GTX 970 vs R290

[ander12391]

So I have some Xmas money. And I really want to get a new GPU. I have 360$ budget and I am just not sure if I should get the GTX 970 or the R9 290. Now I can pickup the EVGA GTX 970 for 349.99 or the Sapphire TRI-X for 279.99 with a 20 dollar MIR. I think thats a great deal on the R9-290 but in terms of performace I dont think ill be happy with it long term. I currently play on a 1920x1200 monitor but I think I would want to upgrade to a 4k or maybe just a 1440p monitor in the near furture. What do you guys think? I play a handful of games from Assasins Creed to WOW

[Oshino Shinobu]

Would definitely go with the 970. It's well worth the extra cost. 

[thekeemo]

the 970 is slightly better than the 290 not enough to warrant the price difference in my mind

[dadasmithywinkle]

So I have some Xmas money. And I really want to get a new GPU. I have 360$ budget and I am just not sure if I should get the GTX 970 or the R9 290. Now I can pickup the EVGA GTX 970 for 349.99 or the Sapphire TRI-X for 279.99 with a 20 dollar MIR. I think thats a great deal on the R9-290 but in terms of performace I dont think ill be happy with it long term. I currently play on a 1920x1200 monitor but I think I would want to upgrade to a 4k or maybe just a 1440p monitor in the near furture.

 

I'd get the 970. It'll last longer and have more features over time. I also like GeForce Experience, so yeah, 970.

[Enderman]

The 970 is a bit better than a 290x, which puts it quite far ahead of the 290 especially when overclocked.

[i_build_nanosuits]

the 970 is slightly better than the 290 not enough to warrant the price difference in my mind

if you consider all the extra features...much lower powerconsumption, much better overclocking capability...support for physics etc...IMHO it,s well worth it...also it's much easier to SLI the 970 than it is to crossfire the massive hawaii gpu,s.

[Analog]

The R9 290 will do better in higher resolutions. Imo you would be best off buying that and then adding a second R9 290 before you go 1440p. These cards do run hot and you can't really overclock them that much, but the price is considerably lower. 

[i_build_nanosuits]

The R9 290 will do better in higher resolutions. Imo you would be best off buying that and then adding a second R9 290 before you go 1440p. These cards do run hot and you can't really overclock them that much, but the price is considerably lower. 

two of these in a system is a nightmare...a single one if fine provided it has a good cooler on it.

[ander12391]

UGGH. You guys all are providing valid points. I think im going to go with the GTX 970. Power consumption is really important to me and do I enjoy a lot of the NVIDIA Features.

[SteveGrabowski]

UGGH. You guys all are providing valid points. I think im going to go with the GTX 970. Power consumption is really important to me and do I enjoy a lot of the NVIDIA Features.

Why not go with the $360 Gigabyte Gaming 970? Is it too long for your case? Might as well go with the best overclocker when the opportunity cost of it vs the EVGA is a cheeseburger and fries basically. Unless you're going with EVGA for the better warranty service (which is why I chose EVGA over Gigabyte for my 970, well that and the $20 price difference). But I also really like the guaranteed out the box overclock EVGA cards give, which was another big reason I chose their 970.

[SteveGrabowski]

Still, the Tri-X 290 is $90 cheaper. Had that price been available when I got my 970 I might have opted for the Tri-X, though I'm still kind of pissed newegg doesn't offer the Never Settle Space Bundle anymore while I got Far Cry 4 with my 970. Since I would have bought Far Cry 4 anyways after getting the 290, I figured I'd spend the $60 extra for the slightly better card.

