30% increase in benchmarks. (or thereabouts)

 

plus it has the added benefit that it isn't ATI. (which is it's own reward)

[Error989]

170 to 210, yeah. as i said, below the price break. (350+)

 

marginally more expensive than the 750 ti (about $30) for an almost 30% increase in benchmarks. (or thereabouts)

 

plus it has the added benefit that it isn't ATI. (which is it's own reward)

I prefer ATI cause you get more performance for the same price

[SHIR0B0N]

I prefer ATI cause you get more performance for the same price

 

And crap reliability.

 

Not to mention the countless blue screens I've had from their driver updates, plus PhysX being exclusive to Nvidia. Compatibility issues also come to mind.

 

 

As for OP, I wouldn't Crossfire with an APU. I'd always Crossfire (or SLI) two of the same cards. I'd just run the single R7 250. Though, I might suggest try and save more and go along the lines of an R9 270. If you run a single card, you won't another PSU at least.

[xethier]

ATI isn't a bad card, but it's similar to AMD's design philosophy.

Performance at all costs, including sacrificing durability, longevity, power utilization, and horrendous drivers / firmware.

 

As a primary linux user (the only windows system i have is for gaming) whenever I buy a piece of hardware, I expect it will eventually be tasked with some linux distro on it at some point in it's lifetime.

 

To that end, compatibility and longevity are more important to me than simply price vs. performance.

Every AMD / ATI component I've used since 1994 has died within a few years. (the best I ever had was a 3000+ 1.8ghz amd 64 that made it 8 years before it ate itself) Most within 3-5 years. Every Intel / Nvidia solution I've used lasts at least that long and more often to the 10-12 range. (or longer)

 

To that end I prefer Intel / Nvidia solutions as in the long run, I get more out of the system for my money.

 

Now, that's me, and I'm very much not your average gamer. (I'm 34 years old and have been building systems professionally since i was 11 and working afternoons at a PC shop) -- Since then i've done everything from bench tech to on-site tech to google datacenter deployment.

I don't look down on users of that hardware, if their systems are designed for maximum performance vs. price and they expect to upgrade every 1-2 years, then so be it. (and kudos!)

 

But that's not me. :P