Upgrading graphic card.

[Lanrien]

So I just found some upgrade graphic card for my PC and wanted to know if its worth or even compatible with my rig. I live in Portugal so cheap prices are hardly anywhere, except online.

 

Motherboard: Asus P8Z77-V LX (after looking around that LX seems to be the underdog of the -v ones, but I dont intend to x-fire or SLI on it anyway)

CPU: Intel i5 2320

GPU: Nvidia GTS 450

Ram: Ripjaws 2x 4Gb ddr3 1600

PSU: Urano (laugh, I did) 630

Display: Samsung sync master (native 1440x900) <-- Planning to upgrade it to anything not vga, but for now it seems to hold its ground fairly well

 

Now I have this site here pixmania.pt where I found some damn cheap cards.

 

I found a r9 270x sapphire 2gb OC for 154€ (total including shipment). (The 270 is just 2€ cheaper lol, so im not fooled by the "X" only)

 

But after browsing I found a 280 oc 3 gb dd5, sapphire as well, for freaking 168€ total.

 

I am shocked, the site has 260 ones for 170+€ so I really want to grab this if its compatible with it.

 

I have searched for nvidia ones as well, but that almost 20% off on the 280 oc 3 gb dd5 is impossible to surpass....(has an extra 5% after you order it, bringing the discount to a total of 19%)

 

 

 

I do however notice that sapphire cards are quite a bit cheaper than the rest and I am a tad scared for it...

 

What are your thoughts?

 

link: http://www.pixmania.pt/placa-grafica/sapphire-technology-r9-280-oc-com-boost-3-gb-gddr5-pci-express-placa-grafica/22080909-a.html

[WoodenMarker]

Sapphire is a good brand.

You probably need to upgrade your psu though.

[Lanrien]

Yea I checked the 280 likes to be a heavy drinker on load (240 I believe).

 

Any site where I can calculate the power I would need? 630 seems to be a tad above the 500 I usually see around being recommended even for new pc's (mine was a custom order from 2 years ago, with 1-2 years old parts already)

[EcoBoost]

Yea I checked the 280 likes to be a heavy drinker on load (240 I believe).

 

Any site where I can calculate the power I would need? 630 seems to be a tad above the 500 I usually see around being recommended even for new pc's (mine was a custom order from 2 years ago, with 1-2 years old parts already)

I have an R9 280 running perfectly fine off a (pretty crappy) 500W. The Urano 630W only has 22A on the 12V rail, so in reality it should be taken as a ~300W

[Lanrien]

I have an R9 280 running perfectly fine off a (pretty crappy) 500W. The Urano 630W only has 22A on the 12V rail, so in reality it should be taken as a ~300W

 

Daaamn, but how is my pc even running then? I really dont get it so it says 630W while it runs as if its a 300w?

 

I mean, my pc never suddendly crashed at all to explain a lack of power and from the calculations done on http://extreme.outervision.com/ I need around 406W to run, a 353W minimum.

 

With the 280 oc I would need 533W recommended.

 

 

 

 

Are there any risks to trying out the card on this supply? I would buy another one I suppose if there is failure risk, the damn price is so juicy ...

[JoshM]

Yea I checked the 280 likes to be a heavy drinker on load (240 I believe).

 

Any site where I can calculate the power I would need? 630 seems to be a tad above the 500 I usually see around being recommended even for new pc's (mine was a custom order from 2 years ago, with 1-2 years old parts already)

Yes but your psu is horrible, it might blow up using more than 300watts of power lol. 

[JoshM]

Daaamn, but how is my pc even running then? I really dont get it so it says 630W while it runs as if its a 300w?

 

I mean, my pc never suddendly crashed at all to explain a lack of power and from the calculations done on http://extreme.outervision.com/ I need around 406W to run, a 353W minimum.

 

With the 280 oc I would need 533W recommended.

 

 

 

 

Are there any risks to trying out the card on this supply? I would buy another one I suppose if there is failure risk, the damn price is so juicy ...

Psu catching fire, or it fucks up then over volts your parts causing the computer to fry 

[Lanrien]

Psu catching fire, or it fucks up then over volts your parts causing the computer to fry 

 

Huh I guess that would be bad.............

