Can my SeaSonic M12II 620w PSU handle a Radeon 290x?

[Dankk]

I've been itching for an upgrade lately. I've had my PC for two years now and while I'm generally quite happy with it, my 7870 is beginning to feel long in the tooth. With many of the newest games been coming out, I've been finding myself turning down a lot of settings in order to achieve 60fps, or anywhere close to that, which is disappointing. So I've been thinking about reinvigorating my build with a new GPU.

NewEgg has a HIS iPower IceQ 290x for $339 after rebate. I'm thinking this would probably be a substantial upgrade over a 7870 for a pretty good deal.

But, I know it's power-hungry and my PSU is a concern. Could my Seasonic 620w PSU handle both an FX-8350 and a 290x without any issues? I know with an Intel CPU it probably could, but the FX processors are generally more power-hungry too, and 620w is cutting it close. But at the same time, Seasonic PSUs are generally quite efficient, aren't they? Could I pull it off?

Keep in mind I won't be doing any serious overclocking (if any at all).

And, please, feel free to let me know if I'm dumb for thinking that $339 is a good deal for a 290x. I'm open to other suggestions.

 

[Phynaz]

With ease.

 

[CRA5HMAN]

$339 sounds like a great deal.

 

[felang]

You should be fine, great deal.

 

[exar333]

$339 sounds like a great deal.

This. And your PSU is plenty.

 

[Majcric]

It is a good price for the 290x. But I'd get the 290 instead since its about 75 dollars cheaper and the performance is almost on par with the 290x

 

[RussianSensation]

Dankk, your PSU is more than sufficient. I would consider saving money though and just getting the $270 HIS 290. 2 reasons:

1) After-market 290X is not much faster than an after-market 290.
2) With your CPU, the difference won't be as dramatic since you aren't using a 4.4Ghz i7.

If I were you, I'd put the $70 savings towards a future CPU platform upgrade or for Steam games. The other point is if you are willing to spend $340, might as well wait for one of the 970s to come back in stock. I think the choice here is $270 R9 290 vs. 970.

 

[Attic]

Dankk, your PSU is more than sufficient. I would consider saving money though and just getting the $270 HIS 290. 2 reasons:

1) After-market 290X is not much faster than an after-market 290.
2) With your CPU, the difference won't be as dramatic since you aren't using a 4.4Ghz i7.

If I were you, I'd put the $70 savings towards a future CPU platform upgrade or for Steam games. The other point is if you are willing to spend $340, might as well wait for one of the 970s to come back in stock. I think the choice here is $270 R9 290 vs. 970.

This post nails it.

 

[Dankk]

Thanks for the great feedback, guys. I went ahead and pulled the trigger on the HIS 290x.

Dumb question. On the specs page, it says:

750W (or greater) power supply with one 150W 8-pin PCI Express power connector and one 75W 6-pin PCI Express power connector recommended

Which is great, because my PSU definitely has a 6-pin and an 8-pin. However, according to this photo, it has two 8-pins:

So what does it mean? Will there be a couple of pin slots left unoccupied?

Dankk, your PSU is more than sufficient. I would consider saving money though and just getting the $270 HIS 290. 2 reasons:

1) After-market 290X is not much faster than an after-market 290.
2) With your CPU, the difference won't be as dramatic since you aren't using a 4.4Ghz i7.

Forgive my ignorance, but doesn't it purely depend on the game? I understand I might be somewhat bottlenecked in CPU-heavy games, but in games that rely little on CPU and majorly on GPU, won't it not matter?