R9 290 CrossFire or GTX 970 SLI

[Ryanrenesis]

Hi guys I'm foregoing SLI'ing my GTX 780 and am selling it instead, so now have a decision to make... would like some opinions on this.

Zotac GTX 970 SLI - $369 each - $738 total
or
XFX DD R9 290 CrossFire - $289 each - $578 total​

Goals:

• To maintain 120 FPS on my 120Hz monitor
• To prepare for 3D gaming in the near future

Considerations:

• I don't care about power consumption, but I do care about heat production and noise.
• Compatibility with AAA games straight out of release is a huge factor for me.
• Needs to be able to support DX12 when it releases
• Overclockability

Which is a better buy? On paper, R9 290 CF looks better but I'm extremely unfamiliar with AMD GPUs and have always had a bad impression about them, especially in CrossFire set-ups.

Have they improved in recent years? Driver/CrossFire compatibility with games?

 

[RussianSensation]

If you want 3D gaming and the most up-to-date DX12 support, go with 970s. Also, I would not buy XFX 290s among the R9 290 options. MSI Gaming, Sapphire Tri-X /vapor-X, PowerColor PcS+.

 

[ThatBuzzkiller]

Go for the GTX 970's ...

There are more gains to be had with overclocking them and plus they don't produce a lot of heat or noise which is a bonus.

Don't consider DX12 support too much when the specifications and the required hardware to support/accelerate the new possible premium features like conservative rasterization and pixel shader ordering are moving targets. The three IHV's will provide drivers so that older GPUs will be able to use DX12 so don't worry.

As per the other questions, yes AMD has improved their drivers and crossfire compatibility over the years ...

 

[Ryanrenesis]

If you want 3D gaming and the most up-to-date DX12 support, go with 970s. Also, I would not buy XFX 290s among the R9 290 options. MSI Gaming, Sapphire Tri-X /vapor-X, PowerColor PcS+.

Any reason why not XFX? I thought they were a decent brand.

The Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 is $60 more expensive where I live, and all the other brands you mentioned are over $400 compared to $289 for XFX which is on sale right now.

Are the 970's SLI worth the 28% price premium though? After both are overclocked, are they 28% faster?

 

[Silverforce11]

If your on low resolution, the 970s are better, but certainly at higher res its the R290s, and its "smoother" too.

Noise or heat are a byproduct of the cooler. Get a good cooler.

XFX DD is fine for low noise but they will run hotter than Tri-X or PCS+.

 

[Ryanrenesis]

I have to say... the Zotac GTX 970 looks... err... like a midget?

It's kinda hard to believe something looking like that can beat my EVGA GTX 780 ACX...

EDIT: Ok going off of Guru3D, the scaling of the R9 290 CrossFire is absolutely horrendous:
Hitman Absolution: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,12.html
Crysis 3: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,18.html
Metro Last Light: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,17.html

+20% to as low as +5% when you add a whole other card. Dumbfounded. What's wrong with you AMD? Fix your Crossfire man, jeez...

 

[Silverforce11]

Why not SLI 780. You could do it for much cheaper and the performance is in the ball park, particular since you OC the 780s.

Folking out that much $ for a pair of 970s is an expensive side-grade to SLI 780s. Also, seriously why another thread?!

 

[Ryanrenesis]

Why not SLI 780. You could do it for much cheaper and the performance is in the ball park, particular since you OC the 780s.

Folking out that much $ for a pair of 970s is an expensive side-grade to SLI 780s. Also, seriously why another thread?!

OMG why do people keep pulling me in different directions this is starting to get confusing. I was trying to find another 780 for some time but no luck, it's sold out everywhere and I've only found one GTX 780 AMP! 2nd hand for $300. Is that worth it?

RussianSensation already convinced me to go 970 SLI instead of 780 SLI. I don't even know what he said anymore, something along the lines of 4Gb VRAM.

 

[guskline]

I bought both of my Sapphire Tri-X OC R9 290s used but in excellent shape just after the mining bubble burst. Both are water cooled with EK blocks.

