r9 290x or gtx 970?

[MEC-777]

The 970 beats the 290X in nearly everything apart from rendering and loading kinda stuff and the 970 has much higher speeds possibly better overclocking depends on which one and grea TDP I would recommend dual Gigabyte 870 G1s if you want pure performance with few higher clock speed cards it is the best in my opinion.

 

Not at higher resolutions (1440 multi-display, 4k etc.) it doesn't. Maybe with overclocking, the 970 can match it on that front.

 

At 1080 and 1440 single displays, yes, the 970 is faster.

[maizenblue]

I've searched for a definitive answer on which card gives you better performance and I still haven't found one. Most benchmarks Ive seen online show the 970 edging out the 290x @ 1080p and 1440p with the 290x tying or beating it at 4k, but many of these sites cater to Nvidia fanboys and you usually have a factory OC'd 970 against a reference 290x, so its hard to know how much of this is reality. If these sites showed a non reference 290x outperforming the 970 the NVidia fanboys would be at the gates with pitchforks and a flame war would ensue.  Ive seen a few sites I generally trust showing the 290x with better results in some games even at 1080p and significantly better results at higher resolutions.

 

The picture gets even murkier when you compare 970 SLI to 290x crossfire, as Ive seen some benchmarks with the 290x pretty much blowing away the 970, but these are at higher resolutions which is what youd use dual GPUs for. I also keep hearing about the 970 being the cooler running card, but its in SLI that Ive seen some pretty high temps, in fact more often than not the 970s seem to run hotter than 2 quality 290xs like vapor Xs or PCS+, something to do with the 970s backplate not allowing good airflow.

 

I guess in the end just choose whichever brand you prefer, but I would definitely try to water cool a reference 290x and if the cost of that is greater than the cost of a 970, I would consider the 970. Or you could just go with the 290x until something better comes along. Reference 290xs have shown they can withstand high temps for a pretty long time, so the card would still last you at least until 20nm cards are out.

[MEC-777]

I've searched for a definitive answer on which card gives you better performance and I still haven't found one. Most benchmarks Ive seen online show the 970 edging out the 290x @ 1080p and 1440p with the 290x tying or beating it at 4k, but many of these sites cater to Nvidia fanboys and you usually have a factory OC'd 970 against a reference 290x, so its hard to know how much of this is reality. If these sites showed a non reference 290x outperforming the 970 the NVidia fanboys would be at the gates with pitchforks and a flame war would ensue.  Ive seen a few sites I generally trust showing the 290x with better results in some games even at 1080p and significantly better results at higher resolutions.

 

The picture gets even murkier when you compare 970 SLI to 290x crossfire, as Ive seen some benchmarks with the 290x pretty much blowing away the 970, but these are at higher resolutions which is what youd use dual GPUs for. I also keep hearing about the 970 being the cooler running card, but its in SLI that Ive seen some pretty high temps, in fact more often than not the 970s seem to run hotter than 2 quality 290xs like vapor Xs or PCS+, something to do with the 970s backplate not allowing good airflow.

 

I guess in the end just choose whichever brand you prefer, but I would definitely try to water cool a reference 290x and if the cost of that is greater than the cost of a 970, I would consider the 970. Or you could just go with the 290x until something better comes along. Reference 290xs have shown they can withstand high temps for a pretty long time, so the card would still last you at least until 20nm cards are out.

 

Totally. I agree with everything said here.

 

It's really splitting hairs between the 290, 290X and 970. (Some say the 970 sits between the 290 and 290X). They're all high-end cards that all perform within a small margin of each other across a wide range of games. Really, it depends on the game, resolution, number of displays and even other system components as to which performs better. There is no definitive answer.

 

I would say choose which ever you prefer and if you don't prefer either brand (like me), then go with which ever you can find the best deal for the performance you want. If AMD has more of the features you want, go with the 290X. If Nvidia has more of the features you want, then go with the 970. You can't go wrong with either.

