Moving from Nvidia to AMD, just would like wise info/choice making, etc. if needed.

[MintyTwister]

Hi, so I've recently decided to be entirely done with Nvidia.

 

Here's a thread that tells some of the trouble the GTX 660 has given me, if anyone's curious:

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/161860-asus-gtx-660-constantly-crashing/

Once I saw it mess up my friend's PC, that made me like 200%+ done with GTXes. I know people have had great expierences, and they have there opinions, but this has been my expierence, and I'm honestly fed up and don't want to deal with Nvidia products in general, since CHRISTMAS my PC's been crippled by this. It's not really something unreasonable or unfair to turn away after something like this, 3 defective cards in a row is pretty dumbfounding. The shipping always takes so long, and I usually try putting up with the card every single time and try fixing it only to find out it was another defective card handed to me. Which is why I've put up with this for so long. Dunno if it happens to be ASUS' fault, or what, but I'm just gonna move on to AMD and hope all these headaches will be ridden.

 

So the card I've put up with is an ASUS GTX 660, and I'm deciding to get a Saphire R9 290 4GB.

An R9 290x is too far up there for me (Price just out my willing range, and PSU can't handle it, so would add even more to the price)

Don't worry about the specs, the 290x is just over what I can handle, for reference.

 

Or does the Saphire R9 290 4GB seem like a solid choice? Is there somethign else you'd strongly reccomend? Like maybe a different aftermarket of the card is far superior, or something else?

 

May seem like a dumb question, but I'd just like to know this will be an unregetable get.

 

If you happen to strongly reccomend another GTX much more than an AMD card, I'm all ears, though probably gonna take some convincing to make me buy something that urks me. Maybe it was just only ASUS all a long, I beleive I saw some other ASUS products having issues, but regardless, I've grown much more comfortable with an AMD choice. But if you happen to REALLY strongly reccomend a GTX, I'm all ears.

[C1intFunWood]

If your just 1080P gaming a R9 280x is good enough

[Sonefiler]

PowerColor PCS+ is better

Make sure you clean drivers. Dont want them nasty Nvidia drivers there when you have an AMD card in.

[Tmh85]

For some reason i get the input that if your PSU cannot handle a 290x it most likely will not be able to handle a 290

[Enderman]

What he said ^^^

[Hecknologist]

290 and 290x are too similar to be splitting compatibility with a psu. I would highly recommend reconsidering what card you look at. Load power consumption is 380w vs gtx 780 with 250w, so I'd get that as it's as close to the performance of the 290/290x as you're going to get with less power consumption.

[MintyTwister]

PowerColor PCS+ is better

Make sure you clean drivers. Dont want them nasty Nvidia drivers there when you have an AMD card in.

No worries, I have an old Radeon HD 6570 I've been using as a back up, so had no need for Nvidia drivers to be installed anymore.

 

 

290 and 290x are too similar to be splitting compatibility with a psu. I would highly recommend reconsidering what card you look at. Load power consumption is 380w vs gtx 780 with 250w, so I'd get that as it's as close to the performance of the 290/290x as you're going to get with less power consumption.

Well, my specs are

Windows 7 64 bit

8 gigs ram Sniper g.Skill

CPU: AMD Phenom II 965 4 core 3.4ghz

PSU: Corsair TX 650  Watts

M.Board: GA-78LMT-S2

Others: 2 200mm colorshift fans, and 2 120 mm., one is blue LED, one disk drive.

 

Is the PSU unable to give enough power? If not, what PSU is reccomended?

 

EDIT: My friend also pretty much has the same card and is running higher end stuff and more fans + liquid cooling, multiple screens, etc etc. yet his PSU has the same power, yet he has no issues. Which is why I assumed my PSU should be fine.

[Nickolas47]

Just get an 280x it handles everything perfect at 1080p

[Rorgash]

why woudnt a 650W PSU not be able to handle it? got a lot of room there..

[MintyTwister]

why woudnt a 650W PSU not be able to handle it? got a lot of room there..

So it should be fine? Or you're saying it can even handle a 290x?

[nj4ck]

290 and 290x are too similar to be splitting compatibility with a psu. I would highly recommend reconsidering what card you look at. Load power consumption is 380w vs gtx 780 with 250w, so I'd get that as it's as close to the performance of the 290/290x as you're going to get with less power consumption.

