amd r9 290x 8gb by msi in crossfire or gtx 970 by msi in sli

[buckica]

Hi !

 

I need some help, im buying a new pc with intel i7 4790k, msi gaming 7, 8 or 16 gb of ram. I just don't know what graphic cards should i buy two r9 290x with 8gb of vram or two 970 with 4gb (3.5) of vram. And i want to know if there will be any bottlenecks because the intel i7 4790k has only 16 pci lanes ? Thanks for help.

 

#i am an MSI fanboy

[david cassar]

If you are going to be gaming at 4k or other high resolutions then get the 8gb r9 290x. If not two 4gb r9 290x or two 4gb gtx 970s would suffice.

[GrantSor+1]

2MSI GTX 970 4GB(3.5)
As for ram, DX12 will support memory stacking so thats 7GB + 1GB
and you dont need 16GBs of VRAM + THE electricity output. and will u be running on 4k?

[zappian]

 

At 4k the 8 GB is worth it.

[Sauron]

2 normal R9 290Xs, by far the best choice

[GrantSor+1]

 

At 4k the 8 GB is worth it.

WOW, i didnt knew that.

Thanks for the info mate!

[buckica]

i will be runing at 4k or 3x1080p

 

And is this true ''As for ram, DX12 will support memory stacking so thats 7GB + 1GB ''

[Sauron]

i will be runing at 4k or 3x1080p

 

And is this true ''As for ram, DX12 will support memory stacking so thats 7GB + 1GB ''

 

Only if the developer specifically implements that feature

[Tacitus]

MSI 290xs are a poor choice in crossfire - they have a reputation for throttling as they are too weak to shift the heat.

[incarnate]

i will be runing at 4k or 3x1080p

 

And is this true ''As for ram, DX12 will support memory stacking so thats 7GB + 1GB ''

 

at higher resolutions i've seen a lot of 970 sli owners complain of poorer than expected performance due to the memory design of that card. i'd go with 2 290x cards if i were you. it would be the safest bet

[GoodN1ght]

2MSI GTX 970 4GB(3.5)

As for ram, DX12 will support memory stacking so thats 7GB + 1GB

and you dont need 16GBs of VRAM + THE electricity output. and will u be running on 4k?

Electricity output really is a shody argument. Before you see a difference on your power bill that warrants a switch, your cards will have become obsolete. (especially if you live in Canada)

[Scarymonkeys]

Depends. 970's in SLI would most likely be more stable due to the power consumption and less heat, but XFire /SLI altogether would be pretty unstable in some games such as AC:Unity. The VRam on 970's is too low for 4K I would think, not to mention. In my opinion, 4K isn't a very good option at the moment. Not a lot of hardware can handle it without issues.

[GoodN1ght]

I don't think you can quote anything that Ubisoft shits out as a reliable benchmark.

They litteraly do their worst for PC ports, they just contract eastern euro compagnies to do it, and it blows. 

[sgloux3470]

4K only needs 2.5-3,GB of VRAM right now, before antialiasing. Anything that uses more than that does it because the game engine uses available vram, but does not require it and will use less if you only have less.

I would recommend a 295x2 rather than a crossfire config, if it makes sense in your region in terms of pricing. I'd also say dual 290's instead of 290x's will likely be fine. Not sure if it's worth the extra $100-300 for what amounts to 10-30% at most. We're talking 5-15 FPS.

Dual 290's also outperforms or ties with ski 970's at 4K.

[asim1999]

2MSI GTX 970 4GB(3.5)

As for ram, DX12 will support memory stacking so thats 7GB + 1GB

and you dont need 16GBs of VRAM + THE electricity output. and will u be running on 4k?

No but think about this, it wont evenly spread the load, it will fill up like a jug, if u will. it will reach 3.5GB then get bottlenecked the rest of the way up due to having to use the slower RAM 

[buckica]

No but think about this, it wont evenly spread the load, it will fill up like a jug, if u will. it will reach 3.5GB then get bottlenecked the rest of the way up due to having to use the slower RAM

Can you disable the 500mb of slow vram ???

[othertomperson]

The 8GB 290X is a complete waste of money. Very few games use more than 3.4GB vram at 4K, only two can use 4GB if you make them. By the time you want GPUs with more than 4GB vram two 290Xs will not be powerful enough for the games you will want to be playing anyway at the highest presets. This card is pure snakeoil, profiteering off of poorly researched rumour.

 

The 970 and the 290X are about level at 4K. One pulls ahead in some games, the other does better in others, generally the difference is a couple of fps anyway. If I were you I'd either look at two 970s in SLI, or I'd look at the 295X2, or look at 290Xs only if your case is extremely well ventilated.

 

 

 

At 4k the 8 GB is worth it.

 

It's hilarious how you omitted this graph in your efforts to show how bad the 970 was at 4k compared with the 4GB 290X

[asim1999]

Can you disable the 500mb of slow vram ???

Dont think so 

[buckica]

So... This are the options, what should i get.

2x R9 290x.....704€

2x gtx 970.....720€

R9 295x2.......750€

My case is corsair 780t so i think heat will not be a problem.