 

The stigma that 290's run hot comes from the inadequate hair-dryer reference cooler (and arguably, Asus' half-assed DCU-II cooler, ripped from the 780). There are many really well built and well designed 3rd party 290's that run surprisingly quiet and cool; Sapphire's Tri-X and Vapour-X, Powercolour PCS+, and the HIS IceQ X2 (the one I'm running), just to name a few.

 

There are positives and negatives to both sides. Just choose which ever is more important to you.

[finnigen]

Ok thank you everybody very much for the help.

[finnigen]

I am probably going for the gtx 970. I am not sure if the gigabyte g1 version would fit in my Bitfenix Shinobi. Is the msi then a good choice?

[MEC-777]

I am probably going for the gtx 970. I am not sure if the gigabyte g1 version would fit in my Bitfenix Shinobi. Is the msi then a good choice?

 

The Gigabyte G1, MSI gaming and Asus Strix seem to be the most popular 970's. They're all top-notch cards, can't go wrong with either.

 

I was going to go with the MSI 970, but then I found a deal on the R9-290 for $299. Decided to jump on that, save myself about $100 and get 3 free games instead. (Alien Isolation, Sniper Elite 3 and Star Citizen).

[DOOM4343]

I would keep the 290x and buy an aftermarket cooler or wait to see how much the 290x and 970 8GB cards cost. SLI for the 970 would be a good buy if you plan on doing 4k gaming or crazy eyefinity.

[Kimchi]

I have a powercolor radeon r9 290x graphics card in the reference design. I wanted to upgrade the cooler on it but thought that that would be too expensive. So then I thought I should sell it and get a gtx 980 instead. But then I realized that a gtx 970 sli configuration would be even better and not so much more expensive. but I could to do that I also realized that I had to exchange the motherboard. I can first buy the second gtx 970 maybe in half a year.

But actually the r9 290x outperforms the gtx 970 by just a little bit.

Now I am not sure what to do. I do not want to stay with th 290x stock. It gets too hot and (too loud).

What would you guys recommend?

Thanks in advance.

If you already have a great card like the 290x it's really not worth busting your balls for a card that barely outperforms it.

[finnigen]

I do agree with you. I know it seems a little bit stupid. But when I wouldn't sell it I would buy a water cooling system for it. A kraken g10, a corsair h55 and some heatsinks. This costs around 100 euros and I am not even sure if it will fit in my case. So when I would sell the 290x I would get around 300 Euro. Then plus the 100 Euro I didn't use for the water system I have a 400 Euro budget.

The msi gtx 970 costs around 350 Euro. With it I would get (minimal) better performance, the heat problem solved, the noise problem solved and still have around 50 Euro left.

[teddyteddyteddy]

I do agree with you. I know it seems a little bit stupid. But when I wouldn't sell it I would buy a water cooling system for it. A kraken g10, a corsair h55 and some heatsinks. This costs around 100 euros and I am not even sure if it will fit in my case. So when I would sell the 290x I would get around 300 Euro. Then plus the 100 Euro I didn't use for the water system I have a 400 Euro budget.

The msi gtx 970 costs around 350 Euro. With it I would get (minimal) better performance, the heat problem solved, the noise problem solved and still have around 50 Euro left.

I'm pretty sure you won't be able to sell your 290x for that much... on ebay, they seem to be going for around $250, which is only 200 Euros.  

I would probably just put the g10 and h55 on your 290x if I were you, but if you want the 970 for the lower power consumption then go for it.

I'm sure the h55 would fit in your case. It doesn't take up much room.  What case do you have? Unless it's mini itx or something, there should be room for it

[Cheddle]

I am probably going for the gtx 970. I am not sure if the gigabyte g1 version would fit in my Bitfenix Shinobi. Is the msi then a good choice?

 

I had a G1 Gaming in a Bitphenix ProdigyM - the backplate didn't clear my powersupply cables entirely so I had to install the card into the second pcie slot that said if I had installed my old 550w psu it would have cleared it... the G1 gaming is a big card...

