Tough GPU Position, Buy or wait?

[K~Money]

So am looking for a GPU suggestion by the hardworking people to are on this forum.  I currently have a gtx 770 (MSI) with 2GB of VRAM, which is perfectly fine for 1080p gaming, but I am running 5760x1080 (before bezel correction).  With VSync on, I get weird graphical artifacs (along with some wicked bad tearing), such as this: http://i.imgur.com/BroZYUX.jpg

I feel I need 4 GB of VRAM to run this tripple monitor setup (or at least more than 2), and I am at the point where I have already agreed on selling the 770 I have, and was thinking about buying a GTX 970.  I understand that 4GB of VRAM is not bottlenecking UHD, and since I am not quite running that, I figure the 3.5GB +.5 i might be getting should be enough.  I want this to last me a while, and I am concerned (mostly by shadow of mordor) that the 3.5GB of memory won't be enough for future titles to run at this resolution.  I like NVidia because of the whole GeForce experience setup, and I make games as a hobby (I already have the VS2013 NSight plugin for debugging) and I do not want to deal with whatever AMD uses for this (because I already know how to use NSight).  I do a little bit of content creation, but that would not sway me either way.

The prediciment I am really in is: do I buy a GTX 970 now and risk the chance of the R9 380x being better for the same price, or do I wait?  To add to this, I said earlier that I have already sold my GTX 770 (although have not exchanged card with money), and we have an agreement that until my new GPU comes, I can use his 'old' GT 740.  So do I stick it out with a crappy GT 740 for a month and a half (or potentially more), or would I be better off just getting the GTX 970 now?

The last option is to wait if NVIdia releases a 8GB (7GB really) version of the GTX 970, which I hear might come out in march.  This amount of VRAM would last far past the compute power of the GPU, but The bad side effects of too little vram scares me.

 

I am still in school, and want to get the card before february break so I can play some games and totally veg out, but I bought the GTX 770 the month before the 970 came out, and I was a bit pissed.  This is another reason I am so hesitent.

 

I hate to say it, but fanboys of AMD on the internet, (and one of my friends who is proud of it), are making me question my decision.

[Guest]

You can't stretch for a GTX 980? If not you get a 290X instead of a GTX 970. 

[Octavialicious]

 

 

I hate to say it, but fanboys of AMD on the internet, (and one of my friends), are making me question my decision.  (The funny thing is, the friend thinks their R9 280 is at the same level as my GTX 770, so yea; that level of fan-boyism)

 

They're right, stating a fact doesn't make them a fanboy. Before you go on calling them fanboys, do the research http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1037?vs=1332

 

Pretty damn close in most games.

[LabRat]

I wouldn't buy a 2gig card. would I wait, yes. for a time. As suggested, a 290x would be good, or a 780........... or hold off and see what you get for your money in a few weeks or a couple of months.

[brandishwar]

I'd say go with the R9 290X. I just bought my wife one for about $330 through NewEgg. And it's a very good GPU. It's just known to get a bit warm and need a bit more juice flowing into it. If you want to save a little money but still get something that'll perform, go with an R9 290. For about $430, you can get an 8GB R9 290X.

[K~Money]

my only concern with getting a 290x, is it is a year and a half old at this point, and while it has stood the test of time, I don't know how much longer they will be availible, so If i wanted to crossfire them next December, there might not be any to buy.  No matter How much I want to wait for the R9 300 series to come out, I just do not want to use a 740 for any extended period of time.  I cannot stretch to a 980 unfortunately, because my budget maxes out at $450 (wish I did have that extra hundred).

 

I love to year your guys advice, but it would be great to hear some reasoning behind it in relation to my predicament.  I am not saying you don't have reason behind it that directly addresses my problems, it is just not written in the post.  Remember, I am not just looking for game performance.

 

Also, do you think if the GTX 970 8gb edition comes out, it will be like $400?