Want to upgrade to two R9 290X for 4k gaming. Is it worh it? Are the rest of my components okay?

[Tronnic]

Hi everyone!

 

A few days ago I saw Star Citizen on an 4k Monitor. And I can't forget how great it looked. I really think about to upgrade my System withing the next few months. I just sold my 2 GTX680's and bought an R9 290X and new RAM.

 

My Computer specs

CPU - Intel Core i7 2600k @ 4.4 GHz

MB - Asus P8Z68-V

RAM - 16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LP @ 1333MHz

GPU - Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB @ 1100MHz GPU - 1300MHz VRAM

PSU - Coba Nitrox Rev. 2.0 750W Power Supply

Monitors: 3x 27" and 1x 23" -> This

 

I thought it may work to buy another R9 290X Windforce to get 4k running on my system. Right now when I do a weird Eyefinity setup to simulate 4k with all my 4 FullHD Monitors I get about 25-30 FPS in StarCitizen (Very High), 60FPS (capped) in EVE Online and about 30 FPS in Battlefield 4 (All Ultra with Mantle).

 

Do you think it's worth the upgrade of buying another 290X and is the rest of my system capable of performing well or will my Mainboard / CPU bottleneck. All I know for sure is that I need a new PSU with 900W-1000W since the fans of mine died anyways. Cooling it with case fans right now, lol.

 

Would be nice to get some replys.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Cheers,

-Tronnic.

 

P.S.: Would love to see a Video from Linus on running 2 R9 290X in Crossfire and with 4k Gaming that includes Star Citizen, BF4 and Crysis 3.

[APrettyCoolWalrus]

Yeah, your system seems just fine for 4K. Just a question though:
How can you live with 30fps even at 4k?

[Tronnic]

Yeah, your system seems just fine for 4K. Just a question though:

How can you live with 30fps even at 4k?

 

I can't. I just tested how well it performs on my one GPU by doing an Eyefinity configuration (2x2 1080p Screens). I usually play at 1080p or Eyefinity 5760x1080. That's why I ask if its worth to buy another R9 290X to get decent FPS (50-60) on 4k. :-)

[Katsu-K1L]

yea, you should be fine.

 

[Virgule]

Go with 2 r9 290

[Tronnic]

Go with 2 r9 290

 

Virgule, you have an 4k Monitor right? What kind of games do you play on it? Do you maybe have Star Citizen or Crysis 3? Would be sweet to know some real world FPS Numbers. :-)

 

Thanks for the benchmarks Katsu. Will 2 R9 290X be comparable to an R9 295X2?

[Virgule]

Virgule, you have an 4k Monitor right? What kind of games do you play on it? Do you maybe have Star Citizen or Crysis 3? Would be sweet to know some real world FPS Numbers. :-)

 

Thanks for the benchmarks Katsu. Will 2 R9 290X be comparable to an R9 295X2?

I do. I play BF4, SC2 & Watchdogs these days. I get around 60 fps without AA and some settings on high rather than ultra (depending on the game). 

 

Do not go for 2 r9 290x or a r9 295x2. Both are a waste of money. 2 r9 290 will yield almost the same results at a MUCH lower price. Buy 2 r9 290 while you wait for a future, more powerful generation of GPUs.

[SymphonyX7]

I do. I play BF4, SC2 & Watchdogs these days. I get around 60 fps without AA and some settings on high rather than ultra (depending on the game). 

 

Do not go for 2 r9 290x or a r9 295x2. Both are a waste of money. 2 r9 290 will yield almost the same results at a MUCH lower price. Buy 2 r9 290 while you wait for a future, more powerful generation of GPUs.

He already has an R9 290X. He's just looking to get another one.

[Toto123456]

Hi everyone!

 

A few days ago I saw Star Citizen on an 4k Monitor. And I can't forget how great it looked. I really think about to upgrade my System withing the next few months. I just sold my 2 GTX680's and bought an R9 290X and new RAM.

 

My Computer specs

CPU - Intel Core i7 2600k @ 4.4 GHz

MB - Asus P8Z68-V

RAM - 16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LP @ 1333MHz

GPU - Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB @ 1100MHz GPU - 1300MHz VRAM

PSU - Coba Nitrox Rev. 2.0 750W Power Supply

Monitors: 3x 27" and 1x 23" -> This

 

I thought it may work to buy another R9 290X Windforce to get 4k running on my system. Right now when I do a weird Eyefinity setup to simulate 4k with all my 4 FullHD Monitors I get about 25-30 FPS in StarCitizen (Very High), 60FPS (capped) in EVE Online and about 30 FPS in Battlefield 4 (All Ultra with Mantle).

