GTX 780 vs r9 290

[Vicente Gomez]

Which card should I go with???

Pros and cons of each?

Which one is better in gaming?

[Shd0w2]

780 wins by 1fps and better drivers and shadowplay . But the 290 is $150 cheaper

[Enderman]

290 performs better, runs hotter, makes more noise, overclocks less, and uses more power. +cheaper

 

780 performs worse, runs cooler, makes less noise, overclocks more, and uses less power. +more expensive

Plus the 780 has shadowplay, gamestream, shield compatibility, and better+more frequent driver updates.

 

When both are overclocked they basically perform the same.

 

Here are some comparisons:

[wng_kingsley7]

@Vicente Gomez I'd try and get the GTX 780. Great overall performance numbers, recording & streaming via shadowplay/gamestream.

I find that the Geforce series has more functionality as of right now over the radeon part.

[Vicente Gomez]

780 wins by 1fps and better drivers and shadowplay . But the 290 is $150 cheaper

which company should i go with if i were to go with a 290

powercolor seems to catch my eye because of the ginormous color

[Coombzy]

which company should i go with if i were to go with a 290

powercolor seems to catch my eye because of the ginormous color

While they have gotten better I would still go for an ASUS,MSI or Gigabyte card over Powercolor any day.

[Gr8White_Bear]

"The PCS+ R9 290 promises excellent gaming performance, the GPU and memory are factory overclocked for additional performance out of the box and the price/performance ratio is still good. The cooler on the PCS+ R9 290 manages to provide superior cooling compared to the reference solution while keeping noise levels at a reasonable level.

To sum up, it’s a non-reference card done right, with significant improvements on all fronts, hence we’re happy to recommend it."

source: http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/34647-powercolor-pcs%20-r9-290-4gb-reviewed

[PhantomChevron]

While they have gotten better I would still go for an ASUS,MSI or Gigabyte card over Powercolor any day.

Don't forget the masters, Sapphire

 

Sapphire>Gigabyte>MSI>Asus>Powercolor

[Vicente Gomez]

While they have gotten better I would still go for an ASUS,MSI or Gigabyte card over Powercolor any day.

why

[Tacitus]

which company should i go with if i were to go with a 290

powercolor seems to catch my eye because of the ginormous color

 

 

While they have gotten better I would still go for an ASUS,MSI or Gigabyte card over Powercolor any day.

 

Asus have done a shite job of the 290, while MSI and Gigabyte have done a moderate job.

 

By contrast, the PCS+ ties for second best r9 290 with the Tri-X by Sapphire. The best is the Vapour-X (again sapphire), but that's a bit more expensive for moderately little gain.

 

The PCS+ is both cool and quiet, get whichever is cheapest out of the Tri-X and PCS+, or if the Vapour-X is only a little more get that one.

[Guest]

why

 

Because Powercolor's customer service redefines the word "terrible".

 

Sapphire's Tri-X cards are really nice. I mean the Toxic 290 and the Vapor-X 290.

 

Towards the higher end of the R9 series (280X, 290 and 290X) you should be looking at manufacturers like Powercolor (If you're willing to deal with POS CS) and Sapphire for their three-fan coolers. They have more airflow and can accommodate a larger heatsink to match, as long as you have space. MSI has simply been slapping the same goddamned TF4 cooler on all their cards; this works for the R9 270X, 280 and Geforce cards but the R9 290 and 290X suffer higher temperatures. Same goes for Asus, neither of these manufacturers really bother to think much about GPU-specific designs; Asus uses the same cooler and simply makes the fans spin faster (and consequently louder) every tier up, and MSI simply lets the temps rise.

[Vicente Gomez]

Don't forget the masters, Sapphire

 

Sapphire>Gigabyte>MSI>Asus>Powercolor

check out @Kevmo7 video

according to him, the asus 290 is as hot as the reference (

) 

and in this video, powercolor does better than the tri-x (

)

[DeViLzzz]

The 780 also wins in another way.  Nvidia .. play games the way they were meant to be played ... PhysX

Witcher 3 will have PhysX.

If you don't care about PhysX then well there are some insane deals on AMD 280s lately so getting two of those might be something you would want to do.  NCIX Canada had them for $199 recently.

[Vicente Gomez]

The 780 also wins in another way.  Nvidia .. play games the way they were meant to be played ... PhysX

Witcher 3 will have PhysX.

If you don't care about PhysX then well there are some insane deals on AMD 280s lately so getting two of those might be something you would want to do.  NCIX Canada had them for $199 recently.

what is PhysX

[DeViLzzz]

what is PhysX

PhysX is something from Nvidia that adds realism to the game you are playing.  To see what games look like with no PhysX and then PhysX check on YouTube.  I will link a video here but you may want to check for more videos yourself.

