List of good AMD graphics cards that work on the Alienware x51 r2?

[tommyH⁰]

Hi I have an Alienware x51 r2 and I would like to upgrade my current AMD Radeon r9 270. I want another AMD as they are cheaper than some nvidias and are quite reliable.
PC SPECS:
Intel core i7-44-- something else forgot what it was
AMD Radeon r9 270
16gb of ram
1tb of storage
330w power supply

[upcoast]

You're at the limit with the 330w psu be it a NVidia or amd gpu, no further you can go without ditching the psu..

http://www.legitreviews.com/alienware-x51-r2-review_125229/4

Hmmmmmm, I really don't know what you can do with that as far as psu ^.

[tommyH⁰]

Ok could you recommend any external psu I could use?

[_I_]

you can, but its not safe and not recomended

with the 330w power brick, you can use upto a 150w gpu
on the amd linup, thats a r7 370 or r9 270 (not 270x) or 7850
which are easily outpaced by a gtx 960

if you use an atx power supply just to power the gpu, its very hard on it
since there will only be a on the 12v rail load and no loads on the 5v, 3.3v, -5,-12 ect.. rails

[tommyH⁰]

Ok I think I will move the parts into a new case and get a new psu aswell thanks for your help

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Or just rig up a regular ATX Power Supply to plug into your X51. Mainly due to the fact that AMD GPUs beyond a 270 would require way more power than even the Dell X51 330W PSU can allow for.

Now if u went say NVIDIA, you could use GTX 970 just fine, as long as you have the 330W PSU for your X51

But overall I find NVIDIA price is worth the performance. An R9 270 is worth it's cheap price because well it sux for gaming when u want high visual quality at above 900p or so. But again it can depend on games too. Some just are not optimized well for AMD GPUs. AMD GPUs are generally cheaper, at the cost of higher power requirements.

[_I_]

Originally posted by Qable:

Ok I think I will move the parts into a new case and get a new psu aswell thanks for your help

that cant be done either

new case = new mobo, ram, psu

all you can reuse is the cpu and drives

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by _I_:

Originally posted by Qable:

Ok I think I will move the parts into a new case and get a new psu aswell thanks for your help

that cant be done either

new case = new mobo, ram, psu

all you can reuse is the cpu and drives

Have u used or seen the internals of an X51?

U certainly can transfer it to a regular ATX case. It is just an ITX motherboard.
Now the reason it LOOKs special or exclusive design-wise is for such a small form factor case while allowing for desktop power and GPUs is they have the ATX power rigged up to a daughter PSU card (the external power brick just gives it the main power, the circuitry is on the internal PSU daughter card). And it has a PCIE daughter card so the GPU can fit in horizontally instead of vertically.

Now all u do here is remove the PSU and PCIE daughter cards from this equation, and take the main motherboard and install into a regular ATX case, using a regular ATX PSU; and you're done.

As shown here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXK_G8hGokc

I've also done it self a few times now, per requests.

[shs]

^ Bad-Motha knows his stuff.
Nonetheless I want to be the voice of contention here and support AMD. It certainly is not worth going from an R9 270 to a GTX 960, the specs are close to begin with and, frankly, most of the bad press AMD gets is due to their processors which is a race with Intel rather than Nvidia.

If you decide to go Nvidia elect a 970 as that would be a real upgrade; the AMD counterpart would be a 290x or whichever in the 390 series best replaces that (I haven't followed the newest stuff).

Since you'll be in the market for a PSU you might as well go overkill (850 watts gold or so), it's not as if any untapped power will be wasted in regards to affecting your mobo, electricity bills, etc.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Agreed for sure, already having a 270, then a 960 isn't worth it. Go 970 if u need more.

Even with a AMD 390X however, all u really need for ATX power supply is around 650-750 watts (and I would suggest Gold certified for better overall warranty and efficiency). Above that could be potential waste of money cause unless u change motherboard for CFX/SLI purposes, u'll never need more power than this. As far as a higher PSU being overkill or not, that is not really the issue, the issue is even quality PSUs u need to go above a certain load % to get the rated efficiency, so yes it really should matter what you get. Buy a PSU that is more than enough for overall power, but not so high that you lose out on the overall benefits of buying a better PSU to begin with.

[tommyH⁰]

Thanks for your help. Do you think I should get 1000w psu because I might just move it into another case.

[The Muppet Surgery Special]

Originally posted by Qable:

Thanks for your help. Do you think I should get 1000w psu because I might just move it into another case.

That's 10 times more power than a Fridge Freezer and it doesn't even hold good stuff.

[shs]

1000w is definitely more than you need, I only recommended going overkill because the price differences tend to be very small and there's no harm to having too much (as opposed to having a GPU so big you can't power it, fit it in your case or on your mobo, etc). The idea used to be that running half max wattage was optimal, I'm not sure that still holds, but even with a huge AMD card you're not likely to hit 500w constant usage.
Foremost make sure you buy a Gold or higher certified model, preferably fully modular, not below 650w.

[_I_]

unless its the diablotek 1050w
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story&reid=187

get a quality 600+w power supply