R9 290/280x Power supply help

[justin4pack]

I have a Dell Precision T3500. It has 12GB of Ram and a xenon 3520 I think ( its the i7-940 equivalent). It has a Power Supply: [FONT=Museo Sans For Dell 300,Museo Sans For Dell 300][FONT=Museo Sans For Dell 300,Museo Sans For Dell 300]525W 85PLUS Power Factor Correcting [/FONT][/FONT]

as said in specs. This is a 85 Silver rating. It has 3 12+ 18a rails. I am using a GTX 760 right now, would this handle the 280x? Or 290 as I herd they have the same power supply requirement.

 

[MrTeal]

I have a T3500 with the W3530, and it's got a reasonable amount of headroom on the PSU. I used to have a pair of 5770s in this box running 24/7 on that supply. The 290 or 280x might be pushing it at 250W, though a 380X or 285 at 180W should be ok as long as the rest of your system is reasonable. Your bigger issue will be the lack of cabling. It's got one 6 pin PCIe connector, so you're going to need to look at an adapter. You can't use a common 2xMolex to PCIe one, because it's only got a single 4 pin molex connector (and the single Molex to PCIe ones are sketchy). You could use one of these guys though.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...H75602&cm_re=pcie_sata-_-12-400-106-_-Product

Really though, a better solution might be to just look at a 960. It's less powerful than a 280X, but it will definitely be less fiddly to install and you won't be pushing your PSU as hard.

 

[justin4pack]

whats the best way to see consumption for what i use? i know the 280x would be on the line if not over.

 

[Teizo]

whats the best way to see consumption for what i use? i know the 280x would be on the line if not over.

P3 Kill A Watt Electricity Load Meter and Monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

A 525 watt silver rated psu should be fine for a 290/390, btw:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/radeon-r9-290-review-benchmarks,10.html

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_radeon_r9_390_pcs_8gb_review,8.html

/Oh, that psu lacks the proper pcie cables...bah. Not sure I would risk it.

 

[justin4pack]

P3 Kill A Watt Electricity Load Meter and Monitor:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715001

A 525 watt silver rated psu should be fine for a 290/390, btw:

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/radeon-r9-290-review-benchmarks,10.html

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_radeon_r9_390_pcs_8gb_review,8.html

/Oh, that psu lacks the proper pcie cables...bah. Not sure I would risk it.

See thats what i thought. If i got a pci-8 adapter i think i would be fine. the computer has 1 pci-6 and i could connect a molex for the 8?

 

[MrTeal]

See thats what i thought. If i got a pci-8 adapter i think i would be fine. the computer has 1 pci-6 and i could connect a molex for the 8?

No, that's not a good idea. Honestly if you really want to use a 290, you should use a 6 pin to 8 pin PCIe adapter, and a dual SATA to 6 pin adapter for the other plug. It will help with rail balancing, assuming that your PSU actually respects the 18A current limit on each rail.

Keep in mind that the CPU gets 12V1, the motherboard, molex and sata get 12V2, and PCIe will get 12V3. If you power both the slot, your whole MB with drives, and the 8pin connector from 12V2 you'd really be pushing that rail.

 

[justin4pack]

OK so i picked up a Hive 550W 80+ Bronze for cheap until i get a really good one. It has the proper cables i needed and seems to work fine although i haven't stressed it yet. this here. I got it for $20 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182131

 

[RussianSensation]

OK so i picked up a Hive 550W 80+ Bronze for cheap until i get a really good one. It has the proper cables i needed and seems to work fine although i haven't stressed it yet. this here. I got it for $20 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817182131

That's a great deal. Should work with any modern single-chip GPU, including Fury X/980Ti OC.

 

[FearfulSPARTAN]

Funny I have that same psu with a i5-3570k not oced and an msi r9 390 and havent had an issue so far, solid budget psu.

 

[justin4pack]

So the Hive that i got took a shit. So im in the warranty process for it, but in the mean time i am using the old one. I did have a 6pin to 8 pin adapter that was included with the Hive. I am getting micro stutter, is that possible because the PS is not strong enough? Here is a pic