 

Also check out this link from Nvidia to inform you more about PhysX.

http://www.geforce.com/hardware/technology/physx

Here is how Nvidia describes it ...

 

"PhysX

Without accurate physics simulation even the most beautiful game feels static and lifeless. PhysX taps into the power of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX GPUs to create incredible effects and scenes filled with dynamic destruction, particle based fluids, and life-like animation. Reviewers attest, games like Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, Borderlands 2, and Metro: Last Light are better with GPU-accelerated PhysX effects enabled."

[Guest]

 

PhysX is something from Nvidia that adds realism to the game you are playing.  To see what games look like with no PhysX and then PhysX check on YouTube.  I will link a video here but you may want to check for more videos yourself.

"PhysX Without accurate physics simulation even the most beautiful game feels static and lifeless. PhysX taps into the power of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX GPUs to create incredible effects and scenes filled with dynamic destruction, particle based fluids, and life-like animation. Reviewers attest, games like Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, Batman: Arkham Origins, Borderlands 2, and Metro: Last Light are better with GPU-accelerated PhysX effects enabled."

 

 

If Nvidia got more game devs to adopt PhysX it might have taken off...but not really.

 

I will admit that without PhysX games like Borderlands 2 are lame, and PhysX is really a lame label for Nvidia-optimized games because BL2 runs better on Geforce hardware. Though to take advantage of PhysX properly you'd need the likes of a GTX 770 at the very minimum to make sure that you're maxing everything else out, and not taxing the GPU with PhysX.

[PhantomChevron]

what is PhysX

Physx is useless, not many games have them, waste of time

[LmeAde2]

I would have to throw another vote to the Powercolor R9 290 PCS+ http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00I0K670E. Powercolor has come a long way and the R9 290 PCS+ performs with the best of them and is also one of the lowest priced cards.

[Guest]

Was talking to a bunch of tech guys the other day, we all agreed that the best value for money card in the high end market is def the R9 290, no other cards gives you as much bang for your buck.

The Top 2 R9 290's ive tested are the PCS+ and Vapor-X, a safe 3rd would be the Tri-X and the 4th place would probably have to go to the Gigabyte Windforce, I have video's covering all of them so you can watch and make a choice from those.

[DeViLzzz]

Physx is useless, not many games have them, waste of time

Quality games do use PhysX.  Have you heard of Borderlands 2?  Have you heard The Witcher 3 will have it?  Do I need to give you more examples of PhysX in good games?  It is not a waste of time.  It actually adds something to games.

[Sintezza]

Sapphire 290 VaporX

Sapphire 290 Tri X

 

Those getting my vote. Especialy the Vapor X if you can afford, it runs the coolest, and performs great.

[PhantomChevron]

Quality games do use PhysX.  Have you heard of Borderlands 2?  Have you heard The Witcher 3 will have it?  Do I need to give you more examples of PhysX in good games?  It is not a waste of time.  It actually adds something to games.

Lets see, 2 games only? Wow such a great piece of software, which only adds nothing to the game, amazing, if you want to say something about Nvidia, talk about their Shadowplay, or game stream, not some rubbish software people may not use

[Faceman]

What resolution are you playing at?  I own a GTX 780, and I am inclined to tell you to buy an R9 290.  It is less expensive, and it comes with more VRAM, which is quickly becoming more important these days.  Yes, it does run hotter, but you could water cool your R9 290 with an H55 + G10 and it would still cost less than a 780.  Don't forget you also get 3 free games with the R9 290.

[GPUXPert]

People here who "tried" to appear impartial have completely disappointed me. The OP asked for the pros of cons of both cards, not just the 780.
Some people here deliberately neglected to mention several major benefits to the R9 290.
Why hasn't anyone mentioned basic things like the 290 having 4GB of VRAM as opposed to just 3GB on the 780, the higher memory bandwidth of the R9 290, the better CrossfireX scaling, Mantle, TrueAudio, you've mentioned Shadowplay but what about AMD's GameDVR & the Never Settle bundle or is getting three triple A games for free with your R9 290 something that is of no value suddenly ?

The GTX 780 does consume less power than the 290 but you have to remember that the 290 is faster & adding 1GB of GDDR5 of VRAM + the massive 512bit buss that gives the 290 its incredible bandwidth do add to the power consumption.

The R9 290 being significantly cheaper is just a bonus, had both cards been priced the same the 290 would still be the better piece of hardware in the final equation.

[Sintezza]

PhysX can allso be runed from the cpu by the way.