780 SLI or 290 XFire?

[Sphinx_Knight]

I'm having a dilemma. I currently have an EVGA GTX 780 and was planning to get another 780 to SLI for $510. But with AMD's recent drops in prices for their GPUs, the value for AMD's cards have raised significantly. I could sell my current 780 for ~$410 and nab two new 290s for ~$800. I have an 850W PSU, so I have enough power to power both setups.

What should I do in this situation? How do the performance of two 290s stack up against two 780s? Is there any significant problems like micro stuttering with Crossfire? Is the heat generated by AMD's card as bad as the rumors say?

Thank you for your time.

[NInety]

Personally I'd go with the 780 SLI because they're not flamethrowers like Crossfire 290s. And because PhysX.

[Piggy]

780 SLI, I honestly think that Nvidia cards are the best because of productivity tasks, but that's my opinion. Also PhysX and generally heat is better on Nvidia cards.

[Sphinx_Knight]

Personally I'd go with the 780 SLI because they're not flamethrowers like Crossfire 290s. And because PhysX.

How bad is the heat compared to a 780 in terms of Celsius?

How bad is the heat compared to a Nvidia card?

[NInety]

How bad is the heat compared to a 780 in terms of Celsius?

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,5.html

 

About 780 SLI is about 15C below 290 Crossfire under load.

[dragoon20005]

then again if you current GTX780 are only 3GB

 

you might have issues with games that use beyond the VRAM buffer

 

many gamers have complain the watchdog game actually uses close to 4GB VRAM which brings even 780Ti to it knees while the 290/X ran slower but without crashing

[AMICLG]

If you plan on running at 1440p or 1080p surround I'd go for the 290s as the 4GB will come in handy.

[QAZ]

I have r9 290s in crossfire with open air coolers and my system gets very (very) hot. No numbers for you at the current moment but seriously considering getting some g10s so that the heat isn't all going through my CPU rad

[Sphinx_Knight]

then again if you current GTX780 are only 3GB

you might have issues with games that use beyond the VRAM buffer

many gamers have complain the watchdog game actually uses close to 4GB VRAM which brings even 780Ti to it knees while the 290/X ran slower but without crashing

The 290s are $100 cheaper than 780s, have marginally better performance, and have 4 GB VRAM. I'm running an 1440p setup, so do you think those benefits are worth the tradeoff for the extreme heat?

[dragoon20005]

I have r9 290s in crossfire with open air coolers and my system gets very (very) hot. No numbers for you at the current moment but seriously considering getting some g10s so that the heat isn't all going through my CPU rad

maybe you could use HWMonitor or Afterburner to see the temp graphs

 

but corsair are coming with better mounts for use with the AIO coolers

 

it can now cool the VRMs and VRAM

 

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8105/corsair-presents-the-hydro-series-hg10-liquid-gpu-cooling-bracket

 

[Sphinx_Knight]

Anyone have experience with AMD cards with G10 coolers?

[dragoon20005]

The 290s are $100 cheaper than 780s, have marginally better performance, and have 4 GB VRAM. I'm running an 1440p setup, so do you think those benefits are worth the tradeoff for the extreme heat?

well the 290s works best at 1440P ultra setting

if you don't mind the heat

go for them

Anyone have experience with AMD cards with G10 coolers?

well it does cool the GPU but the VRMs and VRAM are exposed with no heatsinks on them so they will run much hotter than using the original cooler which have direct contact on the VRMs and VRAMs

the Corsair solution will be a better on as the plate holding the block also act as a heatsink to cool the VRM and VRAM with the included fan

[EyePlayGames]

I'm having a dilemma. I currently have an EVGA GTX 780 and was planning to get another 780 to SLI for $510. But with AMD's recent drops in prices for their GPUs, the value for AMD's cards have raised significantly. I could sell my current 780 for ~$410 and nab two new 290s for ~$800. I have an 850W PSU, so I have enough power to power both setups.

What should I do in this situation? How do the performance of two 290s stack up against two 780s? Is there any significant problems like micro stuttering with Crossfire? Is the heat generated by AMD's card as bad as the rumors say?

Thank you for your time.

 

The heat doesnt seem that bad, graphic cards are suppose to handle up to 105 degrees, and nothing will really happen aslong as u are under 85 degrees if i remember correctly, the r9 290 runs at 80 degrees underload so the heat should be fine

 

the r9 290 is also cheaper, and preforms better than a 780

[Tacitus]

If you've already got a 780 then get another, though 290s in crossfire scales better at high resolutions (1440p+)

[nj4ck]

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,5.html

About 780 SLI is about 15C below 290 Crossfire under load.

STAHP doing that, why do nvidia fanboys still do this?! You know as well as I do that those are reference cards and nobody, I repeat, NOBODY buys those. The sapphire tri-x r9 290 actually runs cooler than the EVGA 780 ACX SC.

The only reason anyone would ever buy a reference 290 is for sandwiching two of them right next to eachother, which you shouldn't do anyways.

[Shaqo_Wyn]

A non reference R9 290 like the Sapphire Tri-X will solve the heat probs. They scale better at 1440p but since you already have a 780 I'd get another one as they perform just as good or even slightly better in some cases than R9 290's. Another 780 will run you about $530 or less. Selling your current one for $410 and buying two R9 290's at $800 still leaves you with a $260 ($800 for new GPU's - $410 for old 780 - $130 for R9 290's costing $400 a pop at $800) loss. Of course there's also the VRAM where the AMD cards win. If you're going for the IMO least hassle giving, most economical solution, I'd go with a second 780.

 

[EricPont]

Both ways are great but i suggest you just get second 780 because more conveniant

[Guest Generallee]

STAHP doing that, why do nvidia fanboys still do this?! You know as well as I do that those are reference cards and nobody, I repeat, NOBODY buys those. The sapphire tri-x r9 290 actually runs cooler than the EVGA 780 ACX SC.

The only reason anyone would ever buy a reference 290 is for sandwiching two of them right next to eachother, which you shouldn't do anyways.

 

I bought a reference  <_<

 

REAL MEN GO REFRNCE COOLURS

[ElliotGS]

I have crossfire 290s and they are brilliant, having a lot of issues because of motherboard but when they do work they work amazing. I have two DirectCUii cards and they do get LOUD. So the crossfire 290s if you dont mind about heat and noise, or you could pay the £100 extra per card and get cooler and quieter and tbh more reliable cards. Also 3gb of vram is enough for 1440p but if you want the extra 1gb go ahead

EDIT: didnt read if you have a single 780 now then go with the second 780.

[NInety]

STAHP doing that, why do nvidia fanboys still do this?! You know as well as I do that those are reference cards and nobody, I repeat, NOBODY buys those. The sapphire tri-x r9 290 actually runs cooler than the EVGA 780 ACX SC.

The only reason anyone would ever buy a reference 290 is for sandwiching two of them right next to eachother, which you shouldn't do anyways.

I'm not a Nvidia fanboy. I was misinformed.

[dimitriianghelov]

 

source : http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2359120

 

some 4k results

 

at 1080 and 2k nvidia will probably be better , because it doesn't require that much vram

[dragoon20005]

noticed that the 290 x 4 has the best scaling and 290X just close behind

 

but yea given the fact it testing the GPUs on 4K on metro last night with 4xAA

 

seems legit