780 or 290x???

[TeskR]

You cant condemn the 290(X) because of the junk AMD put on top of it, when the non reference cards come out those heat/noise should be considerably less of an issue.

[Saladin]

You cant condemn the 290(X) because of the junk AMD put on top of it, when the non reference cards come out those heat/noise should be considerably less of an issue.

This is very true, however given that the OP is playing at 1080p Mantle wont really help him seeing as that the cards from both AMD and Nvidia are already maxing out the game he cares about. Don't get me wrong Mantle could be big (hope it is) but for 1080p gaming it will be less big for the simple reason that cards are rendering more frames than 60hz monitors can display (if you have a 120/144hz monitor you will/may still see a benefit from Mantle). Given the current cost of the 780 and the fact that there are no non-reference 290x cards yet (I know they are coming, but they aren't here yet and will make the card more expensive), in my opinion the OP is better off buying the 780 given the price, overclocking potential of even reference cards, the availability of non-reference cards, and the maturity of the drivers. All that being said the 290/290x cards are good cards (just might want to put them underwater lol) so the OP cant really go wrong here regardless of what he picks. Personally I am waiting for Pirates Island/Maxwell, those cards are going to be interesting.