What's the best gaming graphics card I can get with this PSU?

Pretty much any single card will work with that. GTX780 would work. A 290X might be OK but that would be pushing it
 
780 or 290 would be pushing it. I personally wouldn't try it.
gtx 770 or 280x would be about my top end for that psu and your current setup.
 
That psu is stronger than than its 400 watt rating would indicate but I like to have way more headroom. A stock 2600k and stock 780 system with only a couple drives would technically be fine but I would not do it long term. I certainly would not oc anything.
 
Are you overclocking? How many fans you running? It matters... I honestly would be careful with this PSU... You'll want to get a 750Ti or 760... Tops.

I'd get a better PSU before thinking about a new GPU.
 
OP's sig says he has a i7-2600k, which has a 95W max TDP at stock and a 150W or so TDP at 4.5 GHz with 1.35 VCore. So if he's not OCing, he has 300W left, but if he is, he has 250W left.

GTX 780 TI and GTX 780 max TDP is 250W, GTX 770 max TDP is 230W, GTX 680 max TDP is 195W, GTX 760 max TDP is 170W. 290x max TDP is 290W, 290 max TDP is 275W, 280x is 250W.

There are things to power other than the CPU and GPU! Maybe 50W total. I look at 520W to 550W PSUs for single-GPU gaming systems, though you can often find good 600W to 800W PSUs on sale for the same prices.

All that being said, you don't usually max out both the CPU and the GPU. One is usually limiting the other, often by 50% or more. Some games do max out both, though (I think BF4 is one). I don't think most single-GPU gamers exceed 300W by very much unless they are playing those certain few games that max both CPU and GPU.
 
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All that being said, you don't usually max out both the CPU and the GPU. One is usually limiting the other, often by 50% or more. Some games do max out both, though (I think BF4 is one). I don't think most single-GPU gamers exceed 300W by very much unless they are playing those certain few games that max both CPU and GPU.
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funny you should say that...bf4 uses like 20% cpu on mine....but i can see it maxing some amd's lol
i think i would suggest something lower than what im using to be safe "amd 7970" pretty sure i have seen well over 400 watts pulled from the plug just playing bf4 but his cpu uses much less power as well....be hard to go wrong with fastest 750ti you can find....least you be getting Maxwell and very efficient power usage

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487028

EVGA 02G-P4-3757-KR GeForce GTX 750 Ti 2GB 128-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 FTW w/ ACX Cooling Video Card
$169.99 after $10.00 rebate card would be my suggestion....an overclock all you want..plenty a power to spare

these are nice to have http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16882715005 lets you know exactly how much power your pulling already since you be cutting it close with some of those higher end cards

if you needed more video power...i would not go higher than amd 280 (7950) or geforce 680 at very most.....i think a 290x would blow that fucker up
 
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misterbobby said:
That psu is stronger than than its 400 watt rating would indicate but I like to have way more headroom. A stock 2600k and stock 780 system with only a couple drives would technically be fine but I would not do it long term. I certainly would not oc anything.
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No, not currently overclocking. I'm considering getting a midrange card for first-person gaming at 1920x1200 on, so nothing fancy.
 
Like always, I'm going off Anand's bench (which might be the most useful thing on the internet) and it's showing the GTX780 drawing 365 watts max under Furmark and 327 under Crysis 3 at the wall. That would work for on a good quality 400 watt PSU like that Seasonic. A non-Uber 290X hits 355 with Furmark and 378 while gaming on Crysis 3 so while that would work, you'd be getting close to the limits.

AnandBench Furmark
AnandBench Crysis 3
 
My new Ncase box is running quite a bit of hardware with only a SFX format PS (450w). See sig. It had one R9 290 at first but I swapped it out for a 780 GTX and put the 290 into my bigger / older rig at home to try out Crossfire. Works great! I don't have experience with Seasonic but as misterbobby said above, it's more about the quality of the PS than just the wattage. I had a 1000w BFG modular PS that couldn't support my 2x 290s while my EVGA 750w does with no problems.
 
MacLeod said:
Like always, I'm going off Anand's bench (which might be the most useful thing on the internet) and it's showing the GTX780 drawing 365 watts max under Furmark and 327 under Crysis 3 at the wall. That would work for on a good quality 400 watt PSU like that Seasonic. A non-Uber 290X hits 355 with Furmark and 378 while gaming on Crysis 3 so while that would work, you'd be getting close to the limits.

AnandBench Furmark
AnandBench Crysis 3
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not saying he would ever do it...but just imagine we was running furmark and started intel burn test on the side of that...kinda like what occt power test is supposed to do...or maybe he just happens to multitask and start a bd-rebuilder project in the background and jumps into play bf4.....there's gonna be smoke coming from that power supply

bf4 will peg hes gpu to 100% and bd-rebuilder will take the cpu thats left over to 100% as well....i think he be close to 500watts using a 290x.....i would be closer to 600 watts in my system at least
 
primetime said:
not saying he would ever do it...but just imagine we was running furmark and started intel burn test on the side of that...kinda like what occt power test is supposed to do...or maybe he just happens to multitask and start a bd-rebuilder project in the background and jumps into play bf4.....there's gonna be smoke coming from that power supply

bf4 will peg hes gpu to 100% and bd-rebuilder will take the cpu thats left over to 100% as well....i think he be close to 500watts using a 290x.....i would be closer to 600 watts in my system at least
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OK, Ill give you that one caveat. OP, if youre going to be running Furmark on your 290X along side OCCT then youll need a bigger power supply. But if youre just going to play games, youll be fine. ;)

Dont get me wrong, I know its not ideal and a bigger power supply purchase should definitely be in the plans for the future. However I dont think he should skimp out and buy a weak sauce GPU now thinking his PSU cant handle it because as long as he's not doing anything insane, he'll be fine. And again, its only the 290X that pushes the red line. A GTX780 or 290 would be around 300 watts at the wall which would be easily handled by that Seasonic 400.
 
MacLeod said:
OK, Ill give you that one caveat. OP, if youre going to be running Furmark on your 290X along side OCCT then youll need a bigger power supply. But if youre just going to play games, youll be fine. ;)

Dont get me wrong, I know its not ideal and a bigger power supply purchase should definitely be in the plans for the future. However I dont think he should skimp out and buy a weak sauce GPU now thinking his PSU cant handle it because as long as he's not doing anything insane, he'll be fine. And again, its only the 290X that pushes the red line. A GTX780 or 290 would be around 300 watts at the wall which would be easily handled by that Seasonic 400.
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well with that being said...as long as he remembers not to go crazy multitasking and never overclocks the gpu in any way...i guess he could even underclock/undervolt it as well if it became an issue....i guess my new choice would be the GTX 780 max TDP is 250W....I suppose a quality supply like that would just turn off if he over loaded it anyway...does that supply even have a fan inside it? that would bother me if it didn't (I hope he has great airflow in his case)

For myself...I do multitask from time to time..Running a BD_Rebuilder project and playing bf4 can and does happen and it will max both gpu and cpu and large amounts of ram...I be pulling around 650+ watts if i had to guess during these rare occasions....pc would make a great room heater on those cold winter nights....he should definitely leave all power saving options on...maybe even speedstep as well lol....anything that can lower power usage
 
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Another nod for 750Ti.

Another consideration is your actual house wiring. Is your house/apt/room current modern construction or is it 20/30 years old or older? Could make a difference in what is available at the wall and quality of that power as well. Also how much draw is being used on the circuit where the puter will be plugged in??
 
Get the 780 or 290. I had to try really hard to get my setup with overclocks to pull more than 400w at the wall. For normal usage your fine.
 
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