R9 290X or EVGA GTX 780

[RussianSensation]

Update:

-As of now, I have a 24" 1080p monitor, but in the future (2-3 years) I will buy my 1440p monitor. I can always SLI the 780s for the 1440p.
-I heard Radeon has some "driver problems," while the 780's drivers update in 1-2 clicks.

Given the trend for current games, I have doubts that 3GB of VRAM will be sufficient for 1440p gaming in 3 years. If you plan to SLI in 2-3 years, then presumably you will keep the 2 cards for another 2 after? That would imply 4-5 years from now. Doesn't sound like a great idea. Just buy the EVGA Classified 780 for $510 or MSI Gaming for $410-420 and just upgrade in 2-3 years by selling the 780.

It sounds like you made up your mind on 780 a long time ago. No point in keeping this thread going.

 

[BrightCandle]

Tales of AMD's driver issues are always overstated.

Actually I think they are woefully understated. There is a significant known list of bugs with quite severe problems and we see threads about them all the time. Its just quite a few people in VC&G seem to go for "doesn't happen to me" = "doesn't exist" and unfortunately that isn't the case. AMD has driver issues, but due to the 2/3 AMD following here they don't get discussed honestly.

 

[jackstar7]

Actually I think they are woefully understated. There is a significant known list of bugs with quite severe problems and we see threads about them all the time. Its just quite a few people in VC&G seem to go for "doesn't happen to me" = "doesn't exist" and unfortunately that isn't the case. AMD has driver issues, but due to the 2/3 AMD following here they don't get discussed honestly.

Understated? Really? And not discussed honestly...

I know you're not trolling, but really your assessment of AMD driver issues, and the discussions thereof, do not seem at all accurate based on my experiences on this board and others.

 

[Grooveriding]

General hardware tends to represent the overall market, 2/3s of the VC&G group is AMD users, whereas the market generally is 1/3 AMD and 2/3 Nvidia. You will get different answers from each.

Made up statistics have no value whatsoever.

OP I think it's more likely that in these particular set of given circumstances, where the AMD card is clearly the better option, that you'll see the die-hard nvidia loyalists who always believe nvidia is better - reality be damned - claim nvidia must be better because nvidia.

Given your pretty narrow description of what you're after, the 290X is simply the better choice. If you want different suggestions, change what you're looking for I guess.

 

[Elfear]

GTX 780 Pros:
Cooler
Quieter
Overclocks Better
A Tad Cheaper
Built link quality products, unlike plastic from the R9 290X

R9 290X Pros:
Extra 1GB of VRAM
Performs better by 1-2 fps

The 290X uses about 30W more than the reference 780 (only 22W average delta here and 15W delta here) but it runs cooler.

Fan noise is almost exactly the same, 1db higher for the 290X (exact same gaming noise here).

Overclocking is subjective but you probably won't be setting any records with the reference 780 cooler. You can probably expect 1150-1200Mhz on the core for both cards.

I'm not sure where you saw the Tr-X had inferior build quality compared to the EVGA 780. The Tri-X is regarded as an excellent cooler.

Performance-wise, the 290X is ~15% to 26% faster at your res. The two cards aren't in the same performance category.

At TPU the Tri-X has slightly better performance per watt than the 780. Not a big difference though.

I agree with what most people have been suggesting, save some money and get an aftermarket 290. The performance delta between it and the 290X will be unnoticeable.

 

[96Firebird]

Since you said you may go multi-card later on, the 780 in your OP seems like the better choice to keep this option open.

 

[Mike Roch]

I may just buy the 780.

 

[weevilone]

G-Sync, noise, heat, etc.. I'd go with the 780.

 

[BrightCandle]

Made up statistics have no value whatsoever.

We had a poll quite recently that showed this forum is 2/3 AMD users. Its not made up it is a fact.

 

[Kenmitch]

I may just buy the 780.

NVidia for GPU's

Apple for phones

Magical products with no issues at all. They just work out of the box. Don't look at their user forums for issues....They are all just made up by trolls.

Sounds like you already made up your mind anyways. I'm not sure why you haven't bought it yet.

 

[rtsurfer]

Actually I think they are woefully understated. There is a significant known list of bugs with quite severe problems and we see threads about them all the time. Its just quite a few people in VC&G seem to go for "doesn't happen to me" = "doesn't exist" and unfortunately that isn't the case. AMD has driver issues, but due to the 2/3 AMD following here they don't get discussed honestly.

Or how about people in VC&G are more tech savvy & work on their issues instead of standing there crying.

Maybe if you try to fix it, it will work.

We had a poll quite recently that showed this forum is 2/3 AMD users. Its not made up it is a fact.

What poll?
Please link what you are talking about.

I won't be surprised if the amount of AMD users here went up as quite a few people sold their 780 / 780Ti & picked up cheap mining uaed AMD cards.