I have been very pleased with them. 120fps on every game? Probably not but very close.

Compatability seems to be a bigger problem, initially, for AMD then Nvidia. However, AMD has impressed me with their efforts at releasing betas to address the game profiles.

I have a BenQ BL3200PT monitor which gives me 32" of 2560 x1440 resolution.

If your idea is to dump the GTX780 and start over, perhaps the GTX 970 SLI route would serve you better.

Another option would be to wait until AMD releases their 390 series.

BTW, the links you have to the guru3d article on CF scaling is over 1 yr old. The AMD CF profiles have improved.

From what I have read, the 970 overclocks much better than the 290. Mine run stable at 1075 core/1400 memory.

RussianSensation gave you the best answer for right now.

 

[Wild Thing]

That's a $160 price difference.
Crossfire XDMA is clearly the leader now in dual card technology also.
With performance so close and no killer feature offered by the 970s,I'd recommend decent aftermarket cooled 290s.

 

[stahlhart]

Hi guys I'm foregoing SLI'ing my GTX 780 and am selling it instead, so now have a decision to make... would like some opinions on this.

Zotac GTX 970 SLI - $369 each - $738 total
or
XFX DD R9 290 CrossFire - $289 each - $578 total​

Goals:

• To maintain 120 FPS on my 120Hz monitor
• To prepare for 3D gaming in the near future

Considerations:

• I don't care about power consumption, but I do care about heat production and noise.
• Compatibility with AAA games straight out of release is a huge factor for me.
• Needs to be able to support DX12 when it releases
• Overclockability

Which is a better buy? On paper, R9 290 CF looks better but I'm extremely unfamiliar with AMD GPUs and have always had a bad impression about them, especially in CrossFire set-ups.

Have they improved in recent years? Driver/CrossFire compatibility with games?

You're posting this, after posting this, less than a week ago?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36903295&postcount=9

Explain to the forum participants why, before I lock this thread and infract you for continuing to troll here.

-- stahlhart

 

[Ryanrenesis]

You're posting this, after posting this, less than a week ago?

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=36903295&postcount=9

Explain to the forum participants why, before I lock this thread and infract you for continuing to troll here.

-- stahlhart

You better not infract me for merely voicing my opinion and sharing my experience, then claiming it as "trolling". I'm tired of these "trolling" accusations.

Read my post carefully:
I said, "To this day, I'm pretty upset and have vowed NEVER to buy an AMD CPU ever again."

I still have a very bad impression of AMD as you can clearly see in my OP in this thread. But their CPUs =/= their GPUs. I'm willing to give them a chance on their GPUs, but NEVER on their CPUs.

I should have the right to choose whichever company I want to buy from, even if I say in this post I NEVER want to buy their CPUs, tomorrow I might change my mind and post that I want to buy their CPU and I shouldn't be infracted because of that. That's ridiculous.

Keep in mind that these R9 290s dropped in price dramatically now during Black Friday early bird sales and has obviously drawn my attention.

People change their minds and constantly form new opinions as time goes on, prices drop, etc.

 

[Creig]

To be honest, I want AMD gone. The sooner the better.

I have a huge vendetta against AMD.

So yes... I hate AMD and I hope it dies in hellfire!

It still hurts me enough to this day that I refuse to purchase anything or support any company that has to do with AMD. No GPUs, no CPUs, in fact, I refused to go to University of Toronto, and instead went to Queen's as UofT's library had computers with AMD CPUs.

Well... I was going to point out to you that HardOCP recently put up a 970 SLI vs 290X CF vs 780 SLI vs 290 CF 4K article, but I'd say you're probably better off buying Nvidia. I doubt you'd give AMD a fair chance if you ended up buying their cards.

 

[Ryanrenesis]

Well... I was going to point out to you that HardOCP recently put up a 970 SLI vs 290X CF vs 780 SLI vs 290 CF 4K article, but I'd say you're probably better off buying Nvidia. I doubt you'd give AMD a fair chance if you ended up buying their cards.

