780 VS 290 for 2560x1440 Gaming *Plz read OP*

[Jonathan W]

I'm not *trying* to start a pissing contest here haha, but we will see how it goes...

I'm looking to perform part upgrades, namely my monitor [to dual ASUS PB278Q's because i was told theyre the best sub 500 dollar UHD monitor]
 Link:http://smile.amazon.com/dp/B009C3M7H0/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=3B8UKXKTC7YI6&coliid=I1TOAKROJO3689]


And im fairly confident my GFX card now [Radeon HD 5900 Series] would *not* be able to display anything in that high of a quality at a respectable framerate.

 

I am told [by a separate tech forum site i was browsing] that the GTX 780 wins at 1080p gaming while the R9 290 excels at higher than 1080p resolution.

So I just want to know what would be better for me in my case, again lets please not start a flame war <3

[Wano97]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCZPx5Kgwi0

(Am I allowed to post videos of competition?)

[eLucid]

R9 290 because of the vram and future titles requiring more. Don't be like me, make the right choice and get the 290.

[GloriousPain]

Yeah I'd say a 290 would be slightly better just makesure to get a non reference card (try for a PCS+, Tri-X or Windforce by Powercolor, sapphire, and Gigabyte respectively) specially since there are ways of unlocking the extra cores to turn it into a 290X and with proper cooling to prevent throttling it should be possible to OC it on top of that... 

[GloriousPain]

(Am I allowed to post videos of competition?)

Irrelevent video is irrelevent 290x and 780Ti aren't quite the same as what he asked about....

[AlwaysFSX]

290 is the faster card for HD+ or UHD.

[Wano97]

Irrelevent video is irrelevent 290x and 780Ti aren't quite the same as what he asked about....

Oh right <.< Mybad, should really read the title carefully next time

[Jamdude]

The 290 is the better card http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1036?vs=1068 the extra 1GB of memory is beneficial as well.

[Zurgtheone]

mmm i've been running with gtx 680 2GB refrence card since release, and i've been using 2 of Samsung syncmaster SA850T for over a year now.
i have around 24-28fps with everyone on ultra and maxxed out in BF4 at 2560x1440. (do have frame drops when huge explotions happens).

but to the point of where i am going.. you wouldnt feel that much difference with those 2 cards right now. probably with future games you would. but as i seen it from my to friends build. its not really something you'll feel right now, in terms of FPS.

[GloriousPain]

Oh right <.< Mybad, should really read the title carefully next time

Welcome lol but don't worry I also suggested a slightly sketchy route...

[Jonathan W]

I'll clarify: The only reason im not going for the 290x or the 780ti is because i looked at some benchmarks and listened to some mods on this forum and the performance increase isnt really there to justify the extra 1 to 2 hundred dollars of card

Also note that i am by no means a pro gamer, and i still game on consoles most of the time just because thats what all my friends use still, so im plenty used to games running at 30-45 FPS and the difference in my eyes is negligible. I only ever notice a tiny difference moving between large ranges of FPS [30ish FPS on console Minecraft and 120ish FPS on PC look almost the same to me, just console feels slower, but maybe thats because its minecraft lol]

The only thing that bothers me really is glitches like tearing and stuttering 

[Interfectorem]

I would get the 290. It performs very similarly to the 780 at 1080P, but the 290 will start to pull ahead because of it's wider 512-Bit bus and 4GB VRAM. Not to mention they're also cheaper. Just make sure not to get the reference design (unless you need it), that's how the 290 series got it's reputation for "mini nuclear reactor" etc. about it running hot and loud . The Sapphire Vapor-X would be your best bet.

[GloriousPain]

I'll clarify: The only reason im not going for the 290x or the 780ti is because i looked at some benchmarks and listened to some mods on this forum and the performance increase isnt really there to justify the extra 1 to 2 hundred dollars of card

There's always options like I suggested buy a 290 and bios flash it with 290x Bios... It's actually a somewhat common thing todo popularised to almost the point of a science (About as common as Overclocking ) by the bitcoin miners trying to squeeze everylast Hash (since your gaming it'd be FPS) available for the least amount of money

http://www.overclock.net/t/1443242/the-r9-290-290x-unlock-thread

[Jonathan W]

There's always options like I suggested buy a 290 and bios flash it with 290x Bios... It's actually a somewhat common thing todo popularised to almost the point of a science (About as common as Overclocking ) by the bitcoin miners trying to squeeze everylast Hash (since your gaming it'd be FPS) available for the least amount of money

http://www.overclock.net/t/1443242/the-r9-290-290x-unlock-thread

Eh OverClocking scares me lol 

And i don't know anything about Bios flashing. I see it as a feature on Mobos but i'm not that technically knowledgeable yet to do it comfortably. I'm a bit of a worry wart/nervous nellie when it comes to technology just because its so expensive and, in some cases, so sensitive to bricking

[Jonathan W]

So now that the answer has basically been made for me to get an R9 I also did want to mention that i am going to be using the computer for weekly 3D CAD work [college]  so i dont know which card is better or worse for that. 

