Should I switch?

[bossdre]

I currently have a couple of HIS R9 280x on CrossFireX and I'm thinking if I should switch to a GTX 970. I really don't know if it would be an upgrade, downgrade or a sidegrade. I've read on a lot of forum posts on different websites and just got a lot more confused. I haven't found an article about a direct comparison on a R9 280x CF set up or an HD 7990 vs a GTX 970 or 980 which is understandable since the former is a generation older (correct me if I'm mistaken) than the latter. 

 

It would be great if the GTX 970 is only a little bit slower or even faster than my R9 280x's.

 

Anyway, about the forum posts, some say the R9 280x on CFx or HD 7990 is a way more faster than a GTX 970, some even say that 2x R9 280x = a GTX 980, some say the GTX 970 is only a little bit slower than a couple of R9 280x on CFx or a HD 7990, and some say the GTX 970 crushes the R9 280x on CFX or HD 7990 on most cases.

 

Besides that, there is this excessive coil whine issue I've been hearing about the almost all brands/models of GTX 970.

 

And another thing is, I need to sell my R9 280x's first to be able to get a GTX 970.

 

Is it worth it?

 

P.S. I game on a 23" 1080p display, Seasonic M12II 750w EVO PSU  and got a I5-4670k processor, just gonna mention in case that it is needed. Thanks!

[Castdeath97]

Why upgrade? A single r9 280 can still handle games at 1080p fine, you even have two!

[Najuno]

I currently have a couple of HIS R9 280x on CrossFireX and I'm thinking if I should switch to a GTX 970. I really don't know if it would be an upgrade, downgrade or a sidegrade. I've read on a lot of forum posts on different websites and just got a lot more confused. I haven't found an article about a direct comparison on a R9 280x CF set up or an HD 7990 vs a GTX 970 or 980 which is understandable since the former is a generation older (correct me if I'm mistaken) than the latter. 

 

It would be great if the GTX 970 is only a little bit slower or even faster than my R9 280x's.

 

Anyway, about the forum posts, some say the R9 280x on CFx or HD 7990 is a way more faster than a GTX 970, some even say that 2x R9 280x = a GTX 980, some say the GTX 970 is only a little bit slower than a couple of R9 280x on CFx or a HD 7990, and some say the GTX 970 crushes the R9 280x on CFX or HD 7990 on most cases.

 

Besides that, there is this excessive coil whine issue I've been hearing about the almost all brands/models of GTX 970.

 

And another thing is, I need to sell my R9 280x's first to be able to get a GTX 970.

 

Is it worth it?

 

P.S. I game on a 23" 1080p display, Seasonic M12II 750w EVO PSU  and got a I5-4670k processor, just gonna mention in case that it is needed. Thanks!

A single highend card is always to prefer over a CF/SLI with slower cards. But since you have that already I´d keep it and make use out of it longer. It sure is an outdated chip but you don´t seem do care too much about micro stuttering since you play in 1080p on a single monitor.

 

The CF with your 7970(R9 280X)s is faster than a single GTX970 but if it was me I´d waste no time and sell them to get my hands on a GTX970. But that´s just me .

[gozzygozborn]

Why upgrade? A single r9 280 can still handle games at 180p fine, you even have two!

I would hope it can run games at 180p minimum 

[xc3ll]

If you sell your 280x, you won't get much. They are pretty cheap now.

And your 2x 280x should be much more powerful than a singe 970. So why do you want to change that?

[vlkn´]

keep them

[Castdeath97]

I would hope it can run games at 180p minimum

Dran typos

[RaidenRattlehead]

Honestly, if I was you, I wouldn't. When the time comes that you really NEED to sell the cards to upgrade to something more appropriate, I think you would get more money for 2 R9 280X's than you would if you were to sell 1 GTX 970. nVidia cards might be more expensive than AMD cards when new, but when it comes to 2nd hand the prices seem to level out more to price/performance.

 

I recently bought a R9 270X (Tech stuff seems SUPER expensive in South Africa at the moment so unfortunately that's all I could get right now after my old Radeon HD3870x2 died after 6 years =/) and it serves me well, even for games such as Crysis 3.

 

I also think that having dual R9 280X's would work a lot better than a GTX 970 if you were to run a multi-monitor setup.

 

Hope this helps 

[bossdre]

Why upgrade? A single r9 280 can still handle games at 180p fine, you even have two!

 

Well, actually I like the low power consumption and expected low heat from low power consumption and then expected low fan noise due to low heat.. aaand free from multi GPU issues and I like to try out DSR and the last straw that got me interested on ditching my GPUs is that AMD's VSR doesn't support R9 280x. I know, I guess it definitely a shallow reason. And the ability to add another GTX 970 down the road.

 

Certain games support Crossfire very well, like BF4 with close to 100% scaling.

 

On average your pair of 280X outperforms the 970.

 

You may have other reasons for wanting to change, like the heat and power consumption, not having to deal with multi card issues, Nvidia features.

 

Hmm.. for how much does my R9 280x's outperforms the 970? If it's definitely a big gap like around 40% or more I would rather not ditch my GPUs but if its only around 20% then I'm happy to get a GTX 970. And about the coil whine.. should I be worried about it? I wouldn't want to spend that kind amount of money to something that would annoy me while using it.

 

Edit:

 

I just really want to know what I'm getting if ever I switch sides or not, you know an informed decision on what I would gain or lose, a solid number to base upon but unfortunately there is no article that even mentions atleast a 7990 against a GTX 970/980 on reviews and benchmarks. Well, enough on my rumblings.

[xc3ll]

I would say at least 50%, if you run any game that doesn't scale bad in Crossfire