You're comparing the 290s peak power consumption to the 780s TDP, just sayin.

[nj4ck]

650W is more than enough to handle any single GPU card, including the 290/x

[Hecknologist]

650w is fine. 290x is not an issue here.

[Hecknologist]

You're comparing the 290s peak power consumption to the 780s TDP, just sayin.

Did I? my mistake. The 380w figure was an overclocked benchmark, and the 250w is direct from nvidia website. Without overclock the 290x is still above 300w power consumption at load whereas the 780 is 220-250 depending on cooler so it's still a better option to go 780 if power supply is an issue. This isn't relevant anymore though as he has a 650w psu. 

[SymphonyX7]

 

Hi, so I've recently decided to be entirely done with Nvidia.

 

Here's a thread that tells some of the trouble the GTX 660 has given me, if anyone's curious:

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/161860-asus-gtx-660-constantly-crashing/

Once I saw it mess up my friend's PC, that made me like 200%+ done with GTXes. I know people have had great expierences, and they have there opinions, but this has been my expierence, and I'm honestly fed up and don't want to deal with Nvidia products in general, since CHRISTMAS my PC's been crippled by this. It's not really something unreasonable or unfair to turn away after something like this, 3 defective cards in a row is pretty dumbfounding. The shipping always takes so long, and I usually try putting up with the card every single time and try fixing it only to find out it was another defective card handed to me. Which is why I've put up with this for so long. Dunno if it happens to be ASUS' fault, or what, but I'm just gonna move on to AMD and hope all these headaches will be ridden.

 

So the card I've put up with is an ASUS GTX 660, and I'm deciding to get a Saphire R9 290 4GB.

An R9 290x is too far up there for me (Price just out my willing range, and PSU can't handle it, so would add even more to the price)

Don't worry about the specs, the 290x is just over what I can handle, for reference.

 

Or does the Saphire R9 290 4GB seem like a solid choice? Is there somethign else you'd strongly reccomend? Like maybe a different aftermarket of the card is far superior, or something else?

 

May seem like a dumb question, but I'd just like to know this will be an unregetable get.

 

If you happen to strongly reccomend another GTX much more than an AMD card, I'm all ears, though probably gonna take some convincing to make me buy something that urks me. Maybe it was just only ASUS all a long, I beleive I saw some other ASUS products having issues, but regardless, I've grown much more comfortable with an AMD choice. But if you happen to REALLY strongly reccomend a GTX, I'm all ears.

The R9 290 is through and through a high-end card with an upper-mid range price tag. And since you're considering Sapphire, you're in good hands. As an alternative, if you will overclock, the PowerColor PCS+ is better because it has a bigger heatsink. It should be a bit cooler which is important for overclocking.

You really want to avoid ASUS for the R9 series because the DirectCU II coolers they are using aren't optimized for AMD's card. Actually, I recommend avoiding manufacturers who make both AMD and Nvidia cards. IMO, only MSI is consistent among the non-exclusive manufacturers. I recommend sticking with exclusive manufacturers for their respective brands. For AMD, you have Sapphire, PowerColor and HIS. For Nvidia, you have Palit, EVGA, Inno3D, Zotac and PNY.

As for power supply options, it depends on your CPU. If you're using an overclocked AMD CPU, it's safe to assume your system without the graphics card consumes around 200W at least. If it's an Intel CPU, 100W at least. And 150W at least, if using a 130W TDP CPU (i.e. i7-4930X). The R9 290 consumes around 275W while gaming, with the possibility of spiking over 300W at times.

Safe bets are the following:
If Intel 95W CPU and lower = 550W, at least bronze rated and supplying 45A on the 12V rails
If Intel 130W CPU = 600W, at least bronze rated and supplying 48A on the 12V rails
If overclocked AMD CPU = 650W, at least bronze rated and supplying 52A on the 12V rails

If you plan on adding a lot more stuff to your rig in the future, I suggest you get a higher capacity power supply.
 

P.S. I just realized you were using a Phenom II. Your CPU will bottleneck the R9 290. I suggest getting something that's more in tandem, like an R9 280. I'd only get the R9 290 if I have a CPU that won't bottleneck it, like a Core i5 (Sandy Bridge or later) at least.

