What to buy? GTX 970 or R9 290X?

[Gdourado]

Hello, how are you?

 

Looking for a new graphics card still.

What I want is buy one now, and then in the next month or so, buy another.

I was browsing my usual hardware shop for the 970 and saw that the MSI GTX 970 Gaming TwinFrozr V goes for 330 Euros.

If I buy one now and then a second one later, it will come down to 660 for the setup.

 

But then I saw the R9 290X. The MSI R9 290X Gaming 4G TwinFrozr gos for 270. That is 540 for a Crossfire Setup.

 

This has me torn...

What would be the best option?

I was reading the review on the 970: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_geforce_gtx_970_gaming_review,16.html

 

The MSI 970 is toe to toe with the reference 290X.

The MSI 290X is probably around 10-15% faster than the reference, so the 290X should be the one that offers more performance.

 

My gaming resolution is 2560x1440. So high res performance is important.

My PSU is an EVGA 1000G2, so I think I have it covered for either option.

 

From what I read, a 290X crossfire is toe to toe to a 780 ti SLI in performance, so it should also be a bit faster than a 970 SLI.

 

What is your opinion?

 

The other thing is G-Sync.

I don't have a G-Sync monitor, but was thinking about buying one in December, that is when I can get my hands on one here.

Now, AMD does not have G-Sync, but they are supposed to launch FreeSync in November that supposedly does the same thing...

 

So, with all this, I am torn...

What is your thoughts on this?

 

Thanks for participating.

 

Cheers!

 

 

 

 

[Kimchi]

970 would probably be better than R9 290x in price to performance.

[the crunchiumo]

well for high res 290x will win the 970 anyday because the 970 isnt as good at higher resolutions 

[Altecice]

Also if you plan to play games that make use of Mantle then thats another go ahead from AMD, But if not then stick with the 970.

[bcredeur97]

guys he is trying to decide between a single 970 and 2 290X's

 

Yes, with AMD you use a lot of features. Nvidia is better in terms of all the stuff the cards come with.

 

BUT. I would still go with the 290X's.. because I care more about performance for the price rather than features. All up to you though OP!

 

If you go with the 290X's dont forget about the power consumption. Those cards eat electricity like nothing else. assign 300-350 watts for each card. I dont care about power myself. I have cheap electricity at only $0.03/KWh (USD). I dont like the heat either, but I put up with it and do what I can!

[Gdourado]

Hello, thank you for all the replies.

I am trying to decide between single 970 vs single 290X and 970 SLI vs 290X crossfire.

 

My intent is to buy a single card now and add a second one a month, month and a half later.

I also saw the MSI 290X Lightning for 280 Euros. Is it worth it?

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/msi-radeon-r9-290x-lightning-review,1.html

 

Also, how is the whole G-Sync vs Freesync?

[MightyUnit]

If you crossfire 290x you had BETTER have Excellent case air flow!

 

IMO get 970s

 

EDIT: IMO I would get single 980. I have AMD and Nvidia cards and I have issues with both SLI and Crossfire. That does not mean you will but after years and years of multi card setups I Now Vastly prefer one fast card.

[Gdourado]

Hello, how are you? 

One of the differences I see is the 970 having a 256 bit memory and the 290x having a 512 memory interface. 

In theory that is twice the bandwidth in favour of the 290x.

How much does that matter in practice and how does it affects performance? 

 

Cheers

[Mush Brain]

The 970 walks away with the win in power consumption, 1920x1080-2560x1440 is where 970/980 flex their muscles, the R9 290/x only really shows it's bus superiority at 4K and higher.

[ChrisCross]

the 290x is definetely the better performer. especially on high res the 512bit memory makes a difference. by the way make sure your motherboard supports crossfire a lot of boards with more than one pcie x16 dont.

the drawbacks of the 290x are the heat and power consumption. with a tdp of over 250w that pulls a lot from the plug

 

the 970s biggest andvantages are the heat and power consumption. over 145w is very impressive

 

the difference in performance is not that big.

(the amd are on dx11 i think)

 

from the software site its pretty close. they both feature a recording programm with a replay function to get past gameplay. they both have build in twitch streaming feature. amds driver update doesnt work automaticly you still have to download it from their website (at least for me) and nvidia has txaa anti alising. therefore you can chat with facebook, steam, psn and xbox live with the amd in game gaming evolved thing (i dont know about nvidia with chatting). i dont know what you play but mantle is perhaps a thing.

 

cuda vs open cl. if your rendering videos or doing something like that you have to know that amd cards have way more simple raw processing power. crypto currency benefits a lot from that. but on the video site of things cuda is way more efficient plus some developers like adobe dont even support open cl for their programms. for rendering videos i would say the 970 is at least even.

