GTX 780 (vs AMD 290x): Did I goof?

[Chubzdoomer]

Hello, all! Lurker here. I'm in a dilemma and just wanted to ask and see what your opinions are. In fact, I think I might have goofed.

Last night, I placed an order for a GTX 780. I saw the widespread news about the price drop from $650 to $500 and wanted to jump on it. I had planned on upgrading by the end of the year so going forward with the order seemed like the right move to make.

Before I get further into this, my current setup is as follows: Intel i7 860, 8 GB RAM, AMD HD 5870. I last built this computer more than three and a half years ago. I ordered 16 GB of RAM last night alongside the GTX 780 since 16 is quickly becoming the gaming "standard." I will probably get a new motherboard and CPU sometime in the near future to clear up as many bottlenecks as possible.

Here's where my worries lie, however, and what I'm getting at with this post: AMD's new 290x.

I placed the order for a GTX 780 thinking that the 290x, which is supposedly up there with the Titan, was priced at a much higher $650. Little did I know, it is in fact around $550, making it just $50 more but more powerful -- and with one extra GB of VRAM and AMD's yet-to-be-proven Mantle, which might very well provide significant performance boosts.

After doing additional research today and discovering that the 290x is just $50 more, I feel like a fool who's made a big blunder. And an expensive one at that. I obviously should've done more research beforehand and realized that the 290x was not near as expensive as I'd initially thought. My order has shipped, however, so I can't cancel it and I'm not sure if I should send it right back when it gets here or accept it.

So I have to ask you guys: Did I screw up? Will I still get my money's worth with the GTX 780, and is it still an excellent value for the price even when compared to AMD's 290x? One thing that I do really like is that the 780 ships with three games -- the new Splinter Cell, Assassins Creed, and Batman -- so I'm essentially saving quite a bit of money with that. I'm still concerned that in the long run, the 290x would've been a better option given its more VRAM, AMD's mantle, and its overall power advantage. I'm thinking that I should have perhaps spent the extra $50 -- which is miniscule given the amount I was already paying to begin with -- and gotten it instead.

I apologize for the somewhat long-winded post, but this is a potentially expensive mistake and it's entirely my fault that I didn't do more research on the 780's competition before committing to the purchase.

Thanks very, very much in advance for any opinions/advice! I've also included a poll for another form of feedback.

 

[wand3r3r]

There's nothing wrong with the 780, it's a decent card and the price isn't very far off if you are at a lower resolution. The 290x is a strong contender and beats it quite handily, and basically stomps on it at higher resolutions. The 290x reference card is loud though, I wouldn't buy one myself. I am waiting for the 290 which launches on Tuesday and is rumored to be around the 780 performance but will cost less.

Without aftermarket 290x's I would personally go 780 Lightning or Classified. However, I am waiting to see what the 290, and 290x OC models bring and at what price points.

Which model did you actually buy? What resolution do you want to use?

I think this can be debated to death, and everyone has their own opinion. Basically the 780 is fairly solid, it's possible the aftermarket 290x's will be a better choice, or the 290's. The games add value too, especially if you would buy them anyway.

The poll is hard to answer before seeing aftermarket, it's not as clear as it was when the 780 was $650.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

Firstly, thank you very much for the response.

Which model did you actually buy? What resolution do you want to use?

I purchased this EVGA model.

I play at 1920x1080 resolution, which based on what I understand is a fairly low (or average) resolution these days.

 

[blackened23]

No, you didn't. GTX 780 is 10% lower in cost for ~~10% less performance than Titan and 290X (at 1080p) at stock clocks while ignoring other metrics. You can get a factory oc'ed 780 for slightly more money to make up ground on that 10%. In fact, factory OC'ed 780 models also match the Titan if you get the right one.

The GTX 780 is still a great card, I think you're fine. I also do think the 290X performs outstanding and is a great card (cooler isn't as good), but the price/perf difference between it and the 780 became ambiguous at best once NV lowered their prices. Basically, you're fine with a 780 at 1080p. If anything, it could be overkill depending on what settings you use and what games you play.

 

[wand3r3r]

Firstly, thank you very much for the response.



I purchased this EVGA model.

I play at 1920x1080 resolution, which based on what I understand is a fairly low (or average) resolution these days.

Just overclock that puppy a little bit and call it good. You should easily get reference 290x performance, especially at 1080p.

 

[hawtdawg]

Once you OC, yes.

