R9 290 or GTX 780??

[Cam33]

Hi, this is my first post! Although I have been on the forums and following LTT for quite a while now.

I am really struggling with choosing a graphics card. I am not sure whether I should go with the R9 290 or the GTX 780, both probably being DirectCU II versions.

I am from Australia where everything is more expensive, so here are the prices:

Asus R9 290 DirectCU II: $589

Asus GTX 780 Direct CU II: $649

OR

Risk shipping the 780 from Amazon America to Aus for around $550 AUD plus shipping.

I plan on playing the latest titles on ultra at 1920x1200.

What do you guys think? I personally think that NVIDIA has better software, but I don't know whether I should go with the 290 from here or risk shipping the 780.

Thanks

[DIV1D3]

Get the 290 as it is cheaper and it performs better, also since it is a non-reference card it isn't hot or loud like the reference ones. 

[Osmium]

Don't buy the ASUS of either of them. MSI has a very good cooler for Nvidia and Gigabyte has a better one for AMD. (the same coolers exist for both cards but they work better on different cards). Buy whichever is cheaper since they perform so similar.

[Cam33]

Get the 290 as it is cheaper and it performs better, also since it is a non-reference card it isn't hot or loud like the reference ones.

Yeah I am sort of leaning that way..

Don't buy the ASUS of either of them. MSI has a very good cooler for Nvidia and Gigabyte has a better one for AMD. (the same coolers exist for both cards but they work better on different cards). Buy whichever is cheaper since they perform so similar.

OK I will look into other ones, how do you feel about the MSI 290 Gaming Edition and the EVGA ACX cooler on their 780?

[DIV1D3]

Don't buy the ASUS of either of them. MSI has a very good cooler for Nvidia and Gigabyte has a better one for AMD. (the same coolers exist for both cards but they work better on different cards). Buy whichever is cheaper since they perform so similar.

What are you talking about? The MSI and Asus cooling for the AMD cards are parallel tot hat of Gigabyte. 

OK I will look into other ones, how do you feel about the MSI 290 Gaming Edition and the EVGA ACX cooler on their 780?

The ACX cooler brings a premium, I'd say go for the Sapphire Tri-X 290, it cools better than the MSI and performs better too. 

[Cam33]

The ACX cooler brings a premium, I'd say go for the Sapphire Tri-X 290, it cools better than the MSI and performs better too.

Yeah I have heard good things about the Tri-X cooler. Does it have any changes to the PCB?

[DIV1D3]

Yeah I have heard good things about the Tri-X cooler. Does it have any changes to the PCB?

No, it's a reference PCB. I'm not sure if that affects OCing, though it does have a dual BIOS which is good for OCing. 

[Cam33]

No, it's a reference PCB. I'm not sure if that affects OCing, though it does have a dual BIOS which is good for OCing.

OK. I will be overclocking by the way. And thanks for your help mate, I appreciate your help!

[LmeAde2]

I would recommend getting the EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ ACX http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CUIVSNS which is probably the best performance you can get for the money with a 780. 

 

The R9 290's are overpriced right now unless you can find one for around $500 or less I wouldn't go that route. The ASUS DCUII is a great cooler and has a nice custom PCB. I'm not sure why you wouldn't consider the ASUS but the EVGA is always a winner.

[Cam33]

I would recommend getting the EVGA GTX 780 SC w/ ACX http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CUIVSNS which is probably the best performance you can get for the money with a 780. 

 

The R9 290's are overpriced right now unless you can find one for around $500 or less I wouldn't go that route. The ASUS DCUII is a great cooler and has a nice custom PCB. I'm not sure why you wouldn't consider the ASUS but the EVGA is always a winner.

That card costs like over $670 AUD here. Is it worth the risk - the card getting damaged - to ship it to Aus? How are they packaged?

[DIV1D3]

OK. I will be overclocking by the way. And thanks for your help mate, I appreciate your help!

No problem, glad I could help you out .

That card costs like over $670 AUD here. Is it worth the risk - the card getting damaged - to ship it to Aus? How are they packaged?

It won't get damaged but the R9 290 does perform better than the GTX 780, with a non-reference cooler it's the winner imo.

[Cam33]

No problem, glad I could help you out .It won't get damaged but the R9 290 does perform better than the GTX 780, with a non-reference cooler it's the winner imo.

Alright, still not sure but at least I have narrowed it down to two cards now instead of at least 5. We need Linus to do more unboxings and reviews of more non-reference 290's, especially the Sapphire Tri-X one!

[Osmium]

What are you talking about? The MSI and Asus cooling for the AMD cards are parallel tot hat of Gigabyte. 

The ACX cooler brings a premium, I'd say go for the Sapphire Tri-X 290, it cools better than the MSI and performs better too. 

 

Gigabyte's Windforce is consistently cooler than the DCUII and MSI's Twin Frozr is consistently quieter and as cool as ASUS's cooler.

 

Yeah I am sort of leaning that way..OK I will look into other ones, how do you feel about the MSI 290 Gaming Edition and the EVGA ACX cooler on their 780?

 

EVGA's ACX is probably the worst non reference cooler honestly. MSI's cards are very nice but I'd recommend their non reference PCB cards since those ones typically OC like crazy.

[DIV1D3]

Alright, still not sure but at least I have narrowed it down to two cards now instead of at least 5. We need Linus to do more unboxings and reviews of more non-reference 290's, especially the Sapphire Tri-X one!

I'd definitely like to see a comparison between all of the good non-reference 290s, how bout that @LinusTech ?

Gigabyte's Windforce is consistently cooler than the DCUII and MSI's Twin Frozr is consistently quieter and as cool as ASUS's cooler.

