Practicality of R9 290 Crossfire

[winningsince1337]

I have one 290 right now and I'm going to be picking up an adaptive sync (free sync) 4k montior when they come out. However, I have run into a bit of a predicament. On one hand, I can could pick up a cheap 290 somewhere along the way in the future, or I could wait for a better single card solution to come out and try to sell my 290.

 

Essentially, my question is this: How future proof is a 290 crossfire setup at 4k?

[EdgeUK]

No one knows when good value 4k adaptive sync monitors will arrive. I'd wait for the better single card solution first.

[colec18]

I have one 290 right now and I'm going to be picking up an adaptive sync (free sync) 4k montior when they come out. However, I have run into a bit of a predicament. On one hand, I can could pick up a cheap 290 somewhere along the way in the future, or I could wait for a better single card solution to come out and try to sell my 290.

 

Essentially, my question is this: How future proof is a 290 crossfire setup at 4k?

Not sure how practical it is but I was looking at your build and you'd probably need a new PSU also.

[deathjester]

I have one 290 right now and I'm going to be picking up an adaptive sync (free sync) 4k montior when they come out. However, I have run into a bit of a predicament. On one hand, I can could pick up a cheap 290 somewhere along the way in the future, or I could wait for a better single card solution to come out and try to sell my 290.

 

Essentially, my question is this: How future proof is a 290 crossfire setup at 4k?

 

290>970's at 4k due to the memory bandwidth. 970>290 at 1080p.  Long as you can cool and power them, it is about as good as it gets atm.

 

Nvidia has Pascal coming and AMD has a new series coming. How much faster they are? Who knows. All you can do is guess. The next gens are usually 30 percent at best. Sometimes they make a huge jump.  They are pumping them up bigtime, but we will have to see. 

 

Those GPU's are also quite a ways off. We are prob gonna get a 980Ti next, then a new Titan card etc. The 980Ti might be faster at 4k but I imagine those are gonna cost a ton of money. So would a Titan.  Out of my price range, but if you are looking for a single card maybe those will be out next spring or something.

 

Not sure how practical it is but I was looking at your build and you'd probably need a new PSU also.

 

Yup. Two R9 290's and you are gonna need a new PSU, especially with the 4770k at 4.5ghz.

[GzeroD]

Your definitely looking for a new power supply I'm running Crossfire R9 290's and an identically clocked I5 3570K while folding I'm pulling 750 from the wall on my 850W PSU. related note: I'm also holding out for some free-sync 4K monitors to become available I'm hoping its glorious.

[winningsince1337]

290>970's at 4k due to the memory bandwidth. 970>290 at 1080p.  Long as you can cool and power them, it is about as good as it gets atm.

 

Nvidia has Pascal coming and AMD has a new series coming. How much faster they are? Who knows. All you can do is guess. The next gens are usually 30 percent at best. Sometimes they make a huge jump.  They are pumping them up bigtime, but we will have to see. 

 

Those GPU's are also quite a ways off. We are prob gonna get a 980Ti next, then a new Titan card etc. The 980Ti might be faster at 4k but I imagine those are gonna cost a ton of money. So would a Titan.  Out of my price range, but if you are looking for a single card maybe those will be out next spring or something.

 

 

Yup. Two R9 290's and you are gonna need a new PSU, especially with the 4770k at 4.5ghz.

 

Yeah, I would think 290 crossfire would probably be the way to go in comparison to an upcoming flagship card at least in a price/performance comparison. Do you think 4gb of VRAM will be sufficient for a while at 4k?

Your definitely looking for a new power supply I'm running Crossfire R9 290's and an identically clocked I5 3570K while folding I'm pulling 750 from the wall on my 850W PSU. related note: I'm also holding out for some free-sync 4K monitors to become available I'm hoping its glorious.

 

After seeing Linus' video on that 4k g-sync monitor, I can't help but want one. I think if you're going to game at 4k, some sort of adaptive sync should be used to combat the occasional FPS drop. I suppose a benefit of the 900 series and other cards in the future would be that you wouldn't need such a hulk of a PSU for crossfire/SLI.

[deathjester]

Yeah, I would think 290 crossfire would probably be the way to go in comparison to an upcoming flagship card at least in a price/performance comparison. Do you think 4gb of VRAM will be sufficient for a while at 4k?

 

After seeing Linus' video on that 4k g-sync monitor, I can't help but want one. I think if you're going to game at 4k, some sort of adaptive sync should be used to combat the occasional FPS drop. I suppose a benefit of the 900 series and other cards in the future would be that you wouldn't need such a hulk of a PSU for crossfire/SLI.

 

Impossible to say. On most good ports yes. On some really crappy ones? Maybe not. 4 k High Textures on Mordor prob looks better than Ultra at 2k. Mordor is far from a bad port. On these IdTech5 games? I have no idea wtf they are doing with VRAM. Mordor is understandable cus that is 10 gigs of uncompressed textures from like their dev computers.

 

I would look at it this way. For the price of a new PSU and sub 300 bucks on the 290 you could have 4k in most games running at 60 fps. Two 6 GB cards would be astronomical in price in comparison and you might only see the difference in 1-2 games. The 4k monitor? Ain't going anywhere so that is an investment that lasts when and if we need bigger VRAM cards in the future on GOOD ports/releases then get two big VRAM cards then, when they are much more affordable.

 

I don't imagine many companies are going to keep giving us their dev textures that aren't compressed. I know Ubisoft sure as hell won't lol. They will prob give us the PS4 textures. Frostbite engine scales super well without chewing through VRAM. Id Tech5 and Ubisoft seem to be the two companies and game engines that just suck ass, but Ubisoft games run like garbage on a 6GB ram card to, so I wouldn't bother.

