R9 270X: A Conundrum

So, this is a weird card. It was originally supposed to be the better card between it and the regular 270, but when overclocked, the 270 is actually better. And overclocking is easy, trust me. MSI Afterburner, find the intervals, you're set. But let's see what we can do with the R9 270X.

Author's note: After this build, I'm going to classify any cards with similar names and performance as twins, and just make one blog post for the two cards. So the R9 290 and 290X will be in the same post. Saves time and energy.

Let's begin.


GPU: MSI R9 270X - http://amzn.to/1hjLVaI
This card is weird. When stock clocked, it does perform better than it's little brother, but when overclocked, it is actually a bit slower by a frame or two when playing games. It makes me scratch my head and think "Why would anyone buy the 290X when the 290 is $20 cheaper and just as, if not more, powerful?" It's a weird card, and I personally can't say I wholly recommend it. But, it's up to you. It is more powerful when run out of the box, and some people want that.

CPU: AMD FX-6300 3.5GHz - http://amzn.to/17YqZmM
This time, we're going six core. Surprisingly, this one is cheaper on Amazon than the FX-6100. Weird. Might be a limited thing. Anyway, this CPU is really, really powerful. I think six physical cores will be a recommended setting for many AAA games in 2014, so start now.

Mobo: MSI M5A97 LE R2.0 - http://amzn.to/1esqEYa
MSI mobo, cause this is a good board to hold all our shizzzzzz. It's less than $100, and comes with everything we need for a good six core, mid-high range GPU build.

RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport 8GB 1600MHz - http://amzn.to/18p9v3i
Crucial Ballistix RAM. You know why. Good RAM, and it's a few cents cheaper to single channel than to dual channel, but you can always dual channel later.

HDD: Western Digital Blue 1TB - http://amzn.to/1b5J4dl
Another component. I would recommend upgrading to a 2TB HDD, or even putting your games on an external hard drive, cause games are gonna get big in 2014.

PSU: EVGA 500 B - http://amzn.to/1cxvJ0e
A 500 watt PSU to make sure all our shizzzzz gets good power. The card is a higher end card, so better safe than explosion, I mean sorry. Make sure everything is good with this PSU, and EVGA makes really nice power supplies.

Case: Fractal Arc Midi R2 - http://amzn.to/1hjNXrt
This is just a suggestion, and you can get similar functionality from a cheaper case, but the Arc Midi R2 from Fractal is really nice. A brushed steal outside, plenty of room inside, and a really minimalistic design make this a nice center piece. No, I was not paid to say that, though I wish I was. You can go with a cheaper case for $40-50, so we'll use whatever case you plan to get the sum of the build.

Cost: Approx. $650

If I could, I'd have this build. The GPU and the CPU would go together really well in this build, and the compliments from the RAM and the Mobo will help too.

If you have any suggestions, let me know.

Happy gaming.

My game recommendation of the day is Rogue Legacy. You play as a an adventurer who will inevitably die and have to be replaced by his descendants. However, all the descendants have randomly generated life disadvantages, such as long-sightedness, paranoia and dementia, dwarfism, etc. It's a really fun RPG, and you should check it out.