Second 7970 Ghz or 290x?

[Capt_Kob]

I'm on the fence here and need advice:
I currently have a Gigabyte 7970 GHz and can't decide if I should get a second one for crossfire or get a 290x to push pixels at an Overlord 27" @120Hz.
I plan to play a lot of BF4 and Mantle being compatible with 7XXX series is a compelling reason for me to pick up a second card vs buying a 290x.
I guess the other question is whether a single 290x can beat dual 7970Ghz's or at least come close at 2660x1440 at 120Hz.
My other concern is that I don't really know whether I believe AMD can or will fix the xfire frame pacing issue for 7XXX series cards anymore than they already have. I am worried that they are going to say "hey, we fixed the xfire frame pacing/microstutter in hardware on Hawaii! It kinda works now on 7XXX cards but we aren't going to spend much more time fixing old cards."

The other question is whether we are going to see price drops on 7970 Ghz cards like we are seeing on 7950s. If a 7970Ghz drops down to like $275, I would snatch that up pretty quick. If they stay around where they are now, in the $375 range, I might be willing to spend a few hundred more on a 260x.

 

[SolMiester]

I dont think you should do anything until the cards are released, benchies and series spec details etc.
the CF frame pacing driver has resolved most issues I believe except DX9 on resolutions up to 25x16, so you are fine for 7xxx CF on your monitor, and 2x7970 would certainly be better perf than the 290x.

 

[Tweak155]

I'd wait and see the official pricing.

That said, I always shoot for the best single card solution in my budget when it is time to upgrade. In your shoes unfortunately, I don't think you have any good options.

I'm leaning towards another 7970 even though I would never do it myself.

Also, welcome to the forums!

 

[Grooveriding]

290X, go full beast mode.

 

[Capt_Kob]

Thanks for the advice guys. I'm going to wait it out and see what prices are like, particularly with the non-reference cards (hopefully) in a month or so. I want something on the quiet side and the reference blowers look LOUD

 

[Capt_Kob]

I ended up finding another Gigabyte 7970Ghz on Craigslist and couldn't resist. I'm now getting between 75 and 110 FPS in BF4. The settings I use are Ultra presets with Post AA and Ambient Occlusion turned off. Here is the rest of my rig:

delidded 4770K @4.7Ghz
Corsair H100i
Asus Maximus VI Extreme
16GB Trident X @2400 (CL10)
2x Gigabyte 7970Ghz
CaseLabs Merlin SM8
1000W Be Quiet! Dark Power Pro

This game really does hit the CPU pretty hard. All cores hover between 80% and 95%. I might have to push the CPU OC up to 4.8 when mantle comes to BF4. When mantle is able to allow the GPUs to more efficiently push frames, it is going to be harder on the CPU and may become the bottleneck.
I hope to put the entire rig underwater in the next few months. All the hardware in the case looks so small in there without any watercooling. Cabling is super messy too

 

[Fa11acy]

i think you went with the right choice, I'm considering the same option but with my second 670. Im currently looking for one on craigslist or somewhere cheap but its hard to find my specific version. (asus 670).

 

[hoboville]

I guess the other question is whether a single 290x can beat dual 7970Ghz's or at least come close at 2660x1440 at 120Hz.
My other concern is that I don't really know whether I believe AMD can or will fix the xfire frame pacing issue for 7XXX series cards anymore than they already have. I am worried that they are going to say "hey, we fixed the xfire frame pacing/microstutter in hardware on Hawaii! It kinda works now on 7XXX cards but we aren't going to spend much more time fixing old cards."

To get max FPS on a 1440p monitor with max settings you'll need dual GPU or 290(X).

There's a couple answers to your questions, so let's start with the first:

1. Frame Pacing: Frame pacing has already been fixed for single display setups and DX11 games, since you have a 1440p monitor, you have such a setup. Since you are planning on BF4, you won't have a problem with Xfire. AMD also has a commitment to fix pacing because they re-released the 7970 as R9 280, which means it is still in their product support lifecycle. This is good news. Weigh your final decision on whether or not you want to go Eyefinity in the future, 290X will help you with a future upgrade.

2. Performance: A dual 7970 GHz will perform about the same as a 290X, if not faster. Unless you are planning on a custom cooler (Arctic Accerlero III, $60), you won't see full performance from your reference-based 290X (it throttles like crazy and is loud as hell). Because of this, you'll see more performance from dual GPU. Just make sure that the games you play can benefit from Crossfire, not all titles do.

3. Performance per dollar: I have a Sapphire 7970 OC Boost (which is just a 7970 base slightly overclocked). I can, however, OC it to faster than 1050 MHz which is the speed of some GHz edition, and it's totally stable and cool. It's also a $300 card vs a $375 card (GHz ed). With OCing cards, your mileage WILL vary, but most of them can be OC'd pretty well.

That said, $300 card will net you more performance per dollar, for most if not all titles. You will be sacrificing future performance scaling over the 290X, because adding a 2nd 290X will give you more than a 3rd 7970.

Finally, consider waiting for the non-reference cards from Gigabyte and Asus. They will run cooler and faster than the current 290 or 290X. Also, given the price of the 290, it will be a STEAL with a 3rd party cooler, with almost all the power of a 290X.

Happy gaming!

 

[nOOky]

2 7970's are going to be quite a bit faster at 2560 x 1440 than a 290X somewhere around 40% or so? I haven't seen a pure Crossfire-X 7970 versus R290X review, but I have seen 7990's in the mix which is pretty close.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-review-benchmark,3659-6.html

 

[Fastx]

+1 ^^

 

[Shmee]

also, keep in mind if you want to get a third in the future or w/e, 280x is crossfire compatible with the 7970

 

[Sohaltang]

That said, $300 card will net you more performance per dollar, for most if not all titles. You will be sacrificing future performance scaling over the 290X, because adding a 2nd 290X will give you more than a 3rd 7970.


Happy gaming!

Good post but I guess Im going to nit pick...

Would you not have to weigh in 3rd and 4th 7970 at the cost of an additional 290x? I know most MB dont support 4X cards but to be fair 4 7970 costs less than 2 690x and he already owns one of the 7970s.

 

[Capt_Kob]

Yeah, I think I made the right choice with a second 7970Ghz. Gigabyte's Windforce coolers are a good balance of good heat dissipation and relatively low noise even with the fans at high RPM. I am honestly on the fence about watercooling them though. They will not clock much higher without more voltage and these are voltage locked. I may look into volt modding them if I do go the water route.