MSI AMD Radeon R9 270X, 2GB GDDR5, PCI Express 3.0 Graphics Card R9 270X Gaming 2G

If you purchased a Dell XPS 8300 computer a few years ago and you are looking for options to replace failing hardware and/or upgrade performance, this graphics card is a great buy. These older high-performance computers can be modified into respectable gaming rigs without breaking the bank. Unfortunately Dell offers very minimal support for upgrades and mods for their XPS line. The best advice I found for upgrading an XPS was in the online forums and product reviews. I thought I would review the product myself and give a few tips I learned along the way.This MSI Radeon R9 270X Gaming 2GB card seems to be one of the best graphics card options to upgrade the XPS 8300. After installing the R9 270X into the XPS, the Windows Experience Index for graphics and gaming graphics increased by 0.9 points (7.0 to 7.9). This is the highest score possible. I was replacing a Radeon 5670 with a broken fan. I do some moderate gaming a few times a month so the performance increase was welcome.The first thing I noticed when I got the card was that the minimum recommended power supply unit is 500W. The XPS 8300 comes with a 460W PSU. I did a web search and found a few PSU calculators and input my hardware configuration to get my calculated power load. Using one of these calculators, the minimum power supply rating at a 90% system load was a 393W with a 443W recommended. If you’ve added hardware to your 8300, you might exceed the limit of your PSU with this graphics card, but for most XPS users with the stock hardware, the 460W supply should be sufficient. That being said, I wouldn’t want to add any more power hungry hardware without upgrading the PSU.The second problem I had was that the card would not post (the computer wouldn’t even recognize it) when it powered up for the first time after the card install. I remembered reading a few comments online about a BIOS switch on the card that some people had to change to get the card to post. I powered down the computer, toggled the switch to the second position, and this time it worked. Windows 7 first booted into a low resolution configuration and started automatically searching for the new drivers. After a few minutes, the drivers were automatically installed and a restart was required. I went to the AMD website to confirm that I had the latest drivers and my system was good to go.I’ve read a lot of stories about people trying to upgrade stock Dell systems without success. I hope this story helps fellow XPS 8300 users. I know I’m thankful for the information I’ve found on the web about upgrading these older yet still highly capable computers.

The AMD R9 series of video cards came onto scene late last year and finally offered some much needed competition to Nvidia's upper end of performance video cards. The 290X was the brand new architecture based on the GCN design first introduced two years ago in the 7970 and this R9 270X slots in, two models below that flagship GPU. It is basically the new 7870XT with the same 2GB of 256-bit memory. This particular model is part of MSI's new Gaming series and features the Twin Frozr cooling design first introduced in the Lightning series and having now filtered down to some of the more mainstream performance models.I am using this card to replace my old MSI GTX 580 Lightning that I am finally retiring from active service. The 270X easily outperforms my old Lightning card in its intended duty as designated folder (FAH) and in gaming as well, though I will not be using the card for gaming for the most part. If you don't know what folding refers to, it is basically a Stanford University project that utilizeds millions of ordinary home PC's to complete complex calculations necessary to breakdown the protein makeup of many kinds of diseases and cancers. It is research work that helps all of humanity but also allows nerds like me to test the performance and mettle of our custom built machines in team competition against others from around the world. In this the MSI 270X has been a revelation for me so far. I just put this rig together the other day and already my PPD (Points Per Day) have more than doubled from my old folding rig and that has easily justified its very modest price tag ($175 after MiR).In conclusion, the card offers very good performance for the price, easily outperforming the $550 flagship Nvidia GPU from just two years ago while also using a third of the power and remaining far quieter and cooler. I will not be gaming on this card but I imagine you would see similar advantages in that arena as well. The Nvidia competition for this card is the GTX 760 which is indeed a bit more powerful but it is also significantly more expensive with the same 2GB of memory. If you are a gamer on a budget or (like me) a folder that wants to save the real money purchases for the dedicated gaming rig (I have dual GTX Titans in my other PC) then this R9 270X is the perfect inexpensive yet powerful video card to go for!

Received mines 2 days ago partially DOA, haven't figured out yet how to make it work, All i get after 3-5 mins of gaming is a Grey screen with lines and that's it, i have to reset the PC and start again, have tried everything but no use, I am returning it!! Too much nuisance![UPDATE]Received my Replacement today, now it works completely fine, I am averaging 35FPS in Crysis 3 (high Settings) at 1080p,A big big improvement over my aging 4870(512MB), have checked "The evil within" and i am averaging 32 FPS with everything turned to MAX at 1080p, Tried Alan Wake and it works at smooth 50FPS at 1080p with evrything set to MAX.very Happy with my purchase.[Cons]the first one arrived DOA, so i will take one star for that, other than that it is a great budget card for 1080p gaming.