My first pc build (Newbie)

[gabriel21st]

(07-10-2014, 11:27 PM)jkpwed Wrote: To me extra heat means less GPU life and the hotter the GPU gets the slower it will be.

That's only true to a very limited extent. Your GPU's life will only be degraded if it hits very high temps and has to throttle. That won't happen until it hits 90 C and up, which will not happen unless you're wrapping your GFX card in a pillowcase. Your load GPU temps could be anywhere from 60s to (very) low 80s, which is within reasonable operating temperatures. My GTX 780 is usually around low to mid 70s during load.
Besides, the R9 270X uses merely 30W more or so. It won't break your system.