 

[Teizo]

Not sure how you could even consider that a blunder. You got a card near about as fast for $50 less that will run a chit ton cooler and quieter. Sure the 290X may have more raw power, but it's not like it makes the 780 minced meat.

You have to remember that graphs make things look different than reality some times. A graph may make it look like a card is way ahead, but in reality it is only 3-4fps different (this works both ways for both companies). In gaming, unless you are a fraps junkie....you won't notice it. Plus, when you overclock the 780 it is just as fast. So don't worry. You got a good card.

 

[toyota]

at 500 bucks its fine overall when all factors are considered. and the 290x reviews actually convinced lots of people to go 780. high levels of heat and noise and ridiculous power consumption when ocing makes keeps the 290x from even being an option for me.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

Thank you very much for the responses, guys! They definitely help me feel much better about my purchase. I thought I might've majorly screwed up, but maybe I'm just overestimating the 290x's advantage (especially at 1920x1080 resolution).

 

[OILFIELDTRASH]

I'd have waited personally. At least until 290 is released as well as aftermarket 290x. It still is a solid value it would seem. Unless of course 290 comes out for $400 and matches it.

 

[Attic]

Wouldn't sweat it one bit. But if I did sweat it i'd be happy to return and get a 290x.

Both are legitimate game enforcers. The 290x has some extra muscle and should be picked up if you plan to game at ultra high resolutions, 1600P+. The 780 is a bit cheaper and you should have picked up some free games with it from nVidia promotion.

Both are home runs IMO, why worry too much about the distance past the fence the ball traveled if in the end it's still very close.

 

[toyota]

Thank you very much for the responses, guys! They definitely help me feel much better about my purchase. I thought I might've majorly screwed up, but maybe I'm just overestimating the 290x's advantage (especially at 1920x1080 resolution).

you really do need to oc the crap out of that cpu though to get best use out of a 780 especially at 1080.

 

[Kenmitch]

Radeon R9 290 (non-X) Launch Pushed Back a Week

by
btarunr Tuesday, October 29th 2013 Discuss (64 Comments)
Launch of AMD's Radeon R9 290 (non-X) is reportedly pushed back by a week, to Tuesday, November 5, 2013. The card was expected to launch on October 31, 2013. The reason for this delay? AMD reportedly developed a new driver that significantly improves performance on the R9 290. AMD pushed this driver onto reviewers at the last minute, and asked them to re-bench their R9 290 samples from scratch, extending their NDA till the 5th. The driver reportedly makes the R9 290 extremely competitive with GeForce GTX 780. A side-effect of that would be that the recently launched Radeon R9 290X could be rendered unattractive. It remains to be seen if the driver also proportionately improves performance on the R9 290X, and how AMD ends up pricing the R9 290.

If it was me I would have waited to see the r290's price vs performance.

The 780 is a nice card butI doubt NVidia will be able to extract much more performance out of it being so late in it's life cycle....Nothing magical at least.

Mantle....Well it's a touchy subject currently with the pro NVidia crowd around here lately. Best to wait and see how it effects BF4 before making any judgment calls on it's performance.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

you really do need to oc the crap out of that cpu though to get best use out of a 780 especially at 1080.

Yeah, I'm sure my CPU will hold me back a bit. Thankfully I have an H50 water cooler on it, so I hope to be able to overclock it to 4 GHz in order to alleviate as much of the bottleneck as possible. Eventually I'll get a new CPU/motherboard all together so that I'll be completely up-to-date.

 

[paul878]

That depends, 10-15% performance don't really make a difference in games.
The questions is, how much is $50 to you?

 

[toyota]

That depends, 10-15% performance don't really make a difference in games.
The questions is, how much is $50 to you?

10-15% can certainly make difference in certain circumstances. the thing is there is basically no difference at 1920x1080 when ocing both. in fact the 780 will actually be faster overall at that res when ocing both.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

Although this is off-topic, I'd like to add that I'm completely new to overclocking so if anyone has experience overclocking i7 CPUs and would be willing to assist, I would be very grateful. I have Steam, Skype, Facebook, etc. and would be willing to communicate via those methods.

