Questioning r9 290 for my build...

[ciprian97pop]

Is the light white or blue? I can't tell

white-ish

[Lays]

Watchdogs uses 2,7GB at 1080p and this will be normal in the next 1-2 years.

The Ps4/XboxOne can use 3-4GB Vram and the devs will use it.

Nvidia always bottlenecks their cards with not enough Vram.

They did it with the 1,5GB on the 580, they did it with the 2GB on the 680, and they did it with the 3GB of the 780.

 

 

 

Coming from someone that has SLI and 3gb cards, and seeing my vram usage at 1440p & also using 5760x1080 previously, on crysis 3, bf4, and other AAA titles, I can say that 3gb is not the limiting factor.

 

If those games barely hit 2.4gb-2.5gb at 1440p with AA + every setting at max, there's truly something wrong with the way watchdogs uses resources if it needs that much for 1080p, because it doesn't look good enough to warrant that kind of VRAM usage IMO.

It's most likely a VRAM Cache that is making it appear to use that much, rather than actually using that much. Or it's the worst coded game in history.

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

The 3Gb vram of the 780 will bottleneck you at high resolutions.

So go with the R9-290.

 

it's not the amount that slows it down at high res, it's the Memory interface width cause wile the 780 has the power to take on even 1600p even with 3GB but it's 384bit bus bottlenecks it wile the 512bit bus on the 290/X gives it the edge on high res  

BTW not trying to sound like i know it all, just thought i should point that out

[vitor_cut]

if you can get your self a pcs+ or a vaporX, i have a r9 290 from MSI and its a very good overclock card also and runs cool and quiet, but the the tri-x ,vapor-x, and pcs+ are better

[TheDigitalRealm]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00I0K15II/ref=sr_1_177_olp?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1402270101&sr=1-177&keywords=r9+290x&condition=new

 

PCS+ $500 - I appreciate it's slightly costlier, but it's one of the best 290x's and supposedly comes with Hynix memory which is better for overclocking. It's two-and-a-half slots though, if that matter to you.

I'd definitely recommend this card for air cooling configuration, in many of the reviews I've seen, the core overclocked to almost the same level as the 290X Lightning does, albeit with a lower memory clock due to MSI using cherry-picked Samsung memory chips.

[ACatWithThumbs]

it's not the amount that slows it down at high res, it's the Memory interface width cause wile the 780 has the power to take on even 1600p even with 3GB but it's 384bit bus bottlenecks it wile the 512bit bus on the 290/X gives it the edge on high res  

BTW not trying to sound like i know it all, just thought i should point that out

I wasn't talking about slowing down but getting actual memory leak because of the low Vram amount.

3GB just won't be enough for "Real Next Gen" games in 1440p.

To think the GTX780/Ti won't have that problem is foolish especially if you look at the games that were just shown at E3 and Nvidias history.

The GTX480,GTX580,GTX680 all had that problem because Nvidia does it on purpose so people upgrade sooner.

The Ps4/XboxOne can use 3-4Gb vram and developers will use it that's out of question.

 

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

I wasn't talking about slowing down but getting actual memory leak because of the low Vram amount.

3GB just won't be enough for "Real Next Gen" games in 1440p.

To think the GTX780/Ti won't have that problem is foolish especially if you look at the games that were just shown at E3 and Nvidias history.

The GTX480,GTX580,GTX680 all had that problem because Nvidia does it on purpose so people upgrade sooner.

The Ps4/XboxOne can use 3-4Gb vram and developers will use it that's out of question.

 

@JasonRoGo

 when talking about the 780v290/X no question the 290 beats it

 

 

, but i believe 3GB is enough For 1440p or even 1600p because the 780Ti has the Power to take on high res even with 384bit bus $

 

 

[Sonefiler]

@JasonRoGo

 when talking about the 780v290/X no question the 290 beats it

 

Capture.JPG

 

, but i believe 3GB is enough For 1440p or even 1600p because the 780Ti has the Power to take on high res even with 384bit bus $

 

 

crysis1440p.jpg

NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-780-Ti-performance.png

Where are you getting that first graph, GPUboss? Toms Hardware? lol

These are obviously referencing the stock cooler

 

I'm not trusting the person who thinks that the 660Ti Power Edition is equal to a 780Ti and a Titan Z is better than two R9 295X2s.