Ok I just took a look at their review and wow, the R9 290's performance is horrendous.

You'd think they'd do much better than the 780 with 1Gb more VRAM at very high resolutions but no. On top of that, the ghastly power draw and heat... And the overclocking headroom is as small as AMD's R&D budget.

I can get the R9 290 for so much cheaper though... Performance/$ is important to me and the GTX 970 just doesn't deliver as much performance/$ as the R9 290 with recent price drops.

At least I can throw out my heater when I CrossFIRE two R9 290s... ahhh decisions decisions.

 

[guskline]

Sometimes the worst decision is indecision

 

[boozzer]

sorry for OT question, but can 290s support dx12?

 

[stahlhart]

At least I can throw out my heater when I CrossFIRE two R9 290s

Okay, one last warning to you before I get the hammer out. You stop posting here with inflammatory language like this, now.

And, while you're at it, familiarize yourself with the Terms and Services of these forums, which you agreed to follow when you created an account here, before you call out a moderator again.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=60552

-- stahlhart

 

[Insomniator]

Do your own research and make a choice. You sound like a child going with the opinion of whoever posted last in your threads.

You read the reviews... benchmarks... models... etc. Figure it out man!

IF it were me I'd just find a used 780 (person in the fs forum is selling for $250 right now i think) and get most of the performance for 100's less.

 

[Ryanrenesis]

Okay, one last warning to you before I get the hammer out. You stop posting here with inflammatory language like this, now.

And, while you're at it, familiarize yourself with the Terms and Services of these forums, which you agreed to follow when you created an account here, before you call out a moderator again.

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=60552

-- stahlhart

1) My intention is not inflammatory, it's called a joke.
2) I'm not calling you out at all.

How is throwing out my heater in any way inflammatory?

I'm not changing the way I speak just because you seem to interpret everything I say in a negative way. When I share my experience, you call trolling. When I joke, you say it's inflammatory.

I feel like I'm getting choked and shoved into a corner with every post I make. Please stop it or I'd have to launch a complaint in the moderators forum if you continue to choke me in this manner. I deserve fair treatment, and this is nitpicking and borderline abusive.

Again, I want to make it clear I'm not calling you out. I have to defend myself when I'm continually shoved into a corner and feel that it isn't right nor is it fair treatment.

EDIT: How is it nitpicking? When I joked about the GTX 970 looking like a midget, you had no problems with that. The moment I joked that I could throw out my heater if i get CrossFire R9 290s which is very true as I have a small room, you suddenly had to hop on my case. You're in fact preventing me from pointing out the issues with AMD cards, none of which are lies, false information, or inflammatory.

 

[digitaldurandal]

I have to say... the Zotac GTX 970 looks... err... like a midget?

It's kinda hard to believe something looking like that can beat my EVGA GTX 780 ACX...

EDIT: Ok going off of Guru3D, the scaling of the R9 290 CrossFire is absolutely horrendous:
Hitman Absolution: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,12.html
Crysis 3: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,18.html
Metro Last Light: http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_r9_290_crossfire_review_benchmarks,17.html

+20% to as low as +5% when you add a whole other card. Dumbfounded. What's wrong with you AMD? Fix your Crossfire man, jeez...

Why have you posted something from 11/05/2013 06:55. Was it too difficult to find something that had been made in the last year and two weeks? There are quite a few articles since then, even posted and referenced on this board.

 

[AnandThenMan]

Your choice seems very simple.

• You hate AMD and want them to go bankrupt
• They run so hot you can throw away your space heater (your words)
• R9 290's performance is horrendous (your words)

Given the above, why are you still considering a Radeon graphics card?

 

[chimaxi83]

Hates AMD, wants them to go bankrupt, and is considering buying horrendous performing AMD cards. The trollish irony is delicious.

 

[stahlhart]

And they keep coming back here, because so many of you lack the self-control necessary to ignore them. And they know it.

Thread closed.

-- stahlhart