Upgrade from GTX295

[JStrauss]

I'm looking to upgrade from an old hand-me-down GTX295. Running an i5-2400 cpu, 16g 1600mhz ram, asus 98z77-v mobo, and psu is a cooler master silent pro 1200w. I'm not dead set on either AMD or NVidia, but my price range is ~$200. Considering raising that to $250. VRam shouldn't end up being a huge deciding factor as I'm only running main screen at 1360x768 and secondary 1024x768.
Looking around it seems my two choices are pretty much a gtx 960 or an r9 280x. The AMD card seems to be the choice for higher resolution gaming because of the extra VRam. I'm wondering if the NVidia card would perform better at my lower resolution, particularly if I keep the 295 in the system and SLI bridge setting one of the 295's GPUs strictly for physx.

 

[n0x1ous]

960 is probably a good choice there actually if you plan on staying at that low resolution.

 

[JStrauss]

I appreciate the quick response. I've been using this 32' sony bravia hdtv as a monitor for ~7years now. Still looks as sharp as the day I got it, so I don't see myself replacing it anytime soon. I was hoping to save up more for a better gpu and possibly monitor but it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Life.

 

[JStrauss]

My other concern was if I do get the 960 and run it with my 295 if the cpu would get bottlenecked. Though I suppose that's something I'd have to try and see. Can always overclock some. My tower keeps the CPU several degrees cooler than the average i5-2400 runs at with full load. Do you think the 295 will make much of a difference if I do run it with the 960?

 

[Doubtless]

I'd recommend you just grab the 960/280x and not worry about running your 295 as a dedicated physx device. I don't even know if it'd work, since it's only DX10 compliant. I have a friend who upgraded from the same card this year to a GTX970 and he's been super pleased with it, and he games at 1080p instead of 720.

If you're looking to go up in resolution before you switch cards again I'd see if you could swing a 290x or 970 though.

 

[n0x1ous]

I would say don't even use the 295 at all. Will add unneeded complexity while wasting power and not adding much.

 

[EliteRetard]

I've been seeing 290's under $250 for quite a while now...did a quick check on newegg and indeed there is one option right now ($240 after rebate):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125500&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-125-500-_-Product

Much faster solution than a GTX 960, even if it's "overkill" now, I think getting the fastest card in your budget is going to be a better way to go in the long run. I'm sure with a little more searching you'll be able to find other 290 options/sales. Perhaps even one without a rebate in your budget.

 

[n0x1ous]

I've been seeing 290's under $250 for quite a while now...did a quick check on newegg and indeed there is one option right now ($240 after rebate):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125500&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-125-500-_-Product

Much faster solution than a GTX 960, even if it's "overkill" now, I think getting the fastest card in your budget is going to be a better way to go in the long run. I'm sure with a little more searching you'll be able to find other 290 options/sales. Perhaps even one without a rebate in your budget.

Agreed - if you can find a 290 for that price its definitely a better choice. I was under the impression that 290's prices have gone up then disappeared since the 300 series release.

 

[JStrauss]

Thanks for the input! In that case I'll probably just go with whichever I can get a better deal on.

 

[JStrauss]

Oh nice, I'll have to talk to the wife about that extra cost, but that's looks like a good deal.

 

[Headfoot]

The 290 is going to be 50% faster than a 960 with 2x the RAM. If you hold onto that card for as long as this gtx 295 has been around, then I'd definitely get something a little faster with more RAM so it will last. At 1360x768 that 290 will last a loooooong time

 

[JStrauss]

There are a fair number of bad reviews for that particular gigabyte r9 290, but they're all over half a year old. I wonder if they have since fixed the issues...

 

[JStrauss]

Btw Headfoot I like the personal tag there at the bottom of your posts.

I'm going to keep looking around to see if I can find a r9 290 with better reviews. Tower airflow has been noted as needing to be high for this one. I've got that covered.

I'm fairly excited about my prospects here. Been wanting an upgrade for a while now but life has a way of getting in the way of 'wants'.

I appreciate all of the input I've received here. Glad I decided to use the anandtech forums to ask my question.

