Graphics Card Upgrade for 1440P - R9 290 or GTX 780?

[Xiao]

Hey guys,

I'm upgrading to a new graphics card soon for my Ivy-Bridge i5 3570K system overclocked at 4.2GHz. I have a Seasonic 850W Semi-modular power supply in case for future upgrades.

Currently I am using an HD 6850 that is slowly starting to fail me in terms of giving me artifacts sometimes when used in 3D applications.

 

Since I got a new 1440P Korean IPS monitor running at 96Hz, I'd like to be able to enjoy the eyecandy at this resolution. My question is whether I should get a non-reference R9 290 when they come out, or get a GTX 780. I am not sure if Mantle and TrueAudio will be a gamechanger. That and the extra VRAM and bus size on the R9 290 for higher resolutions? I will also definitely be overclocking my graphics card on the cooler it comes with; no water cooling. I sometimes dabble in 3DS Max and rendering, as well as Photoshop and Adobe Premiere+After Effects which I guess may benefit more from CUDA cores. However, I do think that my main priority is for gaming.

 

I only have around 600$ Canadian, and will probably not spend more than that for a graphics card, so a 780 Ti is out of the question for me. I know the price of the AMD cards have sky-rocketed due to cryptocurrency-mining, but I am unsure as to whether they will gradually roll back to the 400-500 price range.

 

I would like your opinions before I make a choice. I am not in a hurry as of right now and can probably wait until late January - early February. Thanks!

[Flyguygamer]

780

[whatthe_fuzz]

780

[Mcdoorknob]

290

[TheMissxu]

290

[bchampion96]

Well here it looks like it's 2 votes either way. Stick around to see the debate hot up

[Xiao]

I really hoped to read a bit more than just three numbers from people's posts

[ChrisxIxCross]

 

Hey guys,

I'm upgrading to a new graphics card soon for my Ivy-Bridge i5 3570K system overclocked at 4.2GHz. I have a Seasonic 850W Semi-modular power supply in case for future upgrades.

Currently I am using an HD 6850 that is slowly starting to fail me in terms of giving me artifacts sometimes when used in 3D applications.

 

Since I got a new 1440P Korean IPS monitor running at 96Hz, I'd like to be able to enjoy the eyecandy at this resolution. My question is whether I should get a non-reference R9 290 when they come out, or get a GTX 780. I am not sure if Mantle and TrueAudio will be a gamechanger. That and the extra VRAM and bus size on the R9 290 for higher resolutions? I will also definitely be overclocking my graphics card on the cooler it comes with; no water cooling. I sometimes dabble in 3DS Max and rendering, as well as Photoshop and Adobe Premiere+After Effects which I guess may benefit more from CUDA cores. However, I do think that my main priority is for gaming.

 

I only have around 600$ Canadian, and will probably not spend more than that for a graphics card, so a 780 Ti is out of the question for me. I know the price of the AMD cards have sky-rocketed due to cryptocurrency-mining, but I am unsure as to whether they will gradually roll back to the 400-500 price range.

 

I would like your opinions before I make a choice. I am not in a hurry as of right now and can probably wait until late January - early February. Thanks!

 

If you can wait i would go r9 290, if not 780 without a doubt. 

[TechFan@ic]

Get a non-reference R9 290, it's faster than a 780 and less expensive, it also has more memory and more memory bandwidth so it will handle higher resolutions like 1440p much more gracefully.
A larger memory capacity also means that you can go on using the card for a longer period of time without running out of memory in future games, which extends the lifetime of the card.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/3

[TheNinjaNextDor]

780

[austin541]

290

[Brandonsr]

From looking at benchmarks the R9 290 seems to be faster at higher resolutions.

[Mindtrickz]

The 780. The 780 is king at 1080p and 1600p while the 290 slightly pulls ahead on 4K. You can see for yourself: The Sapphire R9 290 benchmark versus MSI 780 Lightning at 1600p.  http://www.kitguru.n...0p-ultra-hd-4k/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here are more Sapphire R9 290 versus after-market 780's. I should note that R9 290 is running on a 4770K with 16GB of memory while the 780's are running on 3770K with only 8GB of memory. The rest of the setup is the same.

 

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/63953-sapphire-radeon-r9-290-tri-x/?page=2

http://hexus.net/tech/reviews/graphics/60269-evga-geforce-gtx-780-classified/?page=2

 

 

 

Crysis 3:

 

 

 

Far Cry 3:

 

 

 

Just Cause 2

 

 

 

Conclusion:

The after-market 780's seem to be a head by a bit.

[Xiao]

If I were to go with the 780, which one would you guys recommend?

In the benchmarks, it appears that there is little difference between each card with one being just a few frames higher than the other in some games.

Currently, both of the cards are similarly priced here in Canada with the R9 290 costing around only 20$ more (without sales).

 

I am not sure if extra VRAM will help me in the future, as I don't plan on upgrading my PC or Monitor for at least two years (I'll still be on a single 1440P monitor + a side monitor that is used only for browsing). I am also unsure as to whether the prices for the AMD cards will drop within a month or two (I am in no rush right now to get a new card and can wait for February or even March).