[MintyTwister]

 

 

The R9 290 is through and through a high-end card with an upper-mid range price tag. And since you're considering Sapphire, you're in good hands. As an alternative, if you will overclock, the PowerColor PCS+ is better because it has a bigger heatsink. It should be a bit cooler which is important for overclocking. I've actually never brought to teaching myself what Bottlenecking's effects can be, so derp.

You really want to avoid ASUS for the R9 series because the DirectCU II coolers they are using aren't optimized for AMD's card. Actually, I recommend avoiding manufacturers who make both AMD and Nvidia cards. IMO, only MSI is consistent among the non-exclusive manufacturers. I recommend sticking with exclusive manufacturers for their respective brands. For AMD, you have Sapphire, PowerColor and HIS. For Nvidia, you have Palit, EVGA, Inno3D, Zotac and PNY.

As for power supply options, it depends on your CPU. If you're using an overclocked AMD CPU, it's safe to assume your system without the graphics card consumes around 200W at least. If it's an Intel CPU, 100W at least. And 150W at least, if using a 130W TDP CPU (i.e. i7-4930X). The R9 290 consumes around 275W while gaming, with the possibility of spiking over 300W at times.

Safe bets are the following:

If Intel 95W CPU and lower = 550W, at least bronze rated and supplying 45A on the 12V rails

If Intel 130W CPU = 600W, at least bronze rated and supplying 48A on the 12V rails

If overclocked AMD CPU = 650W, at least bronze rated and supplying 52A on the 12V rails

If you plan on adding a lot more stuff to your rig in the future, I suggest you get a higher capacity power supply.

 

P.S. I just realized you were using a Phenom II. Your CPU will bottleneck the R9 290. I suggest getting something that's more in tandem, like an R9 280. I'd only get the R9 290 if I have a CPU that won't bottleneck it, like a Core i5 (Sandy Bridge or later) at least.

 

Mantle will hopefully fix the bottlenecking issues with some games that support it, and I might as well get an R9 290, and not have to worry about GPU anymore and work on a CPU + Motherboard, unless bottlenecking has some harm I've never heard of. I've never brought myself to teach myself what effects bottlenecking could have, so maah deerp.

 

I've already settled with a motherboard, being this: 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130768

And I want to wait for Intel to come out with there new CPUs in a couple months. Have to be patient as hell, but hey, I've dealt with like 3 defective ASUS GTX 660s since last Christmas. Maybe I'm a bit too patient.

 

And I didn't know ASUS was that much unreliable, maybe that's why I had such a shitty time with GTX 660s.

 

And I'll surely somewhere down the line get a better PSU.

[SymphonyX7]

Mantle will hopefully fix the bottlenecking issues with some games that support it, and I might as well get an R9 290, and not have to worry about GPU anymore and work on a CPU + Motherboard, unless bottlenecking has some harm I've never heard of. I've never brought myself to teach myself what effects bottlenecking could have, so maah deerp.

 

I've already settled with a motherboard, being this: 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813130768

And I want to wait for Intel to come out with there new CPUs in a couple months. Have to be patient as hell, but hey, I've dealt with like 3 defective ASUS GTX 660s since last Christmas. Maybe I'm a bit too patient.

 

And I didn't know ASUS was that much unreliable, maybe that's why I had such a shitty time with GTX 660s.

 

And I'll surely somewhere down the line get a better PSU.

Yes, Mantle has significant improvements on weaker CPUs since it reduces API overhead. But very few games support Mantle and I doubt this will change soon. I surmise only well-backed, high profile games will get Mantle support in the future.

Since you'll be upgrading your CPU soon, I think the R9 290 is still a good purchase. We aren't expecting any new GPUs soon since they're stuck at the 28 nm manufacturing process until next year, mainly because mobile chipsets like those from Qualcomm are being prioritized by semiconductors for their 20 nm process. The mobile device market is extremely lucrative these days, so it's understandable.

Also, I didn't say ASUS wasn't reliable. I'm not generalizing, I'm just saying that the AMD R9 cards they make aren't good because they use a cooler that's specifically made for another product, which is the GTX 780. It simply doesn't cool the R9 cards as well as coolers from AMD-exclusive manufacturers.

[MintyTwister]

Yes, Mantle has significant improvements on weaker CPUs since it reduces API overhead. But very few games support Mantle and I doubt this will change soon. I surmise only well-backed, high profile games will get Mantle support in the future.