 

[Headfoot]

Btw Headfoot I like the personal tag there at the bottom of your posts.

I'm going to keep looking around to see if I can find a r9 290 with better reviews. Tower airflow has been noted as needing to be high for this one. I've got that covered.

I'm fairly excited about my prospects here. Been wanting an upgrade for a while now but life has a way of getting in the way of 'wants'.

I appreciate all of the input I've received here. Glad I decided to use the anandtech forums to ask my question.

Glad you like it haha. Yeah it sounded like the reviews were either 1) it was DOA (so you could return to newegg, and their customer service is good) or 2) not enough case airflow since its an aftermarket open air cooler

If you think you've got case airflow down, I think it would be fine. The Sapphire Tri X is the best reviewed 290 though so if you can find one of those for cheap that would be even better

 

[n0x1ous]

Btw Headfoot I like the personal tag there at the bottom of your posts.

I'm going to keep looking around to see if I can find a r9 290 with better reviews. Tower airflow has been noted as needing to be high for this one. I've got that covered.

I'm fairly excited about my prospects here. Been wanting an upgrade for a while now but life has a way of getting in the way of 'wants'.

I appreciate all of the input I've received here. Glad I decided to use the anandtech forums to ask my question.

Cheers - good luck on the search. Use a site like pcpartpicker might help you narrow things down.
https://pcpartpicker.com/parts/video-card/

 

[Mondozei]

I've been seeing 290's under $250 for quite a while now...did a quick check on newegg and indeed there is one option right now ($240 after rebate):

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125500&cm_re=r9_290-_-14-125-500-_-Product

Much faster solution than a GTX 960, even if it's "overkill" now, I think getting the fastest card in your budget is going to be a better way to go in the long run. I'm sure with a little more searching you'll be able to find other 290 options/sales. Perhaps even one without a rebate in your budget.

Much elitehood not much retardation in this man's comment.

Getting a decent 290 is a much better option.

 

[Hitman928]

Much elitehood not much retardation in this man's comment.

Getting a decent 290 is a much better option.

I'm guessing English isn't your first language? I don't mean to sound rude, it's just your first sentence reads a little strange.

I also agree on the 290, even if you have to reduce clocks a little in a case with bad airflow, it will perform significantly better than a 960 and with VSR (I'm assuming you can downscale to 720p), you can use that extra performance today to get a better, sharper picture at 720p.

 

[manimal]

how limited is your cpu with your current gpu? How many titles will see a big improvement with a 290?Would a 280 suffice?

 

[Headfoot]

how limited is your cpu with your current gpu? How many titles will see a big improvement with a 290?Would a 280 suffice?

i5 2400 can handle a 290 for sure

 

[SteveGrabowski]

An R9 290 for 768p? That doesn't make any sense, you're getting some really bad advice here. An R7 370 for $150 is way more than enough to crush 768p gaming if you're only using that screen for gaming. No reason to spend $250+ on a 290. I assume this is a 60 Hz screen, right?

EDIT: I suppose AA is really important on such a large screen and low resolution. GTX 960 seems like a good buy here at $180.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091

Yes, the 290 is a much much much better card than a 960, but why waste $70 for power that won't be needed at that resolution? 1366x768 is only half the pixels of 1920x1080.

 

[n0x1ous]

An R9 290 for 768p? That doesn't make any sense, you're getting some really bad advice here. An R7 370 for $150 is way more than enough to crush 768p gaming if you're only using that screen for gaming. No reason to spend $250+ on a 290. I assume this is a 60 Hz screen, right?

EDIT: I suppose AA is really important on such a large screen and low resolution. GTX 960 seems like a good buy here at $180.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091

Yes, the 290 is a much much much better card than a 960, but why waste $70 for power that won't be needed at that resolution? 1366x768 is only half the pixels of 1920x1080.

VSR

 

[Headfoot]

An R9 290 for 768p? That doesn't make any sense, you're getting some really bad advice here. An R7 370 for $150 is way more than enough to crush 768p gaming if you're only using that screen for gaming. No reason to spend $250+ on a 290. I assume this is a 60 Hz screen, right?

EDIT: I suppose AA is really important on such a large screen and low