Minimum PC Parts needed to Drive an RX480-4GB

[crockman]

I'm guessing my Intel PC, listed in my Sig., will not bottle-neck an RX480-4GB ? Am asking just to make sure.

Been looking into upgrading from my present/aging HD7850.

I use a 40" Smart-TV with 1080p Resolution as my PC Monitor. Works quite well. The Large Screen makes the Games feel so much more realistic.

Being I play at 1080p Resolution I figure I'll go with the 4GB version of the RX480, the 8GB version would not be utilized

http://www.microcenter.com/product/468878/Radeon_RX_480_Gaming_X_Overclocked_4GB_GDDR5_Video_Card

That's the 480 I plan to buy. I figure the MSI as having a better cooler then XFX or Sapphire so I think I'll get the MSI.

2 More Questions:
1. Is my XFX 550watt PSU powerful enough to run RX480-4GB's in Crossfire (2x480's) ?
2. What is the minimum PC Part's needed to Drive an RX480-4GB ? (going to build a Friend a PC, going to build it around an RX480-4GB, so minimums to drive an RX480 would be nice to know)

Thanks

 

[Valantar]

You should be fine in terms of bottlenecking. A few (usually poor console ports) won't like the 4-threaded CPU, but other than that, your build is more than fast enough for most games.

As for the 550W PSU, I'm a bit skeptical. How old is it? Is it a great PSU, or just a mid-range one? HardOCP measured CF RX480s to consume ~460W under "gaming" loads (whatever that means), which is not too far from 550W. At the very least, your fan would spin up pretty fiercely. At worst, if the PSU is old and not very good, it might fail outright. I'd say the best plan going forward is to invest in a new PSU (~650W+) along with any second card you buy.


As for the "recommended minimum" for the 480 4GB, I'd say there's really no such thing. Different setups bottlenect in different ways. Just make sure not to limit it in any obvious way, like using a 2-thread CPU or too little RAM. Case in point, I run my Fury X in an 8-year-old (overclocked) Core2Quad system with 8GB of DDR2. No, it doesn't perform as well as in reviews, but around 10% worse is really not bad.

 

[crockman]

As for the 550W PSU, I'm a bit skeptical

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817207032

That's my PSU, XFX-XTR 550watt Gold-Certified. Bought it 18 Months ago. I do believe it is a good quality PSU but I'm not sure if 550watts is enough wattage to run 2 x RX480's

 

[Valantar]

I skimmed the JonnyGuru review of the 650W version of that PSU, and it got good scores - a 9.2, with most of the deductions coming from value (which doesn't quite matter once you own the thing). I'd say it would probably work okay, but I'd expect the fan to be loud, and you'd be toeing the line in terms of maximum power draw. Is your CPU overclocked?

As I said before, if you get one GPU, you're fine, if you upgrade with a second down the line, I'd add a new PSU at the same time just to be sure. 650-700W should be plenty.

 

[Mercennarius]

The RX 480 is very power efficient. For what it's worth i'm using my RX 480 in a mining rig running 24 hours a day at full load and the entire system is running off a 460W power supply. I have it hooked up to a Kill A Watt meter and under full load it only pulls 280 Watts..at idle its at about 125watts +-...any half decent powersupply over 500 watts should have no problem power a single RX 480 granted you don't have a ton of other accessories drawing a lot of power.

 

[Piroko]

Generous calculation:
Two RX480 would be 170W*2= 340W.
The rest of your system adds about 120W at load.
That's about right for best efficiency of a good quality 550W PSU (yours is a good quality one). You'll be fine unless you got a lemon PSU.


edit: Also, your CPU is fine too. No bottlenecking expected for a single GPU and maybe some games won't see the best scaling with two, but that'll be okay still.

As for the minimum to drive one: I don't think it's good to aim for the minimum, but if I were to name one, I'd say a Core i3 6100? Avoid the 6100T though, it has way lower clocks.

 

[Valantar]

The RX 480 is very power efficient. For what it's worth i'm using my RX 480 in a mining rig running 24 hours a day at full load and the entire system is running off a 460W power supply. I have it hooked up to a Kill A Watt meter and under full load it only pulls 280 Watts..at idle its at about 125watts +-...any half decent powersupply over 500 watts should have no problem power a single RX 480 granted you don't have a ton of other accessories drawing a lot of power.

Note that we're being asked wether the PSU is sufficient for a potential CrossFire setup. You could run a single RX 380 off a decent quality 350W unit if you so wanted.

Generous calculation:
Two RX480 would be 170W*2= 340W.
The rest of your system adds about 120W at load.
That's about right for best efficiency of a good quality 550W PSU (yours is a good quality one). You'll be fine unless you got a lemon PSU.


edit: Also, your CPU is fine too. No bottlenecking expected for a single GPU and maybe some games won't see the best scaling with two, but that'll be okay still.

As for the minimum to drive one: I don't think it's good to aim for the minimum, but if I were to name one, I'd say a Core i3 6100? Avoid the 6100T though, it has way lower clocks.

You did see that I quoted actual in-game power figures for CF 480s, right? Arguably, HardOCP isn't the most AMD-friendly source, but I see no reason to doubt the numbers. 460W under normal gaming loads means spikes around 500W is to be expected (although not regularly enough to be an issue). Still, I'd consider this quite a lot for what clearly isn't a brand-new top-end PSU. It'll probably be fine, as I said, but it's a (small?) risk.

 

[Piroko]

You did see that I quoted actual in-game power figures for CF 480s, right? Arguably, HardOCP isn't the most AMD-friendly source, but I see no reason to doubt the numbers. 460W under normal gaming loads means spikes around 500W is to be expected (although not regularly enough to be an issue).