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

Where are you getting that first graph, GPUboss? Toms Hardware? lol

These are obviously referencing the stock cooler

 

I'm not trusting the person who thinks that the 660Ti Power Edition is equal to a 780Ti and a Titan Z is better than two R9 295X2s.

what's wrong with the first graph, it's known, the 290 outperforms the 780 at high res wile it isn't a match for the 780Ti even at 4K, and what happened is past, a mistake of a geek who didn't know what he was talking about, and for that i'm sorry every one  

[Sonefiler]

what's wrong with the first graph, it's known, the 290 outperforms the 780 at high res wile it isn't a match for the 780Ti even at 4K, and what happened is past, a mistake of a geek who didn't know what he was talking about, and for that i'm sorry every one  

You say that every time so far

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

You say that every time so far

witch part ??

[Sonefiler]

witch part ??

660Ti power being as good as 780Ti

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

660Ti power being as good as 780Ti

i always say that ?!!!, really, i said it once if you can remember and i compared it to the 290 not the 780Ti, people got me wrong but still my compare was wrong in the first place, but not now, no, i never said that again; in a word, i learned and PLZ let's not drag this thread off topic PLZ 

[Sonefiler]

i always say that ?!!!, really, i saud it once if you can remember and i compared it to the 290 not the 780Ti, people got me wrong but still my compare was wrong in the first place, but not now, no, i never said that again; in a word, i learned and PLZ let's not drag this thread off topic PLZ 

Okay fine but just edit your post with the graphs specifying that those are the stock cooler benches.

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

Okay fine but just edit your post with the graphs specifying that those are the stock cooler benches.

it's obvious they're Stock (no TF4, DirectCU...) plus, even non reference Coolers wouldn't make that much of a difference 

[Sonefiler]

it's obvious they're Stock (no TF4, DirectCU...) plus, even non reference Coolers wouldn't make that much of a difference 

LMAO 

 

and for that i'm sorry every one  

Yes it makes the biggest difference in the world.

Throttling?

A PCS+ R9 290 beats a reference R9 290X AND Reference GTX 780.

[LawrenceBarnes2013]

LMAO 

 

Yes it makes the biggest difference in the world.

Throttling?

A PCS+ R9 290 beats a reference R9 290X AND Reference GTX 780.

when comparing, you do it, Stock to stock, water cooled to water cooled ....

PLZ? Stop, you totally missed my point and i'm not doing this any more Homy, i said i'm sorry and that all i can do 

[Sonefiler]

when comparing, you do it, Stock to stock, water cooled to water cooled ....

PLZ? Stop, you totally missed my point and i'm not doing this any more Homy, i said i'm sorry and that all i can do 

lololololol The fact is that the thing is still biased because no one gets a reference R9 290(x) anyways. Downclock a Twin Frozr or something

[PudgyAstronaut]

You're right in saying the Vapour-x is the best of the bunch and it does allow for some of the best OC and temps. With that said, I don't think it's worth spending so much extra on it when the tri-x, Twin Frozr and PCS+ all keep temperatures very low.

Hence, I'd recommend either saving money and getting either the PCS+ or Tri-x 290 (the latter if your case is 4-slots or mobo restrictions for future CF due to width of PowerColour's model), or, spending a little more than the cost of the vapour-x 290 and getting the 290x tri-x, Twin Frozr or PCS+.

 

Ok, I do appreciate the advice. I will continue monitoring the cards, and make my decision based on pricing in 3 weeks or whenever I actually buy the parts. I guess I need to re-evaluate what I am trying to accomplish with the build and decide if I want to spend $400 bucks on GPU or $500. Maybe also keeping in mind how common the model I choose is, so I can still find one to match the first in 18 months or whatever if crossfire makes since then instead of flipping and upgrading.

