R9 290x Crossfire in 2017?

[MadMurl0c]

Hello everyone,

some weeks ago my graphics card (Asus R9 290x Matrix 4GB) had some vram issues and I sent it to RMA (I didn't think that I would get a new one because I broke the warranty void seal and assembled a Raijintek Morpheus 2 Cooler on it). While this card was in RMA, I found a R9 290x Lightning (4GB) for 130€ on ebay and bought it. Today I got back my old but repaired R9 290x from Asus. The question is, what should I do next, upgrade my PSU and combine the 2 R9 290x's or sell one of the graphics cards and save the money for an upcoming zen processor?

 

My System:

CPU: AMD FX 8320 @ 4.6Ghz (Corsair H100)

Mainboard: ASRock 970 Performance

GPU: MSI R9 290x Lightning (4GB)

PSU: be quiet Straight Power e7 700W

 

Thanks for your answers / ideas

[STRMfrmXMN]

Keep your 290X, save up for a new CPU. Don't absolutely count on Zen but at least save up for a better CPU.

[stealth80]

The performance will be decent, the issue is going to be the vram eventually games are going to want more than 4gb. However, you are still going to get very good frame rates, probably around 1070/1080 gtx levels, but I wouldn't push above 1440P or the textures will saturate the vram

 

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-r9-290x-vapor-x-8gb-cf-review/13/

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X_CrossFire/9.html

 

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/R9_290X_CrossFire/14.html

 

keep in mind, not every game supports multi GPU

 

[MadMurl0c]

I am happy with 1080p and think that I won't upgrade to 4k in the next 2 to 3 years. I just don't know if it's worth spending money for a new PSU to use both cards or rather sell one to get a new CPU in near future. Will a new CPU help me to get more FPS out of one of the cards?

[aisle9]

It's certainly not going to hurt performance to run a pair of 290X GPUs in CF, that's for damn sure. As an added bonus, you can take the side panel off of your case and warm your house with that setup during the winter months

 

In all seriousness, that combination will do just fine on practically anything you'd throw at it in 1440p. You'll greatly benefit from a new CPU in the coming months, whether that's a Ryzen chip or a Skylake/Kaby Lake i5 or i7. If it were me, I'd go in this order:

1. Upgrade the PSU and keep both cards
2. Convert rig to Ryzen/Intel
3. Sell both 290X GPUs to nab Vega/Pascal (or next-gen NVIDIA, if it's out--no need to move on to this step for at least a year)

[Sprawlie]

Coming from a 290x which recently benchmarked, if you're sticking to 1080p gaming, you'll be fine with a single 290x. 

 

 

Off the top of my head, these games were playing fine at 30+ FPS on ultra:

Witcher 3.

Kerbal Space Program

Eve Online.

World Of Warcraft

GTA (High/Ultra)

 

the 290x is a very good performing card. Even the newest 480 is probably about on par in performance. Where the 290x fails is on power draw, which it requires a LOT of and heat output.

 

I don't particularly see what benefits of cross fire for these cards are unless you're needing to push more pixels than 1080p. I only ran into a bottleneck once I started gaming at 2560x1080. 

[MadMurl0c]

58 minutes ago, aisle9 said:

Upgrade the PSU and keep both cards

1. Convert rig to Ryzen/Intel
2. Sell both 290X GPUs to nab Vega/Pascal (or next-gen NVIDIA, if it's out--no need to move on to this step for at least a year)

I would love to keep both cards AND upgrade my CPU, but I don't have that much money and want to get the most gaming performance I can get for my money

 

What would impact gaming performance in the next 1-2 years more, a new cpu (ryzen / kaby lake) or a 2nd gpu ?

[Sprawlie]

12 minutes ago, MadMurl0c said:

I would love to keep both cards AND upgrade my CPU, but I don't have that much money and want to get the most gaming performance I can get for my money

 

What would impact gaming performance in the next 1-2 years more, a new cpu (ryzen / kaby lake) or a 2nd gpu ?

 

that is really going to depend on a few things: 

 

What games. What technologies those games use. what resolutions you plan to run at. etc.

 

not all games are created equal in regards to how they utilize a system. if you play heavy sandbox physics games, your CPU will probably be a better upgrade. if you're planning on running the Triple AAA blockbusters at 4k, GPU's would likely be a good upgrade.

 

And this isn't definitive at all. 

[MadMurl0c]

I'm pretty sure that until near 2020 I'll continue using a 1080p monitor. The games I mostly play are Just Cause 3, WoW, Csgo, GTA V, Rainbow 6 Siege and Battlefield 3 / 1. I never saw my CPU running at 100% while playing one of these games but this doesn't mean that it doesn't bottleneck, right?

[BIGARCANGEL]

For 1080p the r9 290x is still a beast !! I just did a benchmark video on it with the latest drivers ?