 

at the end of it all, if your not like really want a feature, you have to choose between a very efficient hybrid car that is more expensive and a standart car that is cheaper and faster.

[Mush Brain]

Both video's above show the 970 out pacing the 290x................................

 

Pls  Maxwell will get faster with later drivers, this is a known fact.

[zappian]

970 is better , better price lower consumption less heat  , better peformance.

 

You need less power and less airflow to sli 970´s , the 290x are very hot cards and consume a lot of power.

 

The 970 is a game changer , probably the best gpu i have ever seen on my lif.

[ChrisCross]

yeah sry i looked it up. the videos are msi overclocked 970 vs probably reference amd 290x so its pretty much obsolete. sry

[Gdourado]

Here the price favours the AMD options.

If I decide AMD, for a similar price, what would be better?

VTX3D 290X X-Edition

Sapphire 290 Vapor-X

They cost around the same. The VTX3D is actually cheaper.

The thing is if the Cooler, backplate and custom PCB on the 290 Vapor X is better than the 290X with all it's stream processors.

Also, the Sapphire 290X Vapor X is 50 more than the 290.

So, for crossfire:

VTX3D 290X X-Edition - 520

Sapphire 290 Vapor X - 560

Sapphire 290X Vapor X - 660.

With these prices, for an AMD setup what would be the better option?

Gigabyte 970 G1 sli goes for 630.

Cheers!

[Gdourado]

My motherboard is a Msi Z97 Gaming 9 A. It is crossfire and sli compatible.

Cheers

[Gdourado]

I currently have a gigabyte 780 ti oc windforce. 

I was wanting to upgrade b0fore my card loses too much value and to have access to 4gb of vram for future 4k.

I can sell my ti for 360. That is as much as I can get for it right now. 

Só, if I upgrade to vtx3d 290x, I would spend another 180.

To go for 970 g1 sli would cost 260.

Today, someone I know is selling a mint ti like mine, an OC windforce for 320.

What is the better option? 

Get the second ti, sli and don't go through the trouble of selling mine? 

And then at Christmas get the Acer 4k g-sync? 

Or should I sell my 780 ti and go either for 970 or 290x?

Cheers!

[KyonCoraeL]

Usually I would tell someone to go with the AMD R9 290x but the value from MFAA, DSR, and global illumination as well as G-sync tips the scale. Also the new pick your path promotion is giving away some awesome games.

However, the only reason I list G-sync as an advantage because we haven't seen a single freesync monitor yet.... grrr. Perhaps purchasing the R9 290x is an option for you because you like the games in their never settle bundle.

 

TL;DR = The GTX 970 is a winner because it has the newest technology.

[KyonCoraeL]

I currently have a gigabyte 780 ti oc windforce. 

I was wanting to upgrade b0fore my card loses too much value and to have access to 4gb of vram for future 4k.

I can sell my ti for 360. That is as much as I can get for it right now. 

Só, if I upgrade to vtx3d 290x, I would spend another 180.

To go for 970 g1 sli would cost 260.

Today, someone I know is selling a mint ti like mine, an OC windforce for 320.

What is the better option? 

Get the second ti, sli and don't go through the trouble of selling mine? 

And then at Christmas get the Acer 4k g-sync? 

Or should I sell my 780 ti and go either for 970 or 290x?

Cheers

You should keep the 780ti. wait for the value to drop and pick up another one to SLI. by the end of 2015 you will be able to pick up a used one for like dirt cheap.

EDIT: Keeping in mind that the video card industry has slowed down dramatically in the last 5 years that AMD has gotten away with a HD7970 as their flagship for like 4 years and it is still damn fast.

[Gdourado]

This is my current build:

 

 

If I add another 780 TI Windforce OC for SLI, will the top card get adequate cooling?

 

Cheers!

[Automatiic]

I'm reposting this from another thread I replied to a few minutes ago where the same question was asked:

 

I have two R9 290s in Crossfire and I'm getting ready to replace them with 980s for a few reasons:

1. Heat

2. Power draw

3. TERRIBLE drivers

 

This is the first time I've had AMD in years and I can honestly say that their drivers are total garbage. I've been troubleshooting for the past couple of months and swapped out every piece of hardware in my PC because I was having BSODs and freezing issues. When I swapped the Radeons with an old 660ti I had, all of the problems went away. The last three driver releases, beta or otherwise, cause BSOD boot loops and all of them cause random freezes in games. I'm happy to get away from AMD at this point.

 

The only reason I haven't pulled the trigger on three 980s in tri sli yet is because I'm waiting on the 8GB versions to come out this month. 

 

So to answer your question, a single 980 will not outperform 2 R9 290s in crossfire but you will be more than able to play any game at 1080p with ultra settings. But I would steer clear of AMD right now simply for a stability perspective.