Best card around $130?

[tweakboy]

I say 460 GTX, if he has CPU head room then 560 GTX.

 

[Headfoot]

Let's think about this.

You have a good 450W PSU.

The video board manufacturer recommends a 500W PSU.

The card maker put 2 6-pin connectors on the video card.

The PSU manufacturer only put one 6-pin connector on the PSU.

A bunch of self-proclaimed electrical engineers in a forum are telling you that it should work based on someone somewhere who posted in a review that it worked on their 400W PSU.

One poster is even talking about the PowerColor R9 290 which according to NewEgg has a 750W PSU requirement.

I can tell you from experience that an overtaxed PSU is a major PITA, especially if you have work to do and/or valuable information on your PC.

This is what Guru3d had to say about PSU requirements for the various AMD cards :

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/amd-radeon-r9-270-review,8.html

"
This is Guru3D's generic power supply recommendation for the R7 and R9 series:

AMD R7 260X - On your average system the card requires you to have a 450 Watt power supply unit.
AMD R7 260X Crossfire - On your average system the cards require you to have a 650 Watt power supply unit as minimum.
AMD R9 270 - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.
AMD R9 270 Crossfire - On your average system the cards require you to have a 700 Watt power supply unit as minimum.
AMD R9 270X - On your average system the card requires you to have a 500 Watt power supply unit.
AMD R9 270X Crossfire - On your average system the cards require you to have a 700 Watt power supply unit as minimum.
AMD R9 280X - On your average system the card requires you to have a 550 Watt power supply unit.
AMD R9 280X Crossfire - On your average system the cards require you to have a 750 Watt power supply unit as minimum."

Sorry, nope. You look at how many amps are required off of the 12v rail by your CPU and GPU, then you compare how many amps you have available. 280 requires a PSU capable of 31 amps. His PSU supplies 18 amps x 2 rails - 36 amps. The only issue is ensuring both rails are connected to the card. Provided nothing else is drawing ~5 amps off the 12v rail (fans etc.) then he is okay. He could have a 550w that has a ton on the 5v and 3.3v rails so his 12v rails would fail when heavily loaded. The combined watt rating is wrong at worst and insufficient at best

 

[crisium]

Let's think about this.

You have a good 450W PSU.

The video board manufacturer recommends a 500W PSU.

The card maker put 2 6-pin connectors on the video card.

The PSU manufacturer only put one 6-pin connector on the PSU.

A bunch of self-proclaimed electrical engineers in a forum are telling you that it should work based on someone somewhere who posted in a review that it worked on their 400W PSU.

FFS, he linked a review for the OP's exact PSU running on a more power hungry card than the 280/7970 or 7870. Or do you think it is a conspiracy to get people to fry their systems?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817371045 (Search for 280X in reviews)

Please.

 

[shady28]

Sorry, nope. You look at how many amps are required off of the 12v rail by your CPU and GPU, then you compare how many amps you have available. 280 requires a PSU capable of 31 amps. His PSU supplies 18 amps x 2 rails - 36 amps. The only issue is ensuring both rails are connected to the card. Provided nothing else is drawing ~5 amps off the 12v rail (fans etc.) then he is okay. He could have a 550w that has a ton on the 5v and 3.3v rails so his 12v rails would fail when heavily loaded. The combined watt rating is wrong at worst and insufficient at best

You do realize that his PSU has only 2x 12v rails and one of those 12v rails also powers the CPU and the PCI-e bus itself, right?

How much does that draw?

Why isn't that in your numbers?

Which rail is it on and how much power is being pulled from that rail? 85W CPU? 7.1A @ 12V? 10.9A left before that rail blows out? Does the GPU pull any power from the PCI-e bus?

 

[96Firebird]

Sorry, nope. You look at how many amps are required off of the 12v rail by your CPU and GPU, then you compare how many amps you have available. 280 requires a PSU capable of 31 amps. His PSU supplies 18 amps x 2 rails - 36 amps. The only issue is ensuring both rails are connected to the card. Provided nothing else is drawing ~5 amps off the 12v rail (fans etc.) then he is okay. He could have a 550w that has a ton on the 5v and 3.3v rails so his 12v rails would fail when heavily loaded. The combined watt rating is wrong at worst and insufficient at best

That is not how multi-rail PSUs work. You can't just add the current of both rails. The VP-450 has a max output of 360W @ 12V, as shown by the side label. 360W/12V = 30A.

 

[Insomniator]

You do realize that his PSU has only 2x 12v rails and one of those 12v rails also powers the CPU and the PCI-e bus itself, right?

How much does that draw?

Why isn't that in your numbers?

Which rail is it on and how much power is being pulled from that rail? 85W CPU? 7.1A @ 12V? 10.9A left before that rail blows out? Does the GPU pull any power from the PCI-e bus?

Dude give it up. You can buy all the 1000 Watt PSU's you want for your own builds, but don't scare others into doing the same for no reason.

 

[RussianSensation]

You do realize that his PSU has only 2x 12v rails and one of those 12v rails also powers the CPU and the PCI-e bus itself, right?

How much does that draw?

Why isn't that in your numbers?

Which rail is it on and how much power is being pulled from that rail? 85W CPU? 7.1A @ 12V? 10.9A left before that rail blows out? Does the GPU pull any power from the PCI-e bus?

That's not how it works. The GPU can pull 75W from the PCIe slot and dynamically load one of the 12V rails more. The assumption that a single 12V rail needs to provide power for both the CPU and the GPU is not true. But, even if we enforced this constraint, a single 12V rail on the VP450 supports 22A/264W of power in real world testing. See test links below.

Antec, Enermax, LEPA, PC Power & Cooling, EVGA, Corsair, Seasonic, XFX, SunFlower, etc. rate their PSU such that the stated power is the bare minimum the PSU can do 24/7 under load. A 450W Antec really is at minimum a 450W PSU. In Antecs case, as is often the case, their PSUs are underrated like HP of many German cars.

In professional testing, the VP450 didn't even flinch at 15.5A / 186W load when EACH of its 12V rails was loaded simultaneously at 15.5A:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-VP450-Power-Supply-Review/1487/7

In fact, this PSU, like most Antec units is highly underrated from the factory. In overload testing it handled 22A / 264W per EACH rail, meaning you can run an overclocked i7 4770K and dual 7950s on this PSU without sweat:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Antec-VP450-Power-Supply-Review/1487/9

Would a bad quality 450W PSU be able to run 550W+ at the PSU level? Not a chance!

Here are gaming power consumption numbers for a 4770k with various modern GPUs:
http://www.techspot.com/guides/912-best-graphics-cards-2014/page6.html

His PSU would be able to run an i7 with ANY single GPU out today, including an R9 290X/780Ti and even a 690.

If you have facts to backup your insinuations that his PSU is actually a crap 450W unit, and that R9 280/280X requires a 750W PSU, please provide them.

 

[Headfoot]

That is not how multi-rail PSUs work. You can't just add the current of both rails. The VP-450 has a max output of 360W @ 12V, as shown by the side label. 360W/12V = 30A.

Misread the label, good catch.