Is a 690 worth it?

[Vegetable]

I'm running a meh GPU at the moment (See signature below) and it does alright but I want more. I'm not going to team red for now, can't get the taste of the two DOA 4870's out of my mouth. I will have about 300 usd soon and I kinda have always wanted a really high end Kepler GPU. I have a deep love for fermi, but it's just too old and it's a screeching airplane furnace from hell. I used to love it, but now I like a peaceful experience. So, seeing as I can't do so, SLI isn't happening. I've looked around Ebay/Amazon and the 780 ti is pretty attractive though I don't know if it'll fit the budget. BUT, the 690 is pretty good for the money. I have a PSU that can take it, so would a 690 be good? It would be PERFECT for my uses at 1080p, and coupled with my i5, it'd be a pretty mean gaming machine. What do you guys think? 

[Dzzope]

970?

 

Gigabyte do a sff card thats about $300 or if you can go $330 you can get one with full size PCB and good cooler.

 

http://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/#sort=a8&page=1&c=186

 

I wouldn't spend $300 on a 690 personally... $200 - $220.. maybe

It's a potent card still but not worth it if it's going to be nearly the same as a 970.

[ved]

970 beats the 690 I think

[Vegetable]

970?

Well, I wanted to stick to Kepler, but if nothing else thats my go to card 100%

[Swndlr]

The heat and power consumption from that thing tho

[Kherm]

680 is still good. 680 too. 

[Vegetable]

970 beats the 690 I think

If I cant snag a 780 ti/690, thats my backup plan

[Weak1ings]

Well, 2GB is going to hurt pretty soon BUT the GTX 690 is faster than the GTX 970 albeit, at the cost of SLI, 2GB of VRAM, and more power hungry.

If you can find a 780 Ti I'd recommend it but I too feel the attractiveness for that beautiful 690.

[FourCorners]

It depends how much you can get a 690 for, if you can get it for uber cheap (like 100-150), than yes it can be a good deal. However dropping close to $300 USD on a dual GPU card that won't have consistent performance across all games due to sli scaling might not be the greatest buy when you can buy a GPU with a new and more efficient architecture. 

[Vegetable]

680 is still good. 680 too. 

I know man, all the people that are selling their sli 980's to get sli 980 ti's, and i'm willing ready to stab someone for a 680. 

[Vegetable]

The heat and power consumption from that thing tho

Heat isn't nearly as bad as you'd think actually, and power consumption isn't a concern.

[Swndlr]

Heat isn't nearly as bad as you'd think actually, and power consumption isn't a concern.

Then go for it Figured the heat would be pretty iffy, I mean, 2 680s on one PCB....

[Vegetable]

Then go for it Figured the heat would be pretty iffy, I mean, 2 680s on one PCB....

It doesn't get above 80c if you supply enough air (which my dual 140mm intake should hopefully do)

[Swndlr]

It doesn't get above 80c if you supply enough air (which my dual 140mm intake should hopefully do)

Hopefully Lol my 770 is pushing 80C when Ive got a good enough clock on it under load, either the clock speed is causing that or its time for a thermal paste change lol...

[Dzzope]

Heat isn't nearly as bad as you'd think actually, and power consumption isn't a concern.

2 things to consider with heat.. 1 is the obvious.. how hot is the card..

 

Second is the TDP.. it's a dual chip card, so the volume of heat it dumps into your room is MUCH higher than a 970 or similar.

 

Last thing to consider is DX12 support.. there are a few games already in development for it.. Not a HUGE thing yet but if your planning to hold onto this upgrade for a few years you have to consider it and the 2GB vs 4GB ram.

[LordGabenNewell]

I would recommend a card with the highest VRAM you can afford... My 780m's are getting quite close to maxing out the 4 gb frame buffer.