[Mindtrickz]

If I were to go with the 780, which one would you guys recommend?

In the benchmarks, it appears that there is little difference between each card with one being just a few frames higher than the other in some games.

Currently, both of the cards are similarly priced here in Canada with the R9 290 costing around only 20$ more (without sales).

 

I am not sure if extra VRAM will help me in the future, as I don't plan on upgrading my PC or Monitor for at least two years (I'll still be on a single 1440P monitor + a side monitor that is used only for browsing). I am also unsure as to whether the prices for the AMD cards will drop within a month or two (I am in no rush right now to get a new card and can wait for February or even March).

 

If you're not in a hurry then just wait until early February to see if there is a price drop. If not at least more after-market R9 290 will drop and you'll have a more choices. The extra vram and more memory bandwith that the AMD card's have really shine through during multi-monitor and 4K gaming.

[Xiao]

Alright, thank you very much for the input. I guess I will be playing the waiting game.

 

Just so if the prices still don't drop in February, which 780 would you guys recommend? I saw the MSI 780 Lightning that is regularly priced at 620$ on sale for 570$ -> This sale price is the same as the store's retail price for the MSI TwinFrozr 290. The Asus DirectCUII 780 is also 550$ without any sales. I have never tried an EVGA product yet so I don't know which one is good from them.

[Inkz]

EVGA has a limited lifetime warranty. Also with select models you can either upgrade to a higher card, or new generation if they come out within 90 days of purchase. I would go with them personally.

[binman13]

I know this is kind of over, but honestly just go with a non-reference 290.

The person who was linking benchmarks failed to realise that the reference 780 was falling behind the reference 290 and that the non-reference base-level 290's were only beaten by the Lighting 780

[Mindtrickz]

I know this is kind of over, but honestly just go with a non-reference 290.

The person who was linking benchmarks failed to realise that the reference 780 was falling behind the reference 290 and that the non-reference base-level 290's were only beaten by the Lighting 780

 

You should look at the charts again. The Zotac AMP, Palit JetStream, EVGA SuperClocked and Classified, Gainward Phantom, Asus Direct CU II all beat the non-reference 290.

[Mcdoom]

I was in the same boat as you a few weeks ago. I ended up going with an ASUS DCU II GTX 780 and couldn't be happier. Pricing and availability for the 290's were all over the place and after watching Linus' water cooled 290 vs 780 comparison video, it seems like the right choice. The 290 didn't seem to have as much overclocking headroom as everyone hoped (including me) even with the thermal limitations gone. My 780 is crushing 1440p getting 90-110 fps on BF4 Ultra (no AA) with my Korean 120hz monitor <3

 

Best of luck!

[Ja Krispie]

Alright, thank you very much for the input. I guess I will be playing the waiting game.

 

Just so if the prices still don't drop in February, which 780 would you guys recommend? I saw the MSI 780 Lightning that is regularly priced at 620$ on sale for 570$ -> This sale price is the same as the store's retail price for the MSI TwinFrozr 290. The Asus DirectCUII 780 is also 550$ without any sales. I have never tried an EVGA product yet so I don't know which one is good from them.

I personally like EVGA, I have 1 right now and ordered a second for SLI. I would definitely get the ACX cooler, it is nice and quiet and stays cool. If I didn't go EVGA I'd go with ASUS or MSI

[Xiao]

Unfortunately, having checked NCIX's prices for EVGA 780s, they're all terribly overpriced going around 600-800$ for a non-Ti 780.

 

It seems I probably will wait until early February to see how Mantle and the AMD cards turn out before finally deciding.

[Dragonzeanse]

Unfortunately, having checked NCIX's prices for EVGA 780s, they're all terribly overpriced going around 600-800$ for a non-Ti 780.

 

It seems I probably will wait until early February to see how Mantle and the AMD cards turn out before finally deciding.

I really hope Mantle isn't a disappointment. Every fiber of my being wants to discredit the promises, if only because of the hype.

 

I would wait until non-reference R9 290s come out, and the Litecoin craze dies so that prices will drop back to normal.

[binman13]

You should look at the charts again. The Zotac AMP, Palit JetStream, EVGA SuperClocked and Classified, Gainward Phantom, Asus Direct CU II all beat the non-reference 290.

 

Only in the Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3 benchmarks...both of which are incredibly nvidia-favouring games...

In Total War: Rome 2, Alien v Predator, Just Cause 2, and Grid 2, which are fairly balanced in terms of GPU preferences, we see the 290 either beating all 780's or being beaten by only the Lightning Edition OC'd 780.

[Mindtrickz]

Only in the Far Cry 3 and Crysis 3 benchmarks...both of which are incredibly nvidia-favouring games...

In Total War: Rome 2, Alien v Predator, Just Cause 2, and Grid 2, which are fairly balanced in terms of GPU preferences, we see the 290 either beating all 780's or being beaten by only the Lightning Edition OC'd 780.

 

Yeah, you're cherry-picking and jumping to unsupported claims. For the highlighted part, you just made up considering there is no other after-market 780 in the same test as the Lightning, so how could the after market 290 be better than them when they are not even up against each other in the test?

 

Don't even get me started on how you picked the AMD flavoring games.