 

 

EVGA's ACX is probably the worst non reference cooler honestly. MSI's cards are very nice but I'd recommend their non reference PCB cards since those ones typically OC like crazy.

The Asus and MSI cards are still very good, and I'm sure that the Tri-X is the best performer and keeps the coolest. To me the ACX cooler isn't worth it, is rather keep the money and put it towards an SSD or better case.

[Joshua Ondangan]

r9 290 would be the best deal for you. it's cheaper and also good.

[paulsterio]

In Australia, where AMD hasn't been affected by ballooning costs, the 290 is the better choice. It's more or less equivalent in performance to 780 and cheaper.

You lose three key features with the R9 290, namely:

1) Shadowplay - it's either important to you or it's not, if it is, I would say the 780 makes sense.

2) Shield streaming - again it's either important to you or it's not, you'd know.

3) G-Sync - this is the big one, but honestly, no monitors really support it yet and by the time you get a monitor that does, you're probably upgrading your GPU already.

Same goes with Mantle, it's so early on right now that when it does get mainstream, it's one or two generations of GPUs away.

At the end of the day if they're similar in pricing, it's just what you like. Remember that with AMD, you can use it to mine when you're not gaming and it'll pay itself back after 4 or 5 months

[Joshua Ondangan]

best bet is to just grab the r9 290. then choose again once 2 or 3 gen later by then they have more stuff with it. and mantle and gsync would be more mature (gsync = more monitors would have it at affordable price range).

[Cam33]

How does everyone like the software side of AMD??

[Cam33]

In Australia, where AMD hasn't been affected by ballooning costs, the 290 is the better choice. It's more or less equivalent in performance to 780 and cheaper.

You lose three key features with the R9 290, namely:

1) Shadowplay - it's either important to you or it's not, if it is, I would say the 780 makes sense.

2) Shield streaming - again it's either important to you or it's not, you'd know.

3) G-Sync - this is the big one, but honestly, no monitors really support it yet and by the time you get a monitor that does, you're probably upgrading your GPU already.

Same goes with Mantle, it's so early on right now that when it does get mainstream, it's one or two generations of GPUs away.

At the end of the day if they're similar in pricing, it's just what you like. Remember that with AMD, you can use it to mine when you're not gaming and it'll pay itself back after 4 or 5 months

Does AMD have anything that competes with Shadowplay? And how do you like their Powertune software?

[paulsterio]

Does AMD have anything that competes with Shadowplay? And how do you like their Powertune software?

 

Well Shadowplay is really just hardware acceleration to help encode your H.264 stream for streaming more efficiently. If you wanted to use an AMD card and your processor is sufficiently powerful, you probably won't even notice a difference. Alternatively, you can just use a capture card which will mean no impact on your game performance (essentially). 

 

Some people who are "professional" streamers use a dedicated streaming box, which does all of the processing load of encoding and streaming for them. 

 

Powertune is so-so, I don't overclock my graphics cards purely because unlike CPUs, I usually don't get massive overclocks out of them (i.e. I don't think I've ever gotten more than a 10% core clock bump). It can be used to control fan speeds though. On my PC, because I watercooled my 290X, it's not an issue, but on my partner's one, she has a stock cooled 290, which is massively loud under load, so undervolting and not overclocking allowed her to ramp down the fan speeds. 

[Cam33]

Well Shadowplay is really just hardware acceleration to help encode your H.264 stream for streaming more efficiently. If you wanted to use an AMD card and your processor is sufficiently powerful, you probably won't even notice a difference. Alternatively, you can just use a capture card which will mean no impact on your game performance (essentially).

Some people who are "professional" streamers use a dedicated streaming box, which does all of the processing load of encoding and streaming for them.

Powertune is so-so, I don't overclock my graphics cards purely because unlike CPUs, I usually don't get massive overclocks out of them (i.e. I don't think I've ever gotten more than a 10% core clock bump). It can be used to control fan speeds though. On my PC, because I watercooled my 290X, it's not an issue, but on my partner's one, she has a stock cooled 290, which is massively loud under load, so undervolting and not overclocking allowed her to ramp down the fan speeds.

Do you know anything about Sapphire's TriXX software?

[BallaTheFeared]

Stock 290 is faster than the stock 780, it's also louder and hotter though.

Aftermarket 780s are faster than aftermarket 290s.

780 OC is generally faster than 290 OC, also GK110 is more efficient at specific performance points in addition to having higher potential performance.

With Shadowplay even with a i7-4930k and a huge OC you'll notice the difference between it and fraps, the only thing that comes close is MSI Afterburner's use of Quick Sync.

[SpaghettiCarbonara]

Dude, look up the PowerColor R9 290 PCS+ , it looks like it cools really well, is quiet and since it's all black, it won't clash with any of your other parts. It looks to me like Powercolor are really stepping up their game with this card.

 

This review is pretty amateur, but it's nice and detailed and includes a noise comparison to the stock cooler on a gtx 780 (I think, it might have been a Titan or 780Ti).

 

What do you think?

[Mindtrickz]

How does everyone like the software side of AMD??

 

AMD software and drivers are not up to par with Nvidia's counters. Expect a lot of issues software and drivers wise.

 

This is AMD's 'Gaming Evoloved':

 

[Cam33]

Dude, look up the PowerColor R9 290 PCS+ , it looks like it cools really well, is quiet and since it's all black, it won't clash with any of your other parts. It looks to me like Powercolor are really stepping up their game with this card.

 

review is pretty amateur, but it's nice and detailed and includes a noise comparison to the stock cooler on a gtx 780 (I think, it might have been a Titan or 780Ti).

 

What do you think?

It does look good and seems quiet in the video. This would be an option for me, does anyone know what they come with?