Deciding between a GTX 970 or R9 290

[Adam Milk]

I've been looking at a GTX 970 (specifically the Gigabyte G1) for a while, but then I began reading a lot of Amazon reviews talking about coil whine. I'm aware that the whine isn't on all cards and it's practically a lottery, but I don't want to lose the gamble and have to go through the trouble of getting an RMA and having to wait even longer.

Would an XFX R9 290 be a better option? Doing some quick research, the only difference I can find is that it's AMD and there's a tiny hit in performance.

This is the build I'm going to put the card in. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/c49tHx

Edit: And yes, this is a gaming build.

[themaniac]

I've been looking at a GTX 970 (specifically the Gigabyte G1) for a while, but then I began reading a lot of Amazon reviews talking about coil whine. I'm aware that the whine isn't on all cards and it's practically a lottery, but I don't want to lose the gamble and have to go through the trouble of getting an RMA and having to wait even longer.

Would an XFX R9 290 be a better option? Doing some quick research, the only difference I can find is that it's AMD and there's a tiny hit in performance.

This is the build I'm going to put the card in. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/c49tHx

Edit: And yes, this is a gaming build.

well the main reason people would say that it has coil whine is because they are playing games at absurdly high fps and any gpu will have coil whine at absurdly high fps and i would choose the 970

[vlkn´]

gtx 970 ftw

[colec18]

I've been looking at a GTX 970 (specifically the Gigabyte G1) for a while, but then I began reading a lot of Amazon reviews talking about coil whine. I'm aware that the whine isn't on all cards and it's practically a lottery, but I don't want to lose the gamble and have to go through the trouble of getting an RMA and having to wait even longer.

Would an XFX R9 290 be a better option? Doing some quick research, the only difference I can find is that it's AMD and there's a tiny hit in performance.

This is the build I'm going to put the card in. http://pcpartpicker.com/p/c49tHx

Edit: And yes, this is a gaming build.

AMD cards also run a lot hotter so you might have thermal issues.

[TheFalseHuman]

If you are on a budget, then consider the R9 290.

 

If you have decent airflow in your case, then the thermal of the 290 shouldn't be too of a big deal.

[Humbug]

Having AMD is not a downside. Temperatures are not a problem unless you run the stock cooler R9 290. Having said that the 970 is a little bit faster at 1080p, also takes less power. If the price difference is small then you should get the 970, otherwise not worth it.

 

ps- are you sure you want an i7 for a gaming build; you could drop down to an i5 save some $$$ and get the same performance.

[thekeemo]

you can get a 290x used for $200 as for raw performance the 970 is very slight (like almost none) better

[Adam Milk]

Having AMD is not a downside. Temperatures are not a problem unless you run the stock cooler R9 290. Having said that the 970 is a little bit faster at 1080p so you may as well get the 970, also takes less power.

ps- are you sure you want an i7 for a gaming build; you could drop down to an i5 save some $$$ and get the same performance.

I already have the system that's in the parts list. The i7 was an early Christmas gift. And yeah, I didn't mean it like being AMD is a bad thing, it was more like "same thing, different brand"

[Adam Milk]

well the main reason people would say that it has coil whine is because they are playing games at absurdly high fps and any gpu will have coil whine at absurdly high fps and i would choose the 970

If all cards have coil whine, then why are there so many people saying it's dead silent under heavy load?

[TheFalseHuman]

If all cards have coil whine, then why are there so many people saying it's dead silent under heavy load?

Maybe referring to fan speed, since Maxwell card are a lot more efficient than the AMD's counterpart? Dunno

[BobbyG2]

I'd personally grab the 290, cheaper and comes with 4 games.

[TheFalseHuman]

I'd personally grab the 290, cheaper and comes with 4 games.

oh yeah, forgot all about the game bundles

[themaniac]

If all cards have coil whine, then why are there so many people saying it's dead silent under heavy load?

well some cards have less than others but by absurdly high fps i mean like 500+ fps

[SteveGrabowski]

I'd personally grab the 290, cheaper and comes with 4 games.

 

Not at newegg anymore though. They only have Civ BE bundled now with their 290/290x cards.

[SteveGrabowski]

If the price difference isn't large, the two best R9 290's on the market are the Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290 and the PowerCooler PCS+ R9 290 (but not the other PowerCooler R9 290 that looks the same). The Tri-X R9 290 OC has a moderate overclock over stock but plenty of thermal headroom for overclocking more thanks to an incredible cooler. The PCS+ R9 290 has a little more aggressive overclock out the box but also a very good cooler.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwRWi3Bz0qc

[SteveGrabowski]

Well, the Vapor-X R9 290 is really awesome too if you can find one. Also, there are two different Gigabyte Windforce R9 290s: one at stock clocks of 947MHz and one with a factory overclock to 1040MHz. He is testing the one with the factory overclock.