[Tacitus]

Ok, I do appreciate the advice. I will continue monitoring the cards, and make my decision based on pricing in 3 weeks or whenever I actually buy the parts. I guess I need to re-evaluate what I am trying to accomplish with the build and decide if I want to spend $400 bucks on GPU or $500. Maybe also keeping in mind how common the model I choose is, so I can still find one to match the first in 18 months or whatever if crossfire makes since then instead of flipping and upgrading.

 

If you're only doing 1080p right now then just get a tri-x 290; they'll be easy to find for a while yet, are cheaper than a 290x, reliable and take up fewer slots. If you do want to go 1440p, there's no need to have a matching card, but I'd imagine this model will be the easiest to find a second of. That or the Twin Frozr one.

[PudgyAstronaut]

If you're only doing 1080p right now then just get a tri-x 290; they'll be easy to find for a while yet, are cheaper than a 290x, reliable and take up fewer slots. If you do want to go 1440p, there's no need to have a matching card, but I'd imagine this model will be the easiest to find a second of. That or the Twin Frozr one.

 

 

LMAO 

 

Yes it makes the biggest difference in the world.

Throttling?

A PCS+ R9 290 beats a reference R9 290X AND Reference GTX 780.

 

 

Watchdogs uses 2,7GB at 1080p and this will be normal in the next 1-2 years.

The Ps4/XboxOne can use 3-4GB Vram and the devs will use it.

Nvidia always bottlenecks their cards with not enough Vram.

They did it with the 1,5GB on the 580, they did it with the 2GB on the 680, and they did it with the 3GB of the 780.

 

 

 

Coming from someone that has SLI and 3gb cards, and seeing my vram usage at 1440p & also using 5760x1080 previously, on crysis 3, bf4, and other AAA titles, I can say that 3gb is not the limiting factor.

 

If those games barely hit 2.4gb-2.5gb at 1440p with AA + every setting at max, there's truly something wrong with the way watchdogs uses resources if it needs that much for 1080p, because it doesn't look good enough to warrant that kind of VRAM usage IMO.

It's most likely a VRAM Cache that is making it appear to use that much, rather than actually using that much. Or it's the worst coded game in history.

 

 

I'd definitely recommend this card for air cooling configuration, in many of the reviews I've seen, the core overclocked to almost the same level as the 290X Lightning does, albeit with a lower memory clock due to MSI using cherry-picked Samsung memory chips.

 

 

@JasonRoGo

 when talking about the 780v290/X no question the 290 beats it

 

Capture.JPG

 

, but i believe 3GB is enough For 1440p or even 1600p because the 780Ti has the Power to take on high res even with 384bit bus $

 

 

crysis1440p.jpg

NVIDIA-GeForce-GTX-780-Ti-performance.png

 

 

Oh, it OCes like a dream

 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131549&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

After the 7% off code it's $351.20... this is FAR too good to pass up. Thanks for the help everyone, I think Newegg just made my decision easier.

[Tacitus]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131549&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-na-_-na-_-na&cm_sp=&AID=10446076&PID=3938566&SID=

 

After the 7% off code it's $351.20... this is FAR too good to pass up. Thanks for the help everyone, I think Newegg just made my decision easier.

 

Enjoy it, I wish it was anywhere nearly as cheap as that here

[PudgyAstronaut]

Enjoy it, I wish it was anywhere nearly as cheap as that here

 

Where's here?

[Tacitus]

Where's here?

The UK.

In direct currency conversion, that $350 PCS+ is about £205. Here the cheapest place for that card is about £300, close to $500.

[PudgyAstronaut]

The UK.

In direct currency conversion, that $350 PCS+ is about £205. Here the cheapest place for that card is about £300, close to $500.

 

Ouch. Hmmm. Have they ever go down since the coin mining bubble or did that have the same effect there?