 

[Piklar]

Here's the thing, apart from benchmarks and performance graphs there's also "User experience" to consider. Yes the 290x is generally 10% faster than the 780 but currently with only reference cooler the 290X runs hot as hell! , is much noisier and is already at its thermal limits, at least until better thermal solutions come along. Compare to even the reference 780 , runs a lot cooler and far quieter and overclocks like a beast, its an elegant card with monster performance especially once you explore its overclocking potential. I still think the 290x is awesome and would luv build a second rig with crossfire 290Xs and an Ultra HD display and compare with my current rig.. however at least in the 290Xs current state I would put my money on the 780 as a better all-rounder for "user experience" .

 

[Cloudfire777]

Just overclock that GTX 780 and you have a GPU better than GTX Titan/290X. For $50 less.

GTX 780 stock clocks is more than enough for 1080p anyways.
Unless you plan to do water cooling, be prepared to drown that noisy 290X with high volume while playing or use headphones. They are really loud in uber mode.

Keep that GTX 780. It have really good cooling, not noisy and it is a beast in 1080p. Then overclock if you are still not satisfied

 

[SlickR12345]

Yes and no at the same time. The GTX 780 cost a lot more than the 290x and is quite slower, especially at resolutions over 1600x1200, but with that said, it draws less power, its quieter, its cooler and it looks way better.

Obviously its still a bad deal for the money when you consider it cost you $550, but it is a great performer in its own right and while it loses to the 290x badly, it will run all of the games at up to 1900x resolutions at max settings with no problem and its cool and quiet.

The 290x is worth it solely for the performance per price ratio and is the better choice, but its very loud, it draws a lot more power and can get quite hot fast and thus within 15 minutes of gaming you are going to lose some of the frames per second advantage.

So, I think right now you shouldn't feel too bad about it, but once custom cards come and we see custom coolers and custom boards for the card, then you can feel remorse.

The custom cards from Asus and MSI and the rest should be really amazing with quieter coolers and way faster as well.

 

[toyota]

Yes and no at the same time. The GTX 780 cost a lot more than the 290x and is quite slower, especially at resolutions over 1600x1200, but with that said, it draws less power, its quieter, its cooler and it looks way better.

Obviously its still a bad deal for the money when you consider it cost you $550, but it is a great performer in its own right and while it loses to the 290x badly, it will run all of the games at up to 1900x resolutions at max settings with no problem and its cool and quiet.

The 290x is worth it solely for the performance per price ratio and is the better choice, but its very loud, it draws a lot more power and can get quite hot fast and thus within 15 minutes of gaming you are going to lose some of the frames per second advantage.

So, I think right now you shouldn't feel too bad about it, but once custom cards come and we see custom coolers and custom boards for the card, then you can feel remorse.

The custom cards from Asus and MSI and the rest should be really amazing with quieter coolers and way faster as well.

what? the 780 is 50 bucks cheaper. and again, if you oc both cards, the 780 is as fast or faster at 2560 and below with less power consumption , heat and noise.

 

[Carfax83]

If it was me, I would have upgraded my CPU and motherboard first, as your GPU's (whether its the 780 or 290x) gaming performance will be severely handicapped by your present setup, to the point where your performance increase will be limited, and then waited for the GTX 780i to see if there would be any more price reductions.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

what? the 780 is 50 bucks cheaper.

Yeah, he must've missed the news about the recent price drop from $650 to 500.

 

[Chubzdoomer]

If it was me, I would have upgraded my CPU and motherboard first, as your GPU's (whether its the 780 or 290x) gaming performance will be severely handicapped by your present setup, to the point where your performance increase will be limited, and then waited for the GTX 780i to see if there would be any more price reductions.

I'm looking at ordering a new CPU/motherboard by the end of this year (either late November or sometime in December), so it shouldn't be too far off.

 

[blackened23]

If it was me, I would have upgraded my CPU and motherboard first, as your GPU's (whether its the 780 or 290x) gaming performance will be severely handicapped by your present setup, to the point where your performance increase will be limited, and then waited for the GTX 780i to see if there would be any more price reductions.

Well, I think the GPU would make a bigger difference at 1080p depending on what type of game is being played, but with that being said - i've upgraded many lynnfield 870 systems to Haswell and the speed difference is tremendous. Like, so tremendous that it's immediately noticeable in CPU limited games/applications - I don't have my napkin math handy (heh) but i'd say the IPC difference is 40% or so, it's very large and will be extremely noticeable in CPU limited games.

As much as the newer AAA titles are GPU limited, there are tons of CPU limited games as well. Definitely something to look into with an i7-860 - it's a pretty dated chip. A 4770k may make sense in tandem with the newly acquired GTX 780.