 

Have a look at the LTT Valley benchmark https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AlC81MjwelBgdDdfZGdPbERhYi1YYjhXZVREX1ZtUFE#gid=1

 

Overclocked r9 290x's are fantastic cards. I highly doubt you will fit the arctic cooler on the GPU, that cooler is unrealistic... you should be able to fit a Gelid in there - I have one of these on my 4870 (stock cooler fans died) http://www.gelidsolutions.com/products/index.php?lid=1&cid=17&id=52

 

I was in a similar situation to you, I had crossfire r9 290's - couldn't handle the heat and noise. sold them for about $600 aud and bought a 980 g1 gaming for $839 aud - I lost about 25% performance but also dropped all the sli/crossfire issues - personally I prefer one powerful card.

 

If you throw a cooler on the r9 290x you will have a good time.

[MEC-777]

@finnigen

 

What case do you have?

 

I still suggest going with the G10 + h55 if you have room, because then you save yourself a whole lot more money vs. selling your 290X and buying a 970 and have basically the same performance in the end. Used 290/X reference cards have dropped in value since the recent price cuts on brand new cards, so you're probably not going to get as much as you think for it. 

[finnigen]

@finnigen

 

What case do you have?

 

I still suggest going with the G10 + h55 if you have room, because then you save yourself a whole lot more money vs. selling your 290X and buying a 970 and have basically the same performance in the end. Used 290/X reference cards have dropped in value since the recent price cuts on brand new cards, so you're probably not going to get as much as you think for it.

My case is the Bitfenix Shinobi. But I have a noctua nh-d14 in it and it is pretty big.

Has anyone any recommendations on a vram heatsink kit for the 290x. I have found some kits, but the problem is that I live in Denmark and their ether is no shipping from America or only crazy expensive shipping.

[MEC-777]

My case is the Bitfenix Shinobi. But I have a noctua nh-d14 in it and it is pretty big.

Has anyone any recommendations on a vram heatsink kit for the 290x. I have found some kits, but the problem is that I live in Denmark and their ether is no shipping from America or only crazy expensive shipping.

 

Just took a look at some pics of that case. The only way you could fit a 120mm AIO in the front is if you remove the storage rack and even then, it's hard to see, but there's no guarantee it will fit. You could mount the rad as an exhaust at the rear, but with that big CPU air cooler, you could run into issues. The only other option is to mount the rad at the top as exhaust, but again, it depends on how much clearance there is with that CPU cooler. Also, you'd have to make sure the hoses on which ever AIO you choose to use will be long enough. I know the H55 hoses aren't super long, so that one may not work in this situation...

 

As for 290X VRM heatsink kits, you could check ebay as that's where I've seen the majority of them for good prices. 

 

Just as a side note, if you don't have any intake fans on your case already, I would suggest you install two 120mm intake fans at the front, regardless of what you decide to do. You can run them at lower rpm so they stay quiet, but that will help significantly with interior case temps.

[finnigen]

Just took a look at some pics of that case. The only way you could fit a 120mm AIO in the front is if you remove the storage rack and even then, it's hard to see, but there's no guarantee it will fit. You could mount the rad as an exhaust at the rear, but with that big CPU air cooler, you could run into issues. The only other option is to mount the rad at the top as exhaust, but again, it depends on how much clearance there is with that CPU cooler. Also, you'd have to make sure the hoses on which ever AIO you choose to use will be long enough. I know the H55 hoses aren't super long, so that one may not work in this situation...

 

As for 290X VRM heatsink kits, you could check ebay as that's where I've seen the majority of them for good prices. 

 

Just as a side note, if you don't have any intake fans on your case already, I would suggest you install two 120mm intake fans at the front, regardless of what you decide to do. You can run them at lower rpm so they stay quiet, but that will help significantly with interior case temps.

Ok thank you and yes I already have two intake fans in the front and also one in the top and one in the rear.

As you see it is a little complicated with my case, so I will probably just get the msi gtx 970.

So Thanks once again for all the help.