Infraction issued for inflammatory language.
-- stahlhart

 

[Elfear]

G-Sync, noise, heat, etc.. I'd go with the 780.

Per links in Post #55, the 780 is neither quieter nor does it run cooler.

From my searching I couldn't find any G-Sync monitors available for purchase. There are a few sites with pre-orders but couldn't find a place I could actually buy the monitor. That's not to say G-Sync might not turn out to be great technology but you can't take advantage of it at this time (unless you mod your monitor yourself).

The positives you mentioned are either false or unavailable at this point.


OP - Sounds like your heart is set on the 780. Just buy it and enjoy.

 

[Mike Roch]

Isn't the R9 290/290X built out of plastic?

 

[wand3r3r]

This particular forum prioritises price/performance very strongly, even if the differences are relatively minor. My feeling is that general hardware looks at the overall package. They have a more honest assessment of driver quality and extra features and tend to associate value to Nvidia cards for those reasons.

Having owned recent AMD cards (7970's) I don't think AMD has its act together, the amount of poor performing games on release, the severe bugs and everything else just left me with that feeling that the drivers are still rubbish. Not as bad as they once were (early AMD cards I had didn't even install) but compared to Nvidia they are much worse. I experienced this difference myself having previously value only price/performance alone.

On price/performance I can't disagree with the 290 its the better buy on that aspect. But the question really is which card would I buy knowing what I do now and I would buy the Nvidia card even if its more expensive, the price difference would have to be pretty large for that not to be the case, because AMD's 7970's drove me to the point of madness. Because for that extra price I get something that works on release day, which is massively important to me and its cheaper to buy Nvidia first rather than a 290 and then a 780 after it. AMD needs to get their drivers sorted, they need to start fixing the bugs their customers raise and they need to take the software seriously, until they do that its hard to recommend them unless the difference is enormous and its just not big enough a difference for me to say get an AMD card. Its not brand loyalty, I am just still pissed with AMD and the way they treated the problems I had and how they still treat the bugs. Leaving the 7970 users to rot on frame pacing will have lost them a lot of customers in the future and I will need good proof in the future that they have fixed their problems before I even consider them again.

Apparently you imply 15-26% faster is relatively minor? It's not even close.

Going on about drivers based on your old cards 2-3 years ago isn't even relevant to the cards being asked about. What problems do the 290/x's have? I could go on about my fermi & BF3 problems with green artifacts and the fact NV let it go for a loong time, but it's hardly relevant to the discussion. Clearly you feel you had a bad experience with your 79xx cards, which has probably changed somewhat with the framepacing (which took time to come out, true but it's not relevant to this discussion either). Going off about "amd drivers" is just fud unless you are talking about the 79xx series.

Actually I think they are woefully understated. There is a significant known list of bugs with quite severe problems and we see threads about them all the time. Its just quite a few people in VC&G seem to go for "doesn't happen to me" = "doesn't exist" and unfortunately that isn't the case. AMD has driver issues, but due to the 2/3 AMD following here they don't get discussed honestly.

There you go again, "I think" is as subjective as it gets. Google NV drivers for a change and see what you think about their bugs.

Do you think "2/3" of the forums (over 80%) would recommend the 290x if they had driver bugs impeding gameplay? I find it hard to justify the few who recommend a slower card with less memory, but feel free to try justify it.

NV cards are a rip off atm, most people see through it and base the decision based on the data, not brand.

The 290X uses about 30W more than the reference 780 (only 22W average delta here and 15W delta here) but it runs cooler.

Fan noise is almost exactly the same, 1db higher for the 290X (exact same gaming noise here).

Overclocking is subjective but you probably won't be setting any records with the reference 780 cooler. You can probably expect 1150-1200Mhz on the core for both cards.

I'm not sure where you saw the Tr-X had inferior build quality compared to the EVGA 780. The Tri-X is regarded as an excellent cooler.

Performance-wise, the 290X is ~15% to 26% faster at your res. The two cards aren't in the same performance category.

At TPU the Tri-X has slightly better performance per watt than the 780. Not a big difference though.

I agree with what most people have been suggesting, save some money and get an aftermarket 290. The performance delta between it and the 290X will be unnoticeable.

Got the facts in order there. The 290 is a smoking deal compared to the overpriced 780 with less memory etc.
:thumbsup:

We had a poll quite recently that showed this forum is 2/3 AMD users. Its not made up it is a fact.

Fact based on 100 entries? 1000? The forum is 300,000 members, what do you think the accuracy is?

G-Sync, noise, heat, etc.. I'd go with the 780.

