Need high performance for under $500 CND

[I/O]

My opinion on the cards you've mentioned. 

 

- 7990: wouldn't recommend, go for something else

- Get the most powerful card you can get, crossfire sli later.

Problem is that I can't play modern games on a single 290 today and achieve 60fps min @ 1080P. If I go CFX/SLI today I can for the most part play modern games @ 1080P 60fps minimum. 

[thorpj]

Problem is that I can't play modern games on a single 290 today and achieve 60fps min @ 1080P. If I go CFX/SLI today I can for the most part play modern games @ 1080P 60fps minimum. 

What games are you trying to play, at what settings. 

 

CFX/SLI introduces a bunch of issue, along with the usual heat problems. A 290x is getting very cheap nowadays.

 

Have a look at this: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/229278-the-gtx-970980-coil-whine-thread/?mode=show

[I/O]

What games are you trying to play, at what settings. 

 

CFX/SLI introduces a bunch of issue, along with the usual heat problems. A 290x is getting very cheap nowadays.

The bad press that follows CFX/SLI is from noobs that don't understand that you need the right motherboard chipsets and CPU to properly run dual card setups. You are not going to have a great experience trying to run CFX on an old AMD 870G mobo with 2.4 Ghz Phenom II x2 CPU and PCI-E x16 by x4 lanes.

[Octavialicious]

What games are you trying to play, at what settings. 

 

CFX/SLI introduces a bunch of issue, along with the usual heat problems. A 290x is getting very cheap nowadays.

 

Have a look at this: http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/229278-the-gtx-970980-coil-whine-thread/?mode=show

CFX has been pretty good, and sli has very minimal issues now a days

[I/O]

CFX has been pretty good, and sli has very minimal issues now a days

This is true unless you are a noob trying to run CFX/SLI on an old platform with crappy CPU and PCI-E 2.0 x16 by x4 lanes you will have a great experience. Also noobs have no clue about the PLX chip which makes things much more transparent when runing dual cards.

[-rascal-]

IMO, even though a single R9-290X trails behind the HD 7990 in certain games, the performance is going to be impressive regardless.

The cooler on the HD 7990 wasn't bad, for a reference cooler, but not great.

 

The graph comparing the noise levels used the reference coolers for all the cards tested. None of them were using the manufacturer's custom coolers (i.e. Sapphire's Vapor-X, ASUS's Direct CUII, etc).

The noise levels with custom coolers will be much lower, and the operating temperatures will decrease significantly.

Example, I can't really hear the fan noise on my HD 7970's (Sapphire Dual-X and Vapor-X) on a typical gaming load (i.e. BF4). They simply don't need to ramp up as high to keep the card cool.

 

PowerColor TurboDuo R9-290X: $359.99 -- http://www.ncix.com/detail/powercolor-radeon-r9-290x-975mhz-d3-103515-1034.htm

Gigabyte R9-290X WindForce: $389.99 -- http://www.ncix.com/detail/gigabyte-radeon-r9-290x-oc-95-93519-1034.htm

PowerColor PCS+ R9-290X: $409.99 CDN -- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814131548&cm_re=R9-290X-_-14-131-548-_-Product

MSi R9-290X Lightning: $459.99 CDN -- http://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127787&cm_re=R9-290X-_-14-127-787-_-Product

MSi R9-290X Gaming: $499.99 -- http://www.ncix.com/detail/msi-radeon-r9-290x-gaming-df-92892-1470.htm

[thorpj]

The bad press that follows CFX/SLI is from noobs that don't understand that you need the right motherboard chipsets and CPU to properly run dual card setups. You are not going to have a great experience trying to run CFX on an old AMD 870G mobo with 2.4 Ghz Phenom II x2 CPU and PCI-E x16 by x4 lanes.

That's not entirely true... Even if you're right there think about the long term. If you buy 2x 285 now, you've got no room for upgrades in the future (honestly, getting a 3rd or 4th will make little difference)

 

With the state that games release in nowadays, you're more likely to end up with worse performance at launch with many games...

[I/O]

 

That's not entirely true... Even if you're right there think about the long term. If you buy 2x 285 now, you've got no room for upgrades in the future (honestly, getting a 3rd or 4th will make little difference)

 

With the state that games release in nowadays, you're more likely to end up with worse performance at launch with many games...

Even an OCed R9 285 can reach to the performance on a stock R9 290. When they get outdated I can just by 2 more upper mid range level cards that are current for the time.

[I/O]

Perhaps pick up a shitty base model Zotac 780ti for $550 ?

[I/O]

I guess 290x it is. 780/ti, R9 290x, 980/970 all perform similar. Why pay $620 for a 980 when a $400 R9 290x performs the same right. Even the 780ti OCed is a bit better overall than a 980 so ya ...