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[Nitro portal]

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[Octavialicious]

970, it runs cooler and it's a lot quieter

[cloclo8003]

The GTX 970 is more efficient and runs cooler.

[Nitro portal]

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[thekeemo]

thay are pretty much equal when it comes to performance but the 970 is more efficient and has all the Nvida doohickeys like GSync and Shield stream. not worth the extra money if you ask me

[ForsakenLive]

Depending on the price, if the R9 290X is noticeable cheaper get it, if the price difference is very small go 970.

[Bloodyvalley]

970

[Octavialicious]

But i am water cooling so .... But thanks

you worded it weirdly so I thought you weren't watercooling, sorry

[Interfectorem]

@thekeemo Stated it very well.

 

They are both neck to neck in performance, almost identical, however the GTX 970 has the Nvidia features and runs cooler and uses less power, but you may not care. I would get whatever is cheaper since you're water cooling anyways.

[Thebman712]

I idk, i belive the 290x performs a slight bit better And you are water cooling. Is there even 970 blocks, there is no refrence 970 so watercooling is going to be hard.

I vote 290x and pick up 2 cheap on ebay

[Interfectorem]

I idk, i belive the 290x performs a slight bit better And you are water cooling. Is there even 970 blocks, there is no refrence 970 so watercooling is going to be hard.

I vote 290x and pick up 2 cheap on ebay

There actually is a reference 970.

[tomerl]

Prices depend where you are. At the time when I got my 970 the 290x was more expensive. Also, Power Consumption. If it's a thing for you, then you got yourself a deal!

[TheKDub]

970 all the way.

 

 

There actually is reference 970.

 

Yes but it is not available in many places, and is a bit more expensive than the non-reference versions.

[Johannes_Lazor]

The performance is about the same, The 970 doesnt use as much power and therefor runs cooler and becouse it runs cooler it is easier to get a high overclock without overheating.

If the 290x is cheaper it has better price/performance.

[Interfectorem]

970 all the way.

 

 

 

Yes but it is not available in many places, and is a bit more expensive than the non-reference versions.

True.

[APrettyCoolWalrus]

970 is quieter and runs cooler, I would go with that

[Enderman]

At stock they are more or less the same, but when overclocked the 970 gets ahead in the benchmarks.

[Faceman]

970.

[SkimmyMcG]

Like what almost everyone else has said, 970 all the way.

[007agentHP]

290x

not an amd fanboy, here is my rational:

the 290x is cheaper, (my friend got one new from microcenter for 239.99)

he will be water-cooling, so temps really don't matter much

same performance, but mantle makes it perform a bit higher than a 970

amd omega drivers improved performance a little bit more.

[TheDudeWhoTriesHard]

290X since you are watercooling


For sheer performance, the 970 loses to the 290X, and after looking at some benchmarks of recent games that LTT has benchmarked in the late 2014, the 290X is suddenly beating the 780 Ti... and the 780 Ti is still faster than the 970.

[jfing14]

970 has great core speeds but falls out in the bus width which makes it better at 1080p although if you are going to go above that go with the 290X. You'll feel the difference in a 1440p or 4K situation with a 512-bit bus. Although you may find variable differences when running a 290X in crossfire compared to a 970 in sli as sli is a bit better. If AMD releases a great Hawaii card with awesome clocks and a wide bus later on this year than just resell your 970 if you grab that. Although personally I'd grab a 970 cause you lose the money you save on a 290X getting a decent PSU to run it if you don't already own a decent enough one to run it.

[Guest]

I personally wanted to get a 290x but the TDP as well as rumors of newer models on the horizon pushed me away. I would recommend the 970.

[Carde]

290X will beat the 970 when you put them under water.

 

From my own testing my 290x beats my 970 under air already.

[Briggsy]

trust me, once you water cool hawaii chips, the potential performance increases greatly. Also, because the core will run a lot cooler, there is less electrical resistance, so less voltage is required to keep a stable overclock, which means less heat and power draw.

 

a lot of benchmarks out there comparing the 290/x to the 970 are using the reference 290/x coolers, which are not going to perform to their potential.