If you read a review about the tri-x you will find that noise, heat, etc are not a problem and the 290/x aftermarket cards can be cooler and quieter as well as faster..

http://techbuyersguru.com/sapphireR9290trix.php

 

[SinOfLiberty]

You can buy Titan Z as it will offer a great performance with plenty of RAM!! 12GB will never ever make you worried about running out of RAM. Titan Z has plenty of horsepower to push the latest tiles in 4K and runs cool and quiet, unlike the competition

Definitely go for Z, when it will be with discount

 

[Elfear]

You can buy Titan Z as it will offer a great performance with plenty of RAM!! 12GB will never ever make you worried about running out of RAM. Titan Z has plenty of horsepower to push the latest tiles in 4K and runs cool and quiet, unlike the competition

Definitely go for Z, when it will be with discount

Agreed. In fact I would buy two just to be safe. :sneaky:

 

[stahlhart]

Made up statistics have no value whatsoever.

BrightCandle's estimate, based on experience, is more or less correct, and should be taken into consideration with any unscientific polling results seen here (though in this particular case it would not appear to change the outcome).
-- stahlhart

 

[Grooveriding]

lol, yes I agree. Made up statistics and subjective opinions are fact here.

The answer is you need 2 TitanZ. Good luck.

 

[Kenmitch]

Isn't the R9 290/290X built out of plastic?

Yep....But it's from Alien reverse engineering!

Joking aside WTF you talking about Willis?

 

[Mike Roch]

Alright, for the present, which should I buy for 1080p. I can always add an extra card for SLI/Crossfire. Also, doesn't the the cards in SLI combine? If I put 2 3GB 780s in, it would become 6GB of GDDR5?

 

[Attic]

780 is the wrong card to get given your considerations and budget.

I'm kinda stumped how you could have limitless information of the internet and be leaning to the 780 over a 290x. But beyond that, both cards are great. 290x is the definitively better card at close to or equal price for 1080P. But to repeat, the 290x is overkill at this res, the 290 non x Tri-x OC from Sapphire makes more sense here and will save ya some money.

Things like heat/noise/build quality/drivers are spin, read some trusted reviews, check other forums to get a better handle on that if it remains a concern. The 290x Tri-x is significantly improved for heat/noise from the 290x initial launch.

 

[96Firebird]

If I put 2 3GB 780s in, it would become 6GB of GDDR5?

Not for graphics.

 

[RussianSensation]

Alright, for the present, which should I buy for 1080p.

XFX R9 280X with lifetime warranty for $260:
http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=14-150-678

Then in 2-3 years when you finally decide to buy a 1440p/1600p/4K monitor, upgrade to a next gen single GPU 70-100% faster.

Sorry but for 1080p, it is laughable to pay $500 for a reference EVGA GTX780 just because it has a metal cooler shroud, because you will only get 16-20% more performance over that 280X!

http://www.computerbase.de/2014-02/nvidia-geforce-gtx-750-ti-maxwell-test/5/

At current prices, $260 R9 280X is the perfect stop-gap card until the next generation for 1080p. If you are willing to overclock, MSI Gaming R9 280 for $199 is even better value = 770 level of performance for $200:

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/18938-asus-radeon-r9-280-strix/9#pagehead

Looks like you are new to PC gaming. In that case, you will have a tendency to overspend and burn through your money. As I told you before, if you want awesome 780s, get MSI Gaming since it's quiet and has great price/performance, Gigabyte wind force GHz edition since it has 1.07Ghz base clock OR EVGA Classified for 1.65V control. EVGA reference 780 or ACX version are not good options at $500 among the 780 options.

 

[GaiaHunter]

BrightCandle's estimate, based on experience, is more or less correct, and should be taken into consideration with any unscientific polling results seen here (though in this particular case it would not appear to change the outcome).
-- stahlhart

And does that make these forums AMD biased?
Click on the CPUs and Overclocking sub forum and try to recommend an AMD processor for gaming.

On the other hand during Pentium IV/D vs Athlon 64/X2 the CPUs and Overclocking forum would recommend and AMD CPU even though the outside world market share was heavily skewed in favor of Intel.

And at the moment the poll (in which I didn't vote) is 83% vs 16% and not a 66% vs 33% split.

Maybe it would be an interesting experience having a poll like this that only the moderators could see and vote and then if you guys wanted you could share the results.

 

[weevilone]

Per links in Post #55, the 780 is neither quieter nor does it run cooler.

From my searching I couldn't find any G-Sync monitors available for purchase. There are a few sites with pre-orders but couldn't find a place I could actually buy the monitor. That's not to say G-Sync might not turn out to be great technology but you can't take advantage of it at this time (unless you mod your monitor yourself).

The positives you mentioned are either false or unavailable at this point.

The cited links are comparing a reference GeForce card to a non-reference ATI card. Yes, cards with greater heat dissipation can be cooled in ways as to make them quieter than the competition. But that's not a genuine comparison. Blowers have advantages and disadvantages, etc. We all know that.

Regarding G-Sync, when buying a new product it's prudent to look on the horizon. It's a promising technology that seems like it will solve some problems. To me it's worth considering, regardless of whether I can walk out of a store with one this week. It's like M.2 availability. There aren't many drives today, but if I need a motherboard immediately then why not choose one that's going to allow usage when they are.