Since you'll be upgrading your CPU soon, I think the R9 290 is still a good purchase. We aren't expecting any new GPUs soon since they're stuck at the 28 nm manufacturing process until next year, mainly because mobile chipsets like those from Qualcomm are being prioritized by semiconductors for their 20 nm process. The mobile device market is extremely lucrative these days, so it's understandable.

Also, I didn't say ASUS wasn't reliable. I'm not generalizing, I'm just saying that the AMD R9 cards they make aren't good because they use a cooler that's specifically made for another product, which is the GTX 780. It simply doesn't cool the R9 cards as well as coolers from AMD-exclusive manufacturers.

Ah, my bad then, it's just you said something about ASUS, and I've had a really bad time with ASUS GTX 660s, so I guess I assumed.

 

And I guess there no worries then, my CPU can still handle some stuff well enough for now, Battlefield 4 is pretty much the ONLY intensive/badly optimized game I still have interest in at the current moment, and maybe The Forest. Also surely the TimeSplitters remake using CryEngine might be heafty. Watch_Dogs /was/ the only other intensive game for like 2 days, shame Watch_Dogs was such a let down and Ubisoft just built it on pure lies, especialy big time bummer with AMD regarding optimization. I learned to never trust Ubisoft, Watch_Dogs was my only big buy from them, and my last. I'm actually heavily surprised I was able to play it on low to medium pretty much just fine with a Radeon HD 6570 as my card! Weird how I'm seeing Crossfires struggling heavily just on low.

 

But hey, I guess I'm going off-topic there, thanks for the info/support.

[Guest Generallee]

You are switching from nvidia to AMD ?

 

Pehpah yourself for some drivers painal mate

 

Also for the sake of god don't get an elpida 290/x

[TheNinjaNextDor]

Get a Sapphire Tri X card, it has Hynix memory. I actually really liked moving to AMD from Nvidia.

[MintyTwister]

Get a Sapphire Tri X card, it has Hynix memory. I actually really liked moving to AMD from Nvidia.

I am, here's a link if anyone's curious on my buy!

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202080&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-202-080-_-Product

[osbios]

And I guess there no worries then, my CPU can still handle some stuff well enough for now, Battlefield 4 is pretty much the ONLY intensive/badly optimized game I still have interest in at the current moment, and maybe The Forest.

 

Except terrible 1/2 to 1 Second freezes from time to time I hat really good performance on a athlon2 x4 @3.2GHz and a 7870 on BF4 (64 player servers!) using mantle. I dont know if they fixed this freezes or if they only happen with GCN 1.0 cards.

[SymphonyX7]

I am, here's a link if anyone's curious on my buy!

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202080&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-202-080-_-Product

You might want to take a look at this as well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161457&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-161-457-_-Product

It's closely priced to the Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X, and it's faster. It has a nice backplate too. There aren't an official reviews of it yet though, but HIS makes decent coolers too, but you'll want good airflow to support it since they're clearly a budget pick. Though surprisingly the HIS card has VRM heatsinks.

You might want to check out the performance too. It's the 3rd fastest card on this list. Took it from Tom's Hardware's review of the R9 290X PCS+.

There's also cooling data on the HIS R9 290X IceQ X^2 on the review of the R9 290X PCS+ here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/powercolor-pcs-r9-290x-graphics-card-review,3803-7.html 

 

[fringie]

I have a 290x in a 550w PSU , you got plenty of juice but price/performance the 290 is better imo.

 

The sapphire one and the powercolor ones seem to be the best according to reviewers. Look up the model you plan to buy them add in the word 'issues' after the model in the search so you can see what problems people have with the card.

[MintyTwister]

You might want to take a look at this as well: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814161457&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-161-457-_-Product

It's closely priced to the Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X, and it's faster. It has a nice backplate too. There aren't an official reviews of it yet though, but HIS makes decent coolers too, but you'll want good airflow to support it since they're clearly a budget pick. Though surprisingly the HIS card has VRM heatsinks.

You might want to check out the performance too. It's the 3rd fastest card on this list. Took it from Tom's Hardware's review of the R9 290X PCS+.

There's also cooling data on the HIS R9 290X IceQ X^2 on the review of the R9 290X PCS+ here: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/powercolor-pcs-r9-290x-graphics-card-review,3803-7.html 

 

Holy Jesus what a deal, is it really just a sale, do you know how long it'll last?

Because I can't get it ATM, I still have to sell all my older parts, wait for check, and such.