[TriBeard]

The only thing I can see being an issue in the future is that a lot of games are coming out that are wanting 4GB as a minimum of VRAM, and some more (Shadows of Mordor) for ultra settings. Sure, some of this seems to be due to laziness on the developers part, but if that's the way it's going to be for the whole generation, it could cause problems. Other than that, the second 290 seems like a solid option, and I'm debating one myself at some point. 

[PaulKolby]

There already is something better its called a 980

 

jk but i just pefer nvidia but i would wait a few years for more power

[Cheddle]

I have one 290 right now and I'm going to be picking up an adaptive sync (free sync) 4k montior when they come out. However, I have run into a bit of a predicament. On one hand, I can could pick up a cheap 290 somewhere along the way in the future, or I could wait for a better single card solution to come out and try to sell my 290.

 

Essentially, my question is this: How future proof is a 290 crossfire setup at 4k?

 

have a 4k 60hz Samsung, ran r9 290 in crossfire - stock clocks - I use an Antec high current gamer 750w PSU - it didn't explode or catch fire or anything... gave it hours of benching and dozens of hours gaming. Wouldn't overclock them on my PSU as two cards is already at its limit

 

I sold my second r9 290.

 

Why?

 

firstly ill point out that you need pcie 2.0x8 minimum and 2.0x16 (3.0x8) recommended for crossfire bridgeless xDMA crossfire. pcie 2.0x4 over chipset caused me a loss in firemark from 20.5k points to 17.8k

 

and secondly, because the real issue for me was that in a bitphenix Prodigy M with an ASUS Gryphon Z87 the heat was too much the cards sandwiched against each other in a small case caused them to throttle unless I ran the stock fan @ 65% - too loud for my living room.

 

had I gone down the path of a case and mobo such as yours where I could space them apart with a slot between them (in my instance this gives me pcie 2.0x4) I could handle the temps, being about 93degrees @ 50% fan speed on the reference

 

The performance:

 

for 4k, was... adequate... dependant on game... some games just hated crossfire and performed really poorly, watchdogs was a prime example at about 20 fps on even medium settings (looks trash as well), where as crisis 3 utterly loved it, tomb raider was unreal to play at 4k as well with almost 100% scaling

 

at this stage two r9 290s are a cost effective choice for playable 4k games, no single chip solution is adequate for high visual settings on new games at 4k.

 

the best part of a 4k screen though is you can scale it to 2560x1440 or 1920x1080 and simply play at those resolutions, I did it for games that didn't work with crossfire when running a single card.

 

The 380x/390 and 980ti will be game changers and in my mind will be the first single chip 4k option

 

FYI:

Alien isolation runs at 55-60fps @ 4k on a single overclocked r9 290 with settings maxed (no AA)

Grid Auto sport / dirt 3 runs at about 45fps @ 4k on a single overclocked r9 290 with settings maxed (with qaa 4x8x or what ever its called)

League of legends and CSS both run at over 100 fps @ 4k

[winningsince1337]

have a 4k 60hz Samsung, ran r9 290 in crossfire - stock clocks - I use an Antec high current gamer 750w PSU - it didn't explode or catch fire or anything... gave it hours of benching and dozens of hours gaming. Wouldn't overclock them on my PSU as two cards is already at its limit

 

I sold my second r9 290.

 

Why?

 

firstly ill point out that you need pcie 2.0x8 minimum and 2.0x16 (3.0x8) recommended for crossfire bridgeless xDMA crossfire. pcie 2.0x4 over chipset caused me a loss in firemark from 20.5k points to 17.8k

 

and secondly, because the real issue for me was that in a bitphenix Prodigy M with an ASUS Gryphon Z87 the heat was too much the cards sandwiched against each other in a small case caused them to throttle unless I ran the stock fan @ 65% - too loud for my living room.

 

had I gone down the path of a case and mobo such as yours where I could space them apart with a slot between them (in my instance this gives me pcie 2.0x4) I could handle the temps, being about 93degrees @ 50% fan speed on the reference

 

The performance:

 

for 4k, was... adequate... dependant on game... some games just hated crossfire and performed really poorly, watchdogs was a prime example at about 20 fps on even medium settings (looks trash as well), where as crisis 3 utterly loved it, tomb raider was unreal to play at 4k as well with almost 100% scaling

 

at this stage two r9 290s are a cost effective choice for playable 4k games, no single chip solution is adequate for high visual settings on new games at 4k.

 

the best part of a 4k screen though is you can scale it to 2560x1440 or 1920x1080 and simply play at those resolutions, I did it for games that didn't work with crossfire when running a single card.

 

The 380x/390 and 980ti will be game changers and in my mind will be the first single chip 4k option

 

FYI:

Alien isolation runs at 55-60fps @ 4k on a single overclocked r9 290 with settings maxed (no AA)

Grid Auto sport / dirt 3 runs at about 45fps @ 4k on a single overclocked r9 290 with settings maxed (with qaa 4x8x or what ever its called)

League of legends and CSS both run at over 100 fps @ 4k

 

Thanks for all the info. What I have found it that my system under full load never pushes 400w from the wall in my testing. I've got pretty good ventilation in my case so I think I could handle the heat. I feel you on the reference card part. I originally had a reference card that died on me and man that thing had to kick up to 80% to keep it from throttling once overclocked.

 

I remember reading that Intel was working with Samsung to get the cost of 4k Montiors down to $399 by Christmas/Early 2015. I'm excited to see what this brings

 

I think I'll browse Craigslist and look for sales on a cheap 290. Thanks for all your help you guys!