r9 280x

[CalumGiff]

So im currently making a new system, im playing on a 60hz 1080p monitor and im considering the 280x it is currently £170cwhereas the 290 is sitting around £235 unless i buy powercolor which would come in at £200. If i buy the 280x i can upgrade my gpu again sooner than if i buy the 290. So which is the best bet?

 

Will the 280x run my 1080p monitor at ultra/high with solid framerates or will it be extremely sucky compared to the 290?

[Guest]

It will be ok.

Ofc if you want it to last more than get 290.

[minibois]

So im currently making a new system, im playing on a 60hz 1080p monitor and im considering the 280x it is currently £170cwhereas the 290 is sitting around £235 unless i buy powercolor which would come in at £200. If i buy the 280x i can upgrade my gpu again sooner than if i buy the 290. So which is the best bet?

 

Will the 280x run my 1080p monitor at ultra/high with solid framerates or will it be extremely sucky compared to the 290?

You can look up some benchmarks to get some numbers...

[ThyFeared]

The 280X will do great on 1080p High/Ultra but the 290 will do even better. Powercolor is also a solid brand!

[Tacitus]

The 290 is a good step up. The PCS+ 290 for £200 is one of the best aftermarket coolers for that chip. I just bought 2 PowerColour 290x's today!

If you really want to save £30 the 280x is a capable card, but IMO it's worth spending the extra.

[TheGamingBarrel]

Wait for the Tri-X OC 290 to be under £200 again

[david cassar]

The PCs+ is a great cooler. It is definitely worth the extra 30£ IMO.

[Superfichtig]

@CalumGiff well if you are not in a hurry than wait until the R9 300 series launches, you might be able to get a even better or equal gpu for a good pricetag. however if you are on a hurry choose a 280x and upgrade earlier.

[SuperShires]

-snip-

Yes, I have the Asus DCII Top ones, I had just one of them running my 1440p monitor for a good few months, trust me they are quite capable of running any game high/ultra at 1080p.

[CalumGiff]

ty i think ill just go ahead and pick up an msi variant and upgrade a bit sonner than i would have with the 290

[Cheddle]

ty i think ill just go ahead and pick up an msi variant and upgrade a bit sonner than i would have with the 290

 

The price difference certainly justifies the performance difference - its worth the extra coin to get the 290 as it performs quite a bit better.

 

But...

 

For 1080 gaming the 280x is a great card, and you likely wont notice a difference between the two cards for some time. The 290 wouldn't need to be upgraded as soon.

 

It is usually better value to upgrade less often, however when buying mid-range cards this rule doesn't apply as much, they don't drop in value as much as a flagship does.

 

TLDR; if you can tolerate the 280x performance, buy it and stick with it.

[CalumGiff]

you say i wont notice the difference between the 2 cards on my monitor for a good while, then you say 'tolerate' as if the 280x is gonna be terrible

 

The price difference certainly justifies the performance difference - its worth the extra coin to get the 290 as it performs quite a bit better.

 

But...

 

For 1080 gaming the 280x is a great card, and you likely wont notice a difference between the two cards for some time. The 290 wouldn't need to be upgraded as soon.

 

It is usually better value to upgrade less often, however when buying mid-range cards this rule doesn't apply as much, they don't drop in value as much as a flagship does.

 

TLDR; if you can tolerate the 280x performance, buy it and stick with it.

[Cheddle]

you say i wont notice the difference between the 2 cards on my monitor for a good while, then you say 'tolerate' as if the 280x is gonna be terrible

 

Sorry for the conflicting advice, they are not both about the performance...

 

For me personally I don't like to have something mid-range, when I know there is something better that I could have had. That kind of thing bugs me, like, having a locked i5 rather than an unlocked one, not that I am using 100% CPU ever but it still bugs me... So in my mind spending the extra $50 when I am blowing $300 on a computer part is worth it to settle my mind. I would rather not have to think that I could have a better part than have $50 in my back pocket. Sure if the performance difference is 5% but the price difference is 50% im not going to spend the extra 50% but where there is value to be gained I will take the more expensive option (eg: im not going to buy a 5930k when all I do is game)

 

Performance wise Its something you wont have to 'tolerate' initially however once you start to experience lower than 60fps in modern games you will be 'tolerating' the frame drop where with the 290 you wouldn't experience this for likely many more months after the 280x has begun to bottleneck

 

I have a 280x - I run World of Warcraft at 45-50fps @ 4k with settings on high. If I had an r9 290 I would likley be getting 55-60fps.

 

Running triple-1080 surround on the 280x in Assetto Corsa, I had to drop settings to medium/low get 60fps - my gtx980 has no problem with 60fps with every setting on ultra.

 

I haven't used the 280x @ 1080 but given its doing 4k and triple 1080 in some fairly good looking titles I assume it will nail 1080 no worries. for a while at least. (it is a few years old now (its an overclocked 7970 after all))