Another Graphics Card Decision

[snowpea]

It's always a constant battle to determine which card is the best value with new card and prices emerging daily, so I'd like to focus this on performance and not price. I would like to compare the cards performance only regardless of price. I already know these cards performance to be similar so features and support will also be important. Please no Green vs. Red nonsense.

 

Intro out of the way, the two card I'm between are the GTX 970 and the R9 290x

 

Specifically the Msi Lighting variant of the 290x and Gigabyte Windforce 970. It seems both these cards can be had for the same price at the moment, at least in the US. 1440p is where I'm gaming at right now. My concerns are as follows

 

1. Performance

 

2. Eyefinity vs Surround support 

 

3. Drivers

 

I currently have a gtx 670 4gb model and I am fairly certain that i would prefer a higher end single gpu over SLI, but suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for any input!

 

P.S. If I'm beating a dead horse with this topic I would much appreciate being directed to a link in the forum, I didn't see this comparison but I'm fairly unfamiliar with the forum.

[ZacDaMan72]

The 290X's is like $250 aren't they?

[Lord Pantaloons]

670 SLI would be better if you could find another 4GB card.

[Deletive]

1. they perform marginally with ~5% of each other, 290x will do better in mantle/AMD supported games with little AMD features which are a nice little benefit while Nvidia their own features and will run better in games like Far cry 4/ACU and nvidia games.

2. Eyefinity last time I checked was a little easier to work with but that could have changed

3. Nvidia drivers have been a little bit of a mess IMO, AMD drivers have been alright with a few issues (some bigger then others). 

 

The 290X's is like $250 aren't they?

~310$

[Aniallation]

I currently have a gtx 670 4gb model and I am fairly certain that i would prefer a higher end single gpu over SLI, but suggestions are welcome and appreciated. Thanks for any input!

Definitely find another 4GB 670 and run it in SLI. Two of them would kick ass, and would be better in most newer games then a 970 or 290X.

[ZacDaMan72]

~310$

Ah crap, didn't see you're in Canada. Well, is the 970 worth the extra money in your view?

[Deletive]

Ah crap, didn't see you're in Canada. Well, is the 970 worth the extra money in your view?

I'm not the one asking the questions I wish 290x's were 310$ in Canada. they start at 370$ in canada. 

but in the US they start at 310$

[snowpea]

The second GTX 670 option is tempting, it seems it would out perform both the 290 and 970 but it does leave me with two older cards instead of one new one. I'm leaning toward the 290x Lightning for a couple reasons; no sli issues (micro stutter), MSI Lightning cards seem to have great resale value, and lastly it comes with Star Citizen. 

[computergeek227]

I have a GTX 970 pc and it has insane performance especially if you are going 1080p, because you can use DSR to improve your image

[computergeek227]

I also have an dual GTX 970 sli pc and that will wreck just about all the cards spoken of above ,and this stuttering is only at 4K gaming.

[Fgtfv567]

I'd go with the 970 since it's cheaper than the 290X

[snowpea]

I also have an dual GTX 970 sli pc and that will wreck just about all the cards spoken of above ,and this stuttering is only at 4K gaming.

This isn't really helpful... but congratulations.

 

I'd go with the 970 since it's cheaper than the 290X

At the moment I can get a 290x Lighting cheaper than a gtx 970 from Newegg.com but prices are always fluctuating and that's why i don't wont to focus on them.