Which graphics card?

[Troy]

Which graphics card setup would be best for 1440p gaming? I was hoping to be able to run high settings. My budget would be around $600 USD. 

 

1x  GTX 980 

 

 http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=n82e16814487079&cm_re=gtx_980-_-14-487-079-_-product 

 

 

 

2x  Sapphire r9 290 vapor-x (crossfire) 

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202103&cm_re=r9_290_vapor-_-14-202-103-_-Product

 

 

 

If not those two, which would you recommend?  

[givingtnt]

gtx 980 all the way

[EcoBoost]

 

Which graphics card setup would be best for 1440p gaming? I was hoping to be able to run high settings. My budget would be around $600 USD. 

 

If not those two, which would you recommend?  

Two 290s or two 970s

[Flight1sim]

980!!!!

[Clyne]

290 in Xfire

Mainly because the 290 will be better in higher resolutions because of it's higher memory bus and your playing in 1440P

I know that the 290 is a space heater and runs hotter than the 980.

[the jolly roger]

dual 970 or dual 290

[LemonSpice]

Neither two 970's would be more powerful than the 290's also would in total consume equal power with a single 290 while being and overclocking beast

[MasonIsPurple]

Wow, thats tough. I'd go with the 980 so you can upgrade. 

[Hyttech]

290 in Xfire

Mainly because the 290 will be better in higher resolutions because of it's higher memory bus and your playing in 1440P

I know that the 290 is a space heater and runs hotter than the 980.

Doesn't the 980 have the same?

[RightfulNerd]

Between the 980 and 970 there isnt a good price to performance ratio a 970 would be fine just one with a decent amount of vram

[RevoltTrain]

Dual 970's or Dual 290's. 

[RightfulNerd]

remember vram doesnt stack so if you do go sli or crossfire make sure you have decent vram on the primary

[Clyne]

Doesn't the 980 have the same?

I'm not gonna talk

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7481/the-amd-radeon-r9-290-review

[yourdad165]

980, no competition.

[DIV1D3]

Go with the GTX 980, it'll probably be less money efficient, it will allow for better upgradeability in the future. 

As Linus says "Always try and get the single most powerful GPU available." (paraphrased). 

With CrossFire for the 290s you might run into the problem down the line with wanting to upgrade, with the choice to get another 290, or sell the two and get a higher tier GPU from the recent GPU lineup from AMD/Nvidia. 

 

What is your current system? 

Maybe you should wait to see what AMD has to offer with their 300 series GPUs. But for now, I suggest you go with the GTX 980. 

[FuzzyYellow]

I would shoot for a 980. The 970 is almost good enoight for 1440p ultra 60fps, so the 980 should be perfect.

[Troy]

Thank you to everyone who replied. I am probably going to get a 980. But can it run two monitors? Just one for web browsing on the side.

[Dicoray]

980

[typographie]

Mainly because the 290 will be better in higher resolutions because of it's higher memory bus and your playing in 1440P

 

The memory bus width difference between Maxwell and Hawaii is not really a relevant point of comparison. Despite the 256-bit bus, Maxwell is not starved for memory bandwidth at high resolutions due to having that black magic color compression technique and a 16:1 ROP ratio. Both of which that Anandtech article you linked explain in great detail.

 

If anything the 980 performs better, relative to the 384-bit 780 Ti, at high resolutions/detail settings rather than lower ones.

[Clyne]

The memory bus width difference between Maxwell and Hawaii is not really a relevant point of comparison. Despite the 256-bit bus, Maxwell is not starved for memory bandwidth at high resolutions due to having that black magic color compression technique and a 16:1 ROP ratio. Both of which that Anandtech article you linked explain in great detail.

If anything the 980 performs better, relative to the 384-bit 780 Ti, at high resolutions/detail settings rather than lower ones.

Price to performance ratio for AMD.....