r9 290 crossfire VS 1 gtx 980

[boboman342]

So I am looking to buy one of those $300-$350 1440p monitors Black Friday/Christmas. I was originally going to get 1 r9 290 and the monitor, but given the recent gtx 900 series and amd cards prices in free fall, I was re-thinking my plans... As of right now, I can get 2 Sapphire r9 290 VaporX for $500 off Newegg ($250 each). 1 gtx 980 is roughly $550. I know 2 r9 290's will totally destroy 1440p while 1 gtx 980 will comfortably get 60fps is most games maxed at that resolution. I am fully aware 1 gtx 970 is able to drive 1440p quite well, especially once overclocked. I would REALLY like to get stable 60 fps all the time.

 

Do you think an overclocked gtx 970 or r9 290 will be enough for 1440p? (aa turned down to 2x)

 

Should I get crossfire r9 290's for $500?

Should I get 1 gtx 980 for $550?

Should I get 1 gtx 970 for $350?

 

I didn't mention the r9 290x at all. You guys suggest that?

 

*would need to buy new psu for dual cards*

 

Linus, post the 2014 holiday buyers guide faster plz

[Bloodkil933]

A pair of 290's would easily contest a single 980, but that said, one faster card is better than two slower cards.

 

Then again 290's aren't slow

[boboman342]

A pair of 290's would easily contest a single 980, but that said, one faster card is better than two slower cards.

 

Then again 290's aren't slow

This is  true, it's always better to buy the best single card...or is it? I guess I will have to wait for more replies.

[Swndlr]

but why not 2 970's

[boboman342]

but why not 2 970's

That is a little too much money I don't want to spend.

[Speed6408]

hell i don't know, in terms of raw power (specially at higher res) i'd recommend 2 290s but man, the heat output and power they require...  handling 1 980 is waaay easier, not to mention you can add another 980 whenerver you need it (be it a year or two)

[boboman342]

hell i don't know, in terms of raw power (specially at higher res) i'd recommend 2 290s but man, the heat output and power they require...  handling 1 980 is waaay easier, not to mention you can add another whenever you need it (be it a year or two)

I know I need to upgrade my cx600m for dual cards, so maybe getting 1 980 would save me the upgrade...

[Bloodkil933]

I would personally go for pair of 290's but they use more power, unless that's not something that's an issue?

 

I have two 290X's and an i7 4790k all overclocked, and they are using the best part of 900w.

[ablangc]

Truthfully, people spending this type of money in computer hardware for gaming, electricity should be far from the issue or that persons priorities are screwed up. I agree with most people on here: best option now is the SLI 290 . Best option for future: 980 now, SLI if money permits in the future.

[boboman342]

The gtx 970 seems appealing to me because of the same reason the r9 290 used to. Buying a $250 r9 290 and overclocking it to come close to 780ti speeds for $300 less, is more ideal than buying the $550 gpu and overclocking that.

[MightyUnit]

I have two 290X's and an i7 4790k all overclocked, and they are using the best part of 900w.

  :wacko:

[boboman342]

So I think I will save upgrading the psu for another year, and overclock a gtx 970 for 1440p gaming (with slightly reduced aa for 60 fps)?

[Cheddle]

So I am looking to buy one of those $300-$350 1440p monitors Black Friday/Christmas. I was originally going to get 1 r9 290 and the monitor, but given the recent gtx 900 series and amd cards prices in free fall, I was re-thinking my plans... As of right now, I can get 2 Sapphire r9 290 VaporX for $500 off Newegg ($250 each). 1 gtx 980 is roughly $550. I know 2 r9 290's will totally destroy 1440p while 1 gtx 980 will comfortably get 60fps is most games maxed at that resolution. I am fully aware 1 gtx 970 is able to drive 1440p quite well, especially once overclocked. I would REALLY like to get stable 60 fps all the time.

 

Do you think an overclocked gtx 970 or r9 290 will be enough for 1440p? (aa turned down to 2x)

 

Should I get crossfire r9 290's for $500?

Should I get 1 gtx 980 for $550?

Should I get 1 gtx 970 for $350?

 

I didn't mention the r9 290x at all. You guys suggest that?

 

*would need to buy new psu for dual cards*

 

Linus, post the 2014 holiday buyers guide faster plz

 

I had crossfire r9 290s and moved to a single gtx980 due the heat and noise the crossfire r9 290's created.

 

I had mine in an MATX case so they saturated the case with heat and unless I cranked the stock blower to 65% fan speed (loud) it would throttle (with 3x120mm in and 1x140mm out, plus a blower and an open cooler)

 

I use a good quality 750w psu capable of 744w on the 12v rail combined.

 

I got 99 fps in Valley with the radeons slightly clocked (1ghz core) and 20k+ in firestrike, with the gtx980 (clocked off its nuts) I get 78 fps in valley and 12,000~ in firestrike.

 

Gaming wise I could run pretty much any good crossfire friendly game at 60fps 4k (non-crossfire friendly games either had mega bugs like flickering lights in grid autosport and stuttering in LOL and CS:GO, or like farcry 3 or watchdogs just ran worse with two cards than with one)

 

with the gtx980 I can run some games at 60fps 4k (cod:aw, farcry 3) but a few in particular run at 45-55 fps (shadow of mordor for example) so I either play on my TV (1080) and use an xbox control, or run 2550x1440 on my 4k screen. (looks fine)

 

some examples like far cry 3 and metro last light actually see the gtx980 outperform the crossfire r9 290's.

