R9 290X or Kepler...the GSYNC dilemma

shepardh

Member
Jan 6, 2011
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I'm assuming that Nvidia revelaing GSYNC so close to R9 launch is no conicidence.

I was already set on buying a new R9 290x, but now with this new information I consider waiting for a GTX 780 price drop/ 780 TI (in a few weeks).

My current system:
I5-2500k@4.4ghz, P8P67 PRO, 2X Gigabyte 560 TI o/c in SLI.

Why I want to upgrade -> BF4

-I don't mind waiting 1-2 more months.

So my question is :
Get a new R9 290X now or wait for an nVidia price drop and get either a 780 or 780TI ?
 
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NTMBK

Lifer
Nov 14, 2011
10,208
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How much is a GSYNC monitor going to cost, when does it come out, and are you really going to buy one?
 

Will Robinson

Golden Member
Dec 19, 2009
1,408
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Maybe he thinks its just the video card?
To OP....you'll need a Gsynch enabled monitor as well.
 
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imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
7
76
If you can wait 1-2 months, do it. No reason to upgrade if the card you have right now will play BF4 decently. Even at low/med settings you can get good gameplay.

The icing on the cake is when you finally upgrade you can go "WHOAH!". :D

That is what i'm doing, price drops and the 780Ti coming up will be worth the wait, even if not faster, its better to wait and see.
 

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,582
162
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GSYNC shouldn't be a make or break thing for you, at least not right now, so if you're willing to spend 650+300$(GPU+monitor) just for that particular feature then by all means wait for it but getting a 290x(or any other card of your choice) at a lower price point would be a smarter choice IMO.
 

Erenhardt

Diamond Member
Dec 1, 2012
3,251
105
101
If you can wait 1-2 months, do it. No reason to upgrade if the card you have right now will play BF4 decently. Even at low/med settings you can get good gameplay.

The icing on the cake is when you finally upgrade you can go "WHOAH!". :D

That is what i'm doing, price drops and the 780Ti coming up will be worth the wait, even if not faster, its better to wait and see.

2 months and we are in 2014. Not far to 20nm for that point.
780Ti may or may not be faster, but I wouldn't pay any premium so late to the node. 290X makes sense because it is relatively cheap, but as soon as 20nm hit the market half next year, all premium paid is gone. 28nm card will be worthless compared to 20nm.

It all depends on perception. In some countries $650 is a lot of money and makes people uncomfortable spending it on something that will loose half of its value in 6months.

Wasn't that said somewhere that g-sync is going to be open for any GPU manufaturer?
 

nOOky

Platinum Member
Aug 17, 2004
2,826
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What monitor do you have now? I would wait until the 780ti comes out, the 290x comes out with better aftermarket cooling, and to see how prices shake out on everything around Black Friday or at Christmas time.
 

HurleyBird

Platinum Member
Apr 22, 2003
2,670
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If you want to play BF4 multiplayer, get the Radeon. It sounds like Mantle will give a massive performance uplift. If you can, wait for an aftermarket version.

As far as Gsync goes it's a great idea, but I doubt it will be in anything other than crappy TNs for the foreseeable future. Around the 20nm upgrade cycle I suspect we will begin to see Gsync in higher resolution displays with better IQ, and I imagine it will be more relevant then.
 

Rezist

Senior member
Jun 20, 2009
726
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All depends really if you plan on dropping 300-400$ on a monitor as well, since I dont see anything but the very expensive gamer oriented monitors going for G-Sync.
 

Rezist

Senior member
Jun 20, 2009
726
0
71
If you want to play BF4 multiplayer, get the Radeon. It sounds like Mantle will give a massive performance uplift. If you can, wait for an aftermarket version.

As far as Gsync goes it's a great idea, but I doubt it will be in anything other than crappy TNs for the foreseeable future. Around the 20nm upgrade cycle I suspect we will begin to see Gsync in higher resolution displays with better IQ, and I imagine it will be more relevant then.

I also see it going for the 120hz tn crowd but those are not cheap monitors almost all are at 300$ already.
 

Lonyo

Lifer
Aug 10, 2002
21,939
6
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Wait until Mantle/BF4/Gsync are out and then make a decision.