Also i'm curious about dual GFX card options... i'm aware that 2 cards does not equal double performance in most, if not all, cases, but if it nets a very noticable difference i may consider it. I'd also have to be wary of power consumption because I don't know how "strong" my PSU is [i run a ~5 year desktop my dad made from mid-high range parts way back then]

[D2ultima]

So now that the answer has basically been made for me to get an R9 I also did want to mention that i am going to be using the computer for weekly 3D CAD work [college]  so i dont know which card is better or worse for that. 

Also i'm curious about dual GFX card options... i'm aware that 2 cards does not equal double performance in most, if not all, cases, but if it nets a very noticable difference i may consider it. I'd also have to be wary of power consumption because I don't know how "strong" my PSU is [i run a ~5 year desktop my dad made from mid-high range parts way back then]

*points at sig* some stuff like power usage/heat/etc apply to amd, though it's a mostly-nVidia guide.

[lookoutbelow]

At 1440p, the R9 290 easily wipes the floor: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1036?vs=1068

Although a minute amount of games (only Bioshock Infinite and Crysis 3) seem to favour the GTX 780, slightly. I would still recommend the R9 290 because 780 only seems to be pulling 1 or 2 frames ahead and the R9 290 proved better (by a wide margin) in the majority of the games.

 

As someone previously stated, the wider bus memory and the higher frame-buffer really helps it at higher resolutions against the 780.

[Sonefiler]

So now that the answer has basically been made for me to get an R9 I also did want to mention that i am going to be using the computer for weekly 3D CAD work [college] so i dont know which card is better or worse for that.

Also i'm curious about dual GFX card options... i'm aware that 2 cards does not equal double performance in most, if not all, cases, but if it nets a very noticable difference i may consider it. I'd also have to be wary of power consumption because I don't know how "strong" my PSU is [i run a ~5 year desktop my dad made from mid-high range parts way back then]

Yes, get a R9 290, preferably from PowerColor. Their PCS+ coolers are wizardry.

Don't get a dual card solution. It makes future upgrades difficult. It also takes a lot of power and some games don't support dual cards.

[Sintezza]

290 gets my vote as well, slightly better performance then the GTX780 (depending from game to game) but in most games, the 290 is better.

It also have more Vram which could never hurt, and also you have Mantle..

But the most important of all, its cheaper then a 780, and you get more performance.

 

Sapphire 290 TriX OC.

[D2ultima]

290 gets my vote as well, slightly better performance then the GTX780 (depending from game to game) but in most games, the 290 is better.

It also have more Vram which could never hurt, and also you have Mantle..

But the most important of all, its cheaper then a 780, and you get more performance.

 

Sapphire 290 TriX OC.

There's 6GB vRAM 780s though; though you might as well get a 290X at that point unless you really want nVidia.

[Sintezza]

There's 6GB vRAM 780s though; though you might as well get a 290X at that point unless you really want nVidia.

 

780 6GB would be totaly pointless, cause that gpu is not powerfull enough to utilize that amound of loads.

[D2ultima]

780 8GB would be totaly pointless, cause that gpu is not powerfull enough to utilize that amound of loads.

I said 6GB though. And GPU power has little to do with the amount of vRAM you can cram into it; my 780Ms use 4GB without a problem even in games not using SLI.

It's mostly dependent on the memory bandwidth (bus width and clock speed) of the card, rather than the raw performance it has. You could check the guide in my sig if you wanna read more.

[Sintezza]

I said 6GB though. And GPU power has little to do with the amount of vRAM you can cram into it; my 780Ms use 4GB without a problem even in games not using SLI.

It's mostly dependent on the memory bandwidth (bus width and clock speed) of the card, rather than the raw performance it has. You could check the guide in my sig if you wanna read more.

 

ah 6GB indeed typo, still same story.

[D2ultima]

ah 6GB indeed typo, still same story.

And I'm saying it can. I don't think any game will actually use 6GB entirely, but it should be easily able to fill that. Also, as far as I know, the R9 290x has a slower memory bandwidth than a 780Ti, and slower than a 780 (if the 780's mem clock is set to 7000MHz), so if a 290/290X can fill 4GB, then a 780/780Ti can more than fill just as much.

 

Read ze guide.

[Sintezza]

And I'm saying it can. I don't think any game will actually use 6GB entirely, but it should be easily able to fill that. Also, as far as I know, the R9 290x has a slower memory bandwidth than a 780Ti, and slower than a 780 (if the 780's mem clock is set to 7000MHz), so if a 290/290X can fill 4GB, then a 780/780Ti can more than fill just as much.

 

Read ze guide.

 

Well indeed there arent much games that realy use more then 3GB vram. still in my opinnion for the price to performance a 290 is the better choice atm, unless you like some of the nvidia feutures. but they dont make any sense to me personaly