Should I upgrade my GPU from a 660(non ti) to an R9 280x?

[xnoobftw]

IMHO yes it is if you like playing games maxed out with 4xMSAA or better settings, yes. Also it will play games on max details for a much longer period of time making your investment the more worthy.

Here you can see the R9 290 scores quite a bit better than the 280X, that justify the price difference and even more:

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1068

 

For example as you can see the 290 can play metro last light at 1080P on very high settings with a comfortable 68FPS average where the 280X push only 51FPS...

Alright thank you! you've helped me alot cheers!

[GamerDude]

but team green in my country is really overpriced and i heard that the R9 285 is coming out soon... would the prices for AMD cards drop then?

Yep, in my country (NOT the U.S. of A!) nVidia is always priced higher than its AMD counterparts. :angry:

 

I have a HD7970 (the 280X is a tweaked rebadge) in my 3rd rig, there is no game I cannot play at High to max setting even with my AM3 X6 1100T. The card is a powerhouse so if you want to go for it, by all means do so.

 

Now, if you can pony up more for the R9 290, I'd say this is the better option since it can basically run games at max or near max setting at 1080P. With 4GB VRAM and GCN2.0 architecture, it has greater 'longevity' than the R9 280X. Still, if all you can spare is the 280X, don't worry about it, as others had said, it's a powerful card that can handle most games at High to max setting...at 1080P.

[MadManMarsBar]

But my MOBO doesnt support SLI D: im torn btwn 290 and 280x now 

i would go with a 290 any day of the week , aftermarket cooler is a must tho

[xnoobftw]

Yep, in my country (NOT the U.S. of A!) nVidia is always priced higher than its AMD counterparts. :angry:

 

I have a HD7970 (the 280X is a tweaked rebadge) in my 3rd rig, there is no game I cannot play at High to max setting even with my AM3 X6 1100T. The card is a powerhouse so if you want to go for it, by all means do so.

 

Now, if you can pony up more for the R9 290, I'd say this is the better option since it can basically run games at max or near max setting at 1080P. With 4GB VRAM and GCN2.0 architecture, it has greater 'longevity' than the R9 280X. Still, if all you can spare is the 280X, don't worry about it, as others had said, it's a powerful card that can handle most games at High to max setting...at 1080P.

Hmmmm but the 4gb of VRAM seems like an overkill for a 1080p monitor.... I heard that games nowadays use slightly more than 2GB of VRAM right?

[xnoobftw]

i would go with a 290 any day of the week , aftermarket cooler is a must tho

Any reasons?

[i_build_nanosuits]

Hmmmm but the 4gb of VRAM seems like an overkill for a 1080p monitor.... I heard that games nowadays use slightly more than 2GB of VRAM right?

It's an extra GB for free...raw GPUperformance alone justify the price difference so why not take them ...look at the prices on these and no 4GB isn't overkill for 1080P because games like titanfall and watchdogs heats up to 3.7GB of VRAM on max texture settings at 1080P and future games will wan't better and better textures as well so i would consider 4GB a minimum, not overkill...at all...

Keep in mind that this is the newest Hawaii AMD GPU and it's quite a step up from the 280X (old Tahiti HD7970) GPU.

 

Any reasons?

The AMD reference design cooler is not enough for these bad boys and they overheat quite a bit and you have to spin the fans fast to keep card cool enough so it's loud...it's shit, don't get a reference card unless you plan on hooking a waterblock to it.

By aftermarket he meant Third Party designed cooling solution (Such as the DirectCUII from Asus, or Twinfrozr from MSI or Windforce Gigabyte...basicaly anything that won't look like this shit here is good:

 

Something like this would be flawless:

 

[xnoobftw]

It's an extra GB for free...raw GPUperformance alone justify the price difference so why not take them ...look at the prices on these and no 4GB isn't overkill for 1080P because games like titanfall and watchdogs heats up to 3.7GB of VRAM on max texture settings at 1080P and future games will wan't better and better textures as well so i would consider 4GB a minimum, not overkill...at all...

Keep in mind that this is the newest Hawaii AMD GPU and it's quite a step up from the 280X (old Tahiti HD7970) GPU.

 

The AMD reference design cooler is not enough for these bad boys and they overheat quite a bit and you have to spin the fans fast to keep card cool enough so it's loud...it's shit, don't get a reference card unless you plan on hooking a waterblock to it.

By aftermarket he meant Third Party designed cooling solution (Such as the DirectCUII from Asus, or Twinfrozr from MSI or Windforce Gigabyte...basicaly anything that won't look like this shit here is good:

 

Something like this would be flawless:

 

No wonder my 660 cant really handle titanfall.... haha god damm you're good thanks man! I've set my eyes on a r9 290