 

 

So the so advertised  630W on it are a lie or why would they call it 630W?

 

After looking around at reviews I got screwed on the PSU part.... well it may have been enough for what it had at the time, but apparently leaving little room for improvement.

 

 

 

So is the card, alone, worth for that price? Consider I get a decent PSU, is it a real bargain or just a few bucks off? I still got my eye on the r9 270x since it only requires 500W, but I would have to upgrade eventually anyway....

[EcoBoost]

So the so advertised  630W on it are a lie or why would they call it 630W?

Cause there's two 12V rails. One 21A and one 22A. That's 516W of total 12V power but not all of that can go to the GPU. However it will be enough to run one R9 280.

 

There's also 160W for 5V alone, which is just dumb since you'll never pull 160W of 5V power from a PC.

[JoshM]

Huh I guess that would be bad.............

 

 

So the so advertised  630W on it are a lie or why would they call it 630W?

 

After looking around at reviews I got screwed on the PSU part.... well it may have been enough for what it had at the time, but apparently leaving little room for improvement.

 

 

 

So is the card, alone, worth for that price? Consider I get a decent PSU, is it a real bargain or just a few bucks off? I still got my eye on the r9 270x since it only requires 500W, but I would have to upgrade eventually anyway....

When buying no name brands they are just dodgy and should be avoided. I would get the 270x and even a corsair CX430 which are like $40 are 10000000000000x safer lol. 

[WoodenMarker]

Yea I checked the 280 likes to be a heavy drinker on load (240 I believe).

Any site where I can calculate the power I would need? 630 seems to be a tad above the 500 I usually see around being recommended even for new pc's (mine was a custom order from 2 years ago, with 1-2 years old parts already)

Psu calculators for the most part are unreliable. Look at power consumption benchmarks instead.

Daaamn, but how is my pc even running then? I really dont get it so it says 630W while it runs as if its a 300w?

I mean, my pc never suddendly crashed at all to explain a lack of power and from the calculations done on http://extreme.outervision.com/ I need around 406W to run, a 353W minimum.

Are there any risks to trying out the card on this supply? I would buy another one I suppose if there is failure risk, the damn price is so juicy ...

Your system pulls ~250w at load. Again, psu calculators are generally unreliable.

The system would probably shut down or not boot. Worse case scenario is that the psu craps out and takes your system with it. 

So the so advertised  630W on it are a lie or why would they call it 630W?

I still got my eye on the r9 270x since it only requires 500W, but I would have to upgrade eventually anyway....

It could be 630w peak power and not sustained--even if that peak is for a fraction of a second. 

The 280 runs off of a decent 500w just fine. 

[Lanrien]

Any recommended 500W or even more? I was trying to be under at/under 50€ (63$), so I could have a grand total of 200-210€.

 

Basically what brands would you recommend?

 

Hmm now that I also think of it, I recently ordered a gtx 660 from amazon (used-very good), the PC loaded, and the graphic card never got recognized, but I do remember that the computer crashed while trying to install some drivers after that it would try to load and simply turn off, until it stopped doing that and keep having the code 43 device manager error. After sending it to a local shop they said the chip was simply dead.

 

Im thinking if it wasn't the PSU at fault and I got extremely lucky on the rest of my parts...

[Lanrien]

<merged>

[Lanrien]

So i've tested the voltage of the cables and the PCI-E ones (yellow) come at 11.5 voltage, with basically nothing connected....

 

Meaning less amps

 

the margin for error is 5% so this 0,5 volt loss means less amps which means dead card if i push it.....

 

 

Damn it...

 

Also worth mentioning, and I am a tad worried about this one: the blue one, -12V came at -10 instead, is it critically worrying?

 

I am set to change the psu, obviously, but I just need to know if my current parts wont come in danger until my new one arrives.

 

 

EDIT: I've found the non oc version at 148€ basically 20€ less, huge discount, but its from VTX3D, but on the other hand it would soften the blow on the PSU.

 

 

Do you recommend the sapphire at 169€ or vtx3rd at 148€?

 

EDIT2: After checking around it seems the vtx has a common coil whine on a number of cards, even 5 star reviews say its there, and after checking what it is, I know for sure I couldn't stand that sound, so i'll probably stick to the sapphire one.