You don't have to wait and then buy NV, you can wait and then decide which to buy.
 

blackened23

Diamond Member
Jul 26, 2011
8,548
2
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G sync won't be out until Q1 2014, this was stated during nvidia's streamed Montreal event. I do agree with others that a wait and see approach is probably for the best - with the 780 ti and 700 series price cuts and what not. As far as Gsync though? I'm personally really excited about it, it sounds awesome. Yet, keep in mind that it won't be here for some time. It was explicitly stated that 1Q 2014 was the time frame for release - it is several months away. It isn't an impending release or anything like that.
 

bystander36

Diamond Member
Apr 1, 2013
5,154
132
106
I do plan to get a G-sync monitor myself, but unless you need something right now, a wait and see approach is probably best.

If you need something right now, you might consider the Asus VG248QE, as it is the only monitor I've heard been confirmed to have a upgrade kit on the way for G-sync.
 

imaheadcase

Diamond Member
May 9, 2005
3,850
7
76
2 months and we are in 2014. Not far to 20nm for that point.
780Ti may or may not be faster, but I wouldn't pay any premium so late to the node. 290X makes sense because it is relatively cheap, but as soon as 20nm hit the market half next year, all premium paid is gone. 28nm card will be worthless compared to 20nm.

It all depends on perception. In some countries $650 is a lot of money and makes people uncomfortable spending it on something that will loose half of its value in 6months.

Wasn't that said somewhere that g-sync is going to be open for any GPU manufaturer?

You are always going to have new stuff coming out on the horizon, but in this case its makes sense to wait a couple months, even earlier we might get notice of price cuts or reviews. No point in taking a leap now. Die shrinks are always delayed as well.
 

VulgarDisplay

Diamond Member
Apr 3, 2009
6,193
2
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I would just wait and see about Gsync. No one knows how great the end results will be. At the unveiling they compared it to a 60hz monitor which I think made it seem more impressive than it probably is. Don't get me wrong, it will provide a huge benefit at low frame rates vs normal 60hz. I want to see it compared to a 120hz monitor with higher FPS before I make any decision.

Especially if it is only utilized it crap TN panels. I've already got a crap TN 120hz monitor. I don't think that IPS monitors have the pixel response to make it really shine on a more accurate panel.
 

Owls

Senior member
Feb 22, 2006
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I think g-sync is a load of marketing crap. they made it look fantastic against a crappy tn panel. I have 2 HP ZR30ws and at $1k a pop I'm not replacing them anytime soon. I expect the video card itself to improve and be not being forced to buy some specific monitor, especially TN panels.
 

R0H1T

Platinum Member
Jan 12, 2013
2,582
162
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I think g-sync is a load of marketing crap. they made it look fantastic against a crappy tn panel. I have 2 HP ZR30ws and at $1k a pop I'm not replacing them anytime soon. I expect the video card itself to improve and be not being forced to buy some specific monitor, especially TN panels.
Yup going back to TN is like the last thing you'd do especially if you're used to something like an AH-IPS or Super PLS screen.
 

Anarchist420

Diamond Member
Feb 13, 2010
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please wait for the price drop on the 780 not only for G-sync, but also because the 780 runs cooler (and even quieter) than the pos 290x plus the former has better aa (even at least one GE game has severe rendering errors with forced AA on AMD GPUs while nvidia does it fine on a game sponsored by their competitor), and higher quality (and faster at the same time with FP16 textures) filtering. plus knowing amd i bet that mantle will be much faster while im also pretty sure that it wont offer better image quality or features.

i wont like nvidia until they make good drivers or open source them, but AMD has never made a product that was good overall... fast as hell and inexpensive, sure, but also featureless and running at high temps.
 
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cmdrdredd

Lifer
Dec 12, 2001
27,052
357
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I'm sure it won't be better quality. It's the performance that matters.

When someone is looking at g-sync (TN 1080p monitors), and 290x level performance I highly doubt that same person will say "hey this game is too slow." I've played the BF4 beta a bit and if it is any indication at all, the full game will run fine on such hardware.
 
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moonbogg

Lifer
Jan 8, 2011
10,635
3,095
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I guess i'd have to compare 120hz to a gsync monitor. I assume the product will be the following:

120hz TN
3Dvison 2 with lightboost
Gsync enabled

If it doesn't have ALL of those features, then they are trading one thing for another. I can't remember ever being bothered by tearing.