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I need help on my next upgrade

785 views 36 replies 7 participants last post by  Gareth Ward 
#1 ·
Hello everyone!

I am back in my time of need once more. I will be dropping on a temporary Job soon before I go to University, and I have decided to put some of this money towards my PC, as I won't be able to afford an upgrade when I get there. Currently I have:

R9 290 TR-X Edition
I5 3570k - Overclocked to 4.3GHz
12GB Corsair RAM
850Watt PSU

I want to upgrade my GPU and I don't trust that my PSU can handle two R9 290's so that's out of the question. I don't really want to upgrade my processor as the difference in gaming will be pretty pathetic.

So the question is. What GPU do I go to next?

Thanks,
Gareth
 
#2 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gareth Ward View Post

Hello everyone!

I am back in my time of need once more. I will be dropping on a temporary Job soon before I go to University, and I have decided to put some of this money towards my PC, as I won't be able to afford an upgrade when I get there. Currently I have:

R9 290 TR-X Edition
I5 3570k - Overclocked to 4.3GHz
12GB Corsair RAM
850Watt PSU

I want to upgrade my GPU and I don't trust that my PSU can handle two R9 290's so that's out of the question. I don't really want to upgrade my processor as the difference in gaming will be pretty pathetic.

So the question is. What GPU do I go to next?

Thanks,
Gareth
What is the model of your PSU ?? Also, what resolution & what games you run ??
 
#4 ·
PSU in his only rig in rigbuilder says Novatech. I also second the question of exact model of PSU.
 
#5 ·
The model is "PowerStation", just as it says in his rig. I'm looking it up now.

Edit: Oh, there are two different 850W PowerStations. One is a "V2", but I don't know anything about either of them.

The first version claims to have a +12V capacity of 750W. If this is true, then even this one technically has plenty of power for a 2nd R9 290.
 
#7 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gareth Ward View Post

You all raise great questions. My R9 290 is at the stock clock speed for the R9 290 Tri-X. I should have mentioned the PSU (My Bad) however it is indeed a Novatech Powerstation 850Watt Black Edition, no V2. Thank you!
So, it's the non-V2, which means you practically have a 750W PSU due to the +12V capacity. That's still plenty for adding a 2nd 290, however I would love to find out how good or bad this PSU is before trusting it any further than I could throw it.
 
#11 ·
No, that's extremely inaccurate. I'll show you why. Use the calculator again, but this time click the calculator's built-in "Print" button. Take a screenshot of that printer-friendly page and try to save it in Paint as a .PNG image. You can crop it too, but it's not necessary.
 
#13 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gareth Ward View Post

This one is filled out much more accurately than my previous one. Not saying it is accurate of course.

I don't know if this makes a difference to the power consumption, but do you really have SCSI hard drives? Or are they SATA?

Do you really have an M.2 SSD? Or is it a typical NAND flash type of SSD?

Do you really have 5 USB devices that are depending on the USB port for power? Are two of those 5 your keyboard and mouse? If so, then reduce it to 3.

90% System Load is only realistic for Folding on both the CPU and the GPUs at the same time. For gaming, 80% is about the most realistic. ;)

I still want to know what you did to get 856W.
 
#14 ·
Hah, I rushed through it all so my bad if some of its wrong. They are indeed SATA never had a SCSI drive and the SSD is NAND Flash, my bad. I usually have about 3 devices in charging yeah, I just increased it to 5 as sometimes I have my other half's devices charging as well.
 
#15 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gareth Ward View Post

Hah, I rushed through it all so my bad if some of its wrong. They are indeed SATA never had a SCSI drive and the SSD is NAND Flash, my bad. I usually have about 3 devices in charging yeah, I just increased it to 5 as sometimes I have my other half's devices charging as well.
oh hehe it's just that MOST people tend to add every little USB device that they have, even if they aren't pulling power out of the PSU.
 
#17 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by TwoCables View Post

I'm not saying that you should. I'm saying that I'd love it if I could find someone on here who knows something useful about it, like what PSU Novatech used to create it, what its ripple is, what its voltage regulation is, what it has for capacitors, etc.
Their 750W are based on High Power so I suppose this may be based on their 850W model
 
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#19 ·
#26 ·
What games do you play & @ what resolution? Because @1080p, a single 290 shouldn't have any trouble maxing games.
 
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