460W at the wall is around 420W actual load for a 90+ gold PSU, so my generous calculation of 460W load is perfectly acceptable. It's actually rather overstated, [H] uses a highly overclocked CPU with that as well.

A modern PSU is fine handling spikes beyond its rating and you would have to pull closer to 600W at the wall to risk overloading this PSU.

 

[VirtualLarry]

If going CF, go for the larger RAM sizes. You'll thank me 3 years down the line.

 

[Valantar]

460W at the wall is around 420W actual load for a 90+ gold PSU, so my generous calculation of 460W load is perfectly acceptable. It's actually rather overstated, [H] uses a highly overclocked CPU with that as well.

A modern PSU is fine handling spikes beyond its rating and you would have to pull closer to 600W at the wall to risk overloading this PSU.

Which is exactly what I was saying. It should be fine. But given that the PSU is a few years old, and this would be running reasonably close to its limits, there's always the chance of something going wrong. It likely won't, but it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to PSU failures. At the very least, the OP should be warned of potential issues - simply saying "don't worry, you'll be fine" in this case without explaining further would be pretty silly.

 

[crockman]

Thanks for All the Replies.

FYI

I decided to buy the MSI Gaming X 470 4GB.
Why ?
1. Price, at Micro Center after Rebate price is only $160
2. The MSI 480-4GB after rebate is a large $45 more at $205, that's a large jump for only a 10%ish gain in performance.
3. The 470 comes with a Free Copy of Hitman, the 480 a Copy of Civilization VI.
I preferred the Copy of Hitman, so another reason why the 470
4. 470 will use less power, and with all your Numbers crunched above in this Thread I'm guessing my XFX-Gold Rated 550watt PSU could Crossfire 2x470's, thus saving money not having to purchase a new PSU.
5. I always buy the Micro Center (MC) 2-year warranty on everything I buy from them that I plan to use for more then a year. The 2-year warranty on the 470 is $20, the 480-$30.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/...4GB_GDDR5_Video_Card_w-_Twin_Frozr_VI_Cooling
http://www.microcenter.com/product/468878/Radeon_RX_480_Gaming_X_Overclocked_4GB_GDDR5_Video_Card

All-in All the 470 was $55 Cheaper (main-reason) and I get Hitman (preferred over Civ. VI), plus the Wattage Sealing will be less on the 470.

The 470 is still quite an upgrade over my HD-7850, so for just $180 (with 2 year MC Warranty) I'm a happy camper

 

[Valantar]

Thanks for All the Replies.

FYI

I decided to buy the MSI Gaming X 470 4GB.
Why ?
1. Price, at Micro Center after Rebate price is only $160
2. The MSI 480-4GB after rebate is a large $45 more at $205, that's a large jump for only a 10%ish gain in performance.
3. The 470 comes with a Free Copy of Hitman, the 480 a Copy of Civilization VI.
I preferred the Copy of Hitman, so another reason why the 470
4. 470 will use less power, and with all your Numbers crunched above in this Thread I'm guessing my XFX-Gold Rated 550watt PSU could Crossfire 2x470's, thus saving money not having to purchase a new PSU.
5. I always buy the Micro Center (MC) 2-year warranty on everything I buy from them that I plan to use for more then a year. The 2-year warranty on the 470 is $20, the 480-$30.
http://www.microcenter.com/product/...4GB_GDDR5_Video_Card_w-_Twin_Frozr_VI_Cooling
http://www.microcenter.com/product/468878/Radeon_RX_480_Gaming_X_Overclocked_4GB_GDDR5_Video_Card

All-in All the 470 was $55 Cheaper (main-reason) and I get Hitman (preferred over Civ. VI), plus the Wattage Sealing will be less on the 470.

The 470 is still quite an upgrade over my HD-7850, so for just $180 (with 2 year MC Warranty) I'm a happy camper

That sounds like a great solution, especially at that price. The 470 is a great card, and it should scale just as well as the 480 in CF, after all. Good call!

 

[Headfoot]

Skip Crossfire and get a single faster card. Its not worth all the hassle and bugs.

 

[Bacon1]

I decided to buy the MSI Gaming X 470 4GB.
Why ?
1. Price, at Micro Center after Rebate price is only $160

Microcenter is amazing for computer parts, wish they had more locations. Enjoy your 470!

 

[crockman]

I'm very glad I bought that $20 2-year Warranty~
Monday afternoon I picked up the 470 then had to head to work. So installed it when I got home about 2am. I tried for 2+ hours to get the new 470 to run, couldn't do it. Considered it DOA and went to bed.
Got up Tuesday went to MC, exchanged the DOA for another new 470. 30 minute ride home, Installed the replacement. Replacement works fine, been running for hours no problems.
Very pleased that MC gave me no hassles what so ever on getting a replacement.

Those 470's are huge, twice the size of my old HD7850. The MSI 470 is Very Quiet, runs at about 58c when playing the Free Hitman that came with it, plays Swtor at 58c as well.

 

[crockman]

Turns out that 1st MSI 470 was not Bad, it was a Driver Issue.

After I had returned the 1st 470 and installed the replacement everything ran fine for hours. Then I decided to Install the Radeon ReLive Software from AMD.com. The Drivers installed fine, but when the ReLive Install Manager asked If I wanted to Install ReLive, I said yes. Immediately after hitting the ReLive Install Button my PC Froze, only way out was to manually shut-down. Upon re-start was that Black-Screen problem as the 1st 470.

So now I'm at a New Problem, What is causing the ReLive Freeze and ensuing Black-Screen ? I'll start a new Thread to help solve that issue.

Thanks again