Crossfire r9 290x Lightning or single rx580

[kimura1243]

Hello everyone! Recently I got an offer for my MSI RX580 Armor 8GB. The guy offered me two MSI R9 290x Lightning. A friend of mine told me to accept it, as the 290x is not much slower than 580(and two of them would be quite faster) , and MSI Lightning cards can be overclocked a lot. What worries me is the vram. I'm on a 1080p monitor, planning to buy two more, but currently there are some games exceeding 4GB of vram. On top of my head is Ghost recon wildlands which goes to around 6.5GB of vram. 

So what do you think? Is it worth it? Will I see a leap in performance or will it negatively affect it because of the vram being cut in half? 

I forgot to mention that power consumption is not a big concern and my PSU can handle the cards. 

[Levent]

single > dual graphics, ALWAYS. I wouldnt, crossfire was tricky back when I was using in 2012 and I bet it still is today.

[Jumper118]

the msi rx580 armor is a lower end rx580 thats hardly faster. the 290x lightning is a top end monster i would take 290x cf over 1 580 any day  

[Damascus]

290x gets within 3% of a 480, given the OC headroom of lightning strikes it would be even better.

 

also, if they are the same price either the 480 is grossly overpriced or the 290x's are dirt cheap.

[michaelocarroll007]

In Crossfire games it will be much better. In non crossfire games it will be similar. 

Power consumption and heat is the biggest difference imo.

 

If you play a few games a lot and know they have good crossfire support then go for that.

if you know the main games you play wont support CF then theres no major benefit to trade,

 

 

What about selling both 290x for like 175-200 and then buying a 1070/1080 used. i just picked up a 1080 for $400 on letgo/cragislist type of trade.

This would be the most work option but you could get a card that would play every single game decently better then your 580

 

 

its not a bad trade but its also not super great unless it fits your specific use case. theres a reason he wants to trade. 

 

Edited December 4, 2017 by michaelocarroll007