[Guest]

If the price difference isn't large, the two best R9 290's on the market are the Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290 and the PowerCooler PCS+ R9 290 (but not the other PowerCooler R9 290 that looks the same). The Tri-X R9 290 OC has a moderate overclock over stock but plenty of thermal headroom for overclocking more thanks to an incredible cooler. The PCS+ R9 290 has a little more aggressive overclock out the box but also a very good cooler.

 

Dude if you are going to post my reviews at least watch the video, the best R9 290 you can get is the Vapor-X, then the PCS+ then the Tri-X.

Honestly, it depends on price, the R9 290's are coming down quite a bit and they will do most people very well for 1080p gaming, the 970 is a better card, thats just the truth, however, it is coming in at a higher price point, so you need to take that into consideration.

With the R9 290 the XFX is really not ideal, watch the video that was linked and it will explain why, but honestly if you can, try pick up the Sapphire Tri-X, its usually quite cheap and is a fantastic card.

Overall, it depends on price at the end of the day, if you can find a good R9 290 on special for much cheaper than a 970, then go for that, if the 290's and 970's are very simliar in price, then get the 970.

If you have any other questions just ask, I have tested three 970's and eight R9 290's

[harharri]

It depends what type of games and monitor because the 290 would deliver smoother performance on a monitor above 1080p but then the 970 will give you better overall performance and runs much cooler so id go with the 970 but id go with the Gigabyte G1 970

[ZeroPlasm]

Depends on your use case honestly. They perform too similarly to each other. I chose the 970 because of GameStream. However if you're into mining and compute applications, the 290 is a much better option.

[Adam Milk]

Everyone is only talking about the performance difference between the cards. I know what the performance difference is. My question is if it's worth the risk of getting a GTX 970 with coil whine or to just get a R9 290(x). I'm not going to put up with that annoying high-pitched sound.

[SteveGrabowski]

Dude if you are going to post my reviews at least watch the video, the best R9 290 you can get is the Vapor-X, then the PCS+ then the Tri-X.

Honestly, it depends on price, the R9 290's are coming down quite a bit and they will do most people very well for 1080p gaming, the 970 is a better card, thats just the truth, however, it is coming in at a higher price point, so you need to take that into consideration.

With the R9 290 the XFX is really not ideal, watch the video that was linked and it will explain why, but honestly if you can, try pick up the Sapphire Tri-X, its usually quite cheap and is a fantastic card.

Overall, it depends on price at the end of the day, if you can find a good R9 290 on special for much cheaper than a 970, then go for that, if the 290's and 970's are very simliar in price, then get the 970.

If you have any other questions just ask, I have tested three 970's and eight R9 290's

 

I did watch your video man!

 

Probably at least 5-6 times.

 

The reason I said Tri-X and PCS+ were the best was because the Vapor-X has long been sold out at most places. I know newegg hasn't had them since Black Friday and they never got any new stock back in, so I figured the cooler was too expensive for them to make any more with the R9 290 selling at such low prices. I just checked pcpartpicker and SuperBiiz has it for $302 though. Amazon wants $330 for their Vapor-X's, at which point you might as well buy the GTX 970 instead. Sold out everywhere else.

[Raxzer]

The R9 290 is a great budget choice, but if you can afford it, I'd stretch for a GTX 970. With the extra overclocking headroom and more pleasant temperatures it will probably serve you better in the long run.

 

Coil whine seems to be a rather random thing. I wouldn't let that be the deciding factor.

 

I wouldn't go for anything but a Vapor-X if you settle for the R9 290. 

[SteveGrabowski]

The R9 290 is a great budget choice, but if you can afford it, I'd stretch for a GTX 970. With the extra overclocking headroom and more pleasant temperatures it will probably serve you better in the long run.

 

Coil whine seems to be a rather random thing. I wouldn't let that be the deciding factor.

 

I wouldn't go for anything but a Vapor-X if you settle for the R9 290. 

 

I thought the 290 was a no-brainer in November when you could get the Tri-X and PCS+ for $250 after rebate most of the month and the Vapor-X for around $270 after rebate, but now that they're up to $280-$300 after rebate it definitely makes the jump up to the 970 seem worthwhile. Especially with newegg (the only online retailer I like using) not having any more of the Never Settle Space Edition codes left for their R9 290's.

[BuckGup]

Either use V-sync for high FPS and you are complaining that you are getting 500+ FPS!

[nhatduy1611]

Everyone is only talking about the performance difference between the cards. I know what the performance difference is. My question is if it's worth the risk of getting a GTX 970 with coil whine or to just get a R9 290(x). I'm not going to put up with that annoying high-pitched sound.

Not every 970 have coil whine and coil whine can happend to any gpu so you can't never make sure that the card you buy doesn't have it unless it already has been tested. So i would still go for a 970 anyday.