 

Do you think it's worth the upgrade of buying another 290X and is the rest of my system capable of performing well or will my Mainboard / CPU bottleneck. All I know for sure is that I need a new PSU with 900W-1000W since the fans of mine died anyways. Cooling it with case fans right now, lol.

 

Would be nice to get some replys.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Cheers,

-Tronnic.

 

P.S.: Would love to see a Video from Linus on running 2 R9 290X in Crossfire and with 4k Gaming that includes Star Citizen, BF4 and Crysis 3.

 

Its not worth it, U won't get decent framerate at 4k, u might get decent framerate @medium settings though. however cf it and play it on a 1440p and u get 100fps+ on almost every game lol! trust me on this, u will enjoy smooth gaming experience more than high resolution

[Tronnic]

Good point @Toto123456

 

But I'm afraid games won't look as good as I want them to.

I like the idea of not using any of those FXAA Filters or Anti Aliasing at all when going for 4k. Still not really sure. When I go towards 1440p I probably won't even need another 290X, but again. Will my game look really crispy and shrap?

 

I don't know if this makes sense in English. But "I'm thrown back and forth". Haha

[xEaXx]

Your power supply isn't powerful enough to handle 2 r9-290x, you must change it.

[Toto123456]

Good point @Toto123456

 

But I'm afraid games won't look as good as I want them to.

I like the idea of not using any of those FXAA Filters or Anti Aliasing at all when going for 4k. Still not really sure. When I go towards 1440p I probably won't even need another 290X, but again. Will my game look really crispy and shrap?

 

I don't know if this makes sense in English. But "I'm thrown back and forth". Haha

1440p @27 ips monitor will be crisp, may be not as sharp as the 4K BUT most 4K monitors are TN panel!, imagine TN panel with low refresh rate and when u look at it straight on u will see an uneven colours near the edge of the screen.

 

regarding to 1440p, yes a single 290x will do just fine at 1440p, but some games are just unplayable, I have a single 290x on 1440p and I can tell u that I can't play games like watchdogs and metro last light. those games are too demanding, if I want a smooth gameplay, I have to drop settings to medium @1440p or ultra at 1080p.

[dragoon20005]

you may need to upgrade the PSU

 

and possibility a platform upgrade from Sandy Bridge

 

2nd Gen CPU have PCI-E bandwidth limitations so running dual high end GPUs may be taxing the CPU

[Tronnic]

you may need to upgrade the PSU

 

and possibility a platform upgrade from Sandy Bridge

 

2nd Gen CPU have PCI-E bandwidth limitations so running dual high end GPUs may be taxing the CPU

 

Do you think I will have a much notable performance loss? Are there any numbers I can compare to see how many badwith is actually missing?

Would be very nice to know more about it.

Thanks.

[kuddlesworth9419]

I would wait a little longer until the next series of GPU's from Nvidia and AMD. They should be better for 4k then their current GPU's are.

[dragoon20005]

Do you think I will have a much notable performance loss? Are there any numbers I can compare to see how many badwith is actually missing?

Would be very nice to know more about it.

Thanks.

I can't show you any numbers

 

but I have been troubleshooting users who experienced poor performance when they were on CrossFire setups with the Sandy Bridge CPUs

 

they have like 280X dual GPUs but the performance net in games is lower than slightly newer setups.

 

this is with updated BIOS, driver, etc.

 

it just the CPU can't push out enough power to feed 2 GPUs

 

if you can wait a while longer you can opt for the 5th gen Intel CPUs

 

will be a huge upgrade from the 2nd gen

[AllstaRawR]

CPU - Intel Core i7 2600k @ 4.4 GHz

MB - Asus P8Z68-V

RAM - 16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LP @ 1333MHz

GPU - Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB @ 1100MHz GPU - 1300MHz VRAM

PSU - Coba Nitrox Rev. 2.0 750W Power Supply

 

Why is your RAM @ 1333MHz? Can you not get it to 1866MHz at 1.55-1.58V with CL9 or CL10? That's probably a decent idea in general. You should be fine as long as you have decent ventilation.

 

I'm not sure how I feel about that PSU running two 290X's. You're talking a constant draw of around 250W a card with peak draws passing 300W. That leaves only 150-250W for all the rest of your components. If your drawing more than 1.25V on your i7 that could become an issue.

 

I'd feel confident if it was a Gold or Platinum, since those are rated at constant usage. I know that my HX750 can peak draw around 1000W.

[Tronnic]

i7 2600k is limited to 1333MHz I think.