[Nuc lover]

So I have some Xmas money. And I really want to get a new GPU. I have 360$ budget and I am just not sure if I should get the GTX 970 or the R9 290. Now I can pickup the EVGA GTX 970 for 349.99 or the Sapphire TRI-X for 279.99 with a 20 dollar MIR. I think thats a great deal on the R9-290 but in terms of performace I dont think ill be happy with it long term. I currently play on a 1920x1200 monitor but I think I would want to upgrade to a 4k or maybe just a 1440p monitor in the near furture. What do you guys think? I play a handful of games from Assasins Creed to WOW

I think you should get Vapor-x R9-290 cuz it's a lot cooler , faster prettier  than the Tri-x watch this video 

[SteveGrabowski]

I think you should get Vapor-x R9-290 cuz it's a lot cooler , faster prettier  than the Tri-x watch this video 

 

The only place that has the Vapor-X R9 290 for sale on pcpartpicker is amazon, and it's $310 after rebate. For that price the GTX 970, especially with a free game, is probably a better buy.

[ander12391]

Why not go with the $360 Gigabyte Gaming 970? Is it too long for your case? Might as well go with the best overclocker when the opportunity cost of it vs the EVGA is a cheeseburger and fries basically. Unless you're going with EVGA for the better warranty service (which is why I chose EVGA over Gigabyte for my 970, well that and the $20 price difference). But I also really like the guaranteed out the box overclock EVGA cards give, which was another big reason I chose their 970.

I love EVGAs customer service which is why I go with their cards most of the time. Just dealt with them back in November and they went above and beyond to get my GTX 770 replaced.

[SteveGrabowski]

I love EVGAs customer service which is why I go with their cards most of the time. Just dealt with them back in November and they went above and beyond to get my GTX 770 replaced.

 

I love EVGA too. You looking at the SSC 970? I haven't bothered with overclocking my SC 970 yet, but I'm going to have to try it out to see if it's worth it to spend $20 or so to step up to the SSC.

[Zweihander]

Power consumption is really important to me

 

Just think of all the money you'll save on that energy bill.

 

Maybe you can use it towards the next big thing, such as the GTX 999 Ti-X ! 

[chamath]

For gaming in 1080P, 1440P, 4K, 3 monitor gaming, I would suggest to go with GTX 970 unless you are going to use more than 3 displays

 

On the other hand, GTX 970 is,

 

-Low power consuming and low heat output, giving more potential to overclock

-Nvidia drivers are having less glitches, crashes, bugs, etc. compared to AMD catalyst drivers

-having new feature that may use in future games

[n0mahd]

Hey! If you haven't bought your card yet! You should take a look at the new 970 SSC edition which has the improved cooler and better power phase. Also, 0 decibel mode. All the bells and whistles. It's not as good in temps as the gigabyte g1. But that card is 12 inches long and has 3 fans. Also, theres a ton of different evga 970s. But their newest one is the EVGA GTX 970 SSC 04G-P4-3975-KR. Look for that specific model. I think Jayztwocents did a video on it. It'll probably be hard to find one though because it just sold out but you can buy one from the nvidia sure I'm sure.

[fringie]

Well it's literally good cost/performance vs quieter cooler more expensive card.

 

I was in the same position. £370 (sales) for 780 ti + waterblock and back plate or £480 (sale on the 980) for 980, waterblock and backplate. FPS difference is like.. 5 in most games and a heavily overclocked 780 ti can outperform 980's (the 780 ti I could have bought is a binned one so prob could of gotten 1300mhz on the core). 

 

I went for the 980 because it's newer, I would of spent the difference on food anyways and my room will heat up less. You just need to think about what you want more. The 290 probably has v good performance (I had a 290x and if it wasn't faulty I'd still be using it now, really good card) so I wouldn't really know why you'd be upset with it.

[Untitled]

I also like GTX970. But the 970 price is $100 more expensive than R9 290 in Australia ( I still can't decide too...

[ander12391]

#Update.. Went with the EVGA SC GTX 970.I was surprised to find out that the particular model that I got also has a 0 decibel mode, fans dont kick in until 65C. So far I am really happy with the purchase. I am able to max out most the settings in Assassins Creed Unity and stay above 45 fps. Now I just need to find a good Z97 board to go along with my Core i7 4790k that I got from the Intel Holiday Deal.