 

overall given the poor crossfire support and poor driver releases (it was about 50/50 that a game would scale well and not have issues using dual cards) and heat and power used I do not think it was worth the extra 20-30% extra performance that the radeons provided over the gtx980.

 

I don't think that the gtx980 is adequate for ultra quality 4k gaming but its wide support and decent performance works well for me.

 

in your particular situation I would suggest a very cheap r9 290/290x and preferably a gtx970 for 1440 without AA or with TXAA at most and suffer some minor fram rate varience in some titles. or if you must use MSAA or have min 60fps a gtx980 is a must.

 

p.s: my system draws 340 odd watts from the wall maximum with my 980 overclocked, drop about 50 watts for stock volts/clocks - that's while benching firestrike and running prime95 in the background.

[maizenblue]

Im not impressed with the 980. Yes its cheaper than the 780 ti and draws less power, but its too similar in performance to be anything worth getting excited about, especially with 20nm cards around the corner.  I would get one 290 and just enjoy playing on 1080p ultra on nearly all modern games with above 60 fps, then sell the card when the 390x comes out and see some real ground breaking performance, or crossfire the 290 which would blow away a single 980 at any resolution. A year from now no one will even remember the 980 as anything other than a stopgap measure from Nvidia to keep sales going until the 20nm GPUs arrived, except of course those people who blew 600 on one.

[tiny voices]

I would ge ttwo 970s as suggested above. Definitely the best idea.

[boboman342]

-snip-

 

Thanks for all that info! I think I will have to decide if I want a 970 or bump up to a 980 for better performance @ 1440p. Cmon black Friday deals, give me something off a 980

 

Do you think my cx 600m would power 2 gtx 970's? even if I didn't overclock them or my 4790k?

[Cheddle]

Thanks for all that info! I think I will have to decide if I want a 970 or bump up to a 980 for better performance @ 1440p. Cmon black Friday deals, give me something off a 980

 

Do you think my cx 600m would power 2 gtx 970's? even if I didn't overclock them or my 4790k?

 

I would imagine so. Without being familiar with the exact specs of that psu it is hard to say for sure but it would need about 450 watts on the 12v rail to be safe. Preferably this much on a single rail, and if twin rail then at least up to 300 watts per rail combined max 450 (the psu will quote amps but volts x amps = watts) 

[boboman342]

I would imagine so. Without being familiar with the exact specs of that psu it is hard to say for sure but it would need about 450 watts on the 12v rail to be safe. Preferably this much on a single rail, and if twin rail then at least up to 300 watts per rail combined max 450 (the psu will quote amps but volts x amps = watts) 

Well I tried to crossfire my r9 270x without overclocks with my old fx 6300, didn't go too well. First off, I bought a few 6 pin pcie to dual 6 pins pcie cables to plug into both gpu's and then into 1 connector on the psu (bad I know). The system booted, ran games great (about %40 improvement in bf4 and borderlands 2) but I would notice occasional drops in fps, to <30 and then skyrocket back up (was not using entire 2gb gpu ram). But if this didn't happen, the dam screen would just go black and comp would freeze (too  much power draw from one port?)  

 

I would think it would have enough watts and volts, but I haven't tried using molex to 6pins from different psu ports. (cant not because I sold my other gpu)

[Automatiic]

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

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.

[boboman342]

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

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.

You made the point that I was worried about...drivers! Im looking at buying a 970 so i can get 5fps less than a 980 @ 1440p for $200 less

[Automatiic]

You made the point that I was worried about...drivers! Im looking at buying a 970 so i can get 5fps less than a 980 @ 1440p for $200 less

Very wise choice, my friend. Good luck and happy gaming!

[papeles]

So I am looking to buy one of those $300-$350 1440p monitors Black Friday/Christmas. I was originally going to get 1 r9 290 and the monitor, but given the recent gtx 900 series and amd cards prices in free fall, I was re-thinking my plans... As of right now, I can get 2 Sapphire r9 290 VaporX for $500 off Newegg ($250 each). 1 gtx 980 is roughly $550. I know 2 r9 290's will totally destroy 1440p while 1 gtx 980 will comfortably get 60fps is most games maxed at that resolution. I am fully aware 1 gtx 970 is able to drive 1440p quite well, especially once overclocked. I would REALLY like to get stable 60 fps all the time.

 

Do you think an overclocked gtx 970 or r9 290 will be enough for 1440p? (aa turned down to 2x)

 

Should I get crossfire r9 290's for $500?

Should I get 1 gtx 980 for $550?

Should I get 1 gtx 970 for $350?

 

I didn't mention the r9 290x at all. You guys suggest that?

 

*would need to buy new psu for dual cards*

 

Linus, post the 2014 holiday buyers guide faster plz

hum... i dont like dual setups. they bring too much problems from the driver side and from the game side; and that's even AMD, alot of people complain about cf scaling being retarded or simply not working.

 

I'm not a fanboy but i would go 980. It's a powerfull card and will let you play alot of games on that res with best detail options. All this wile consuming/heating only a little.

[Tacitus]

Crossfire 290s would be the best performer, but a viable option might be to get one 970 if you can get a good deal on Black Friday, then wait for a good sale to come along and snatch a second one. Price cuts may follow AMD's launch slated for Q1 next year, depending on their pricing and performance.

[boboman342]

Crossfire 290s would be the best performer, but a viable option might be to get one 970 if you can get a good deal on Black Friday, then wait for a good sale to come along and snatch a second one. Price cuts may follow AMD's launch slated for Q1 next year, depending on their pricing and performance.

Exactly. Going to wait till them deals come around and pounce on that shit!