 

My Plan is the following (probably)

 

Next purchase will be a new Tower + R9 290X + 1000W Corsair RM

When I experience low to none gain from the second card my next purchase will be a new Mainboard + CPU. 

 

But I am still not really sure. I might should really just wait for the next gen. My single R9 290X runs game on 1080p just fine at ultra settings. When gaming with Eyfinity 5760x1080 I can still play pretty decent at 40FPS on Medium to High settings depending on game.

 

Those computers... ^^ I am not good at waiting for stuff.

[dragoon20005]

i7 2600k is limited to 1333MHz I think.

 

My Plan is the following (probably)

 

Next purchase will be a new Tower + R9 290X + 1000W Corsair RM

When I experience low to none gain from the second card my next purchase will be a new Mainboard + CPU. 

 

But I am still not really sure. I might should really just wait for the next gen. My single R9 290X runs game on 1080p just fine at ultra settings. When gaming with Eyfinity 5760x1080 I can still play pretty decent at 40FPS on Medium to High settings depending on game.

 

Those computers... ^^ I am not good at waiting for stuff.

new tower is a good idea for better airflow

 

dont take the RM series, they use cheap caps in the PSU

 

take Seasonic or EVGA

 

if you can't wait you can see if you can get a good price for your sandy bridge cpu and mobo and get the Haswell Refresh i7 4790K

[carl_arts@yahoo]

i7 2600k is limited to 1333MHz I think.

 

My Plan is the following (probably)

 

Next purchase will be a new Tower + R9 290X + 1000W Corsair RM

When I experience low to none gain from the second card my next purchase will be a new Mainboard + CPU. 

 

But I am still not really sure. I might should really just wait for the next gen. My single R9 290X runs game on 1080p just fine at ultra settings. When gaming with Eyfinity 5760x1080 I can still play pretty decent at 40FPS on Medium to High settings depending on game.

 

Those computers... ^^ I am not good at waiting for stuff.

I'm interested to know what you ended up doing and what the outcome was. Im trying to decide if I should buy another R290X or upgrade my i5 2500 Sandy bridge, (unfortunately I can't do both)

[creativename]

Your power supply isn't powerful enough to handle 2 r9-290x, you must change it.

What are you saying... 750w is enough...

[aenews]

Hi everyone!

 

A few days ago I saw Star Citizen on an 4k Monitor. And I can't forget how great it looked. I really think about to upgrade my System withing the next few months. I just sold my 2 GTX680's and bought an R9 290X and new RAM.

 

My Computer specs

CPU - Intel Core i7 2600k @ 4.4 GHz

MB - Asus P8Z68-V

RAM - 16GB (4x 4GB) Corsair Vengeance LP @ 1333MHz

GPU - Gigabyte Radeon R9 290X 4GB @ 1100MHz GPU - 1300MHz VRAM

PSU - Coba Nitrox Rev. 2.0 750W Power Supply

Monitors: 3x 27" and 1x 23" -> This

 

I thought it may work to buy another R9 290X Windforce to get 4k running on my system. Right now when I do a weird Eyefinity setup to simulate 4k with all my 4 FullHD Monitors I get about 25-30 FPS in StarCitizen (Very High), 60FPS (capped) in EVE Online and about 30 FPS in Battlefield 4 (All Ultra with Mantle).

 

Do you think it's worth the upgrade of buying another 290X and is the rest of my system capable of performing well or will my Mainboard / CPU bottleneck. All I know for sure is that I need a new PSU with 900W-1000W since the fans of mine died anyways. Cooling it with case fans right now, lol.

 

Would be nice to get some replys.

 

Thanks everyone!

 

Cheers,

-Tronnic.

 

P.S.: Would love to see a Video from Linus on running 2 R9 290X in Crossfire and with 4k Gaming that includes Star Citizen, BF4 and Crysis 3.

 

What did you end up doing?  I'd say getting another 290X in CrossFire would be nice.  I see pretty good prices (~$400) on Amazon.

 

The fifth-generation Intel processors seem to be mostly a dissapointment for gaming.  Single-core performance will not be significantly different from your current setup, albeit multi-threaded performance would be a lot better.  In gaming though, it's not really an upgrade.  The benchmarks on the review sites seem to show a marginal drop in FPS with Haswell-E compared to Haswell.

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/the-intel-haswell-e-cpu-review-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested

 

If your goal is 4K gaming, there are at least a couple pretty decent 4K monitors out right now for pretty reasonable prices, and even small 4K HDTVs if that's your thing.

[Swndlr]

i wish i could afford a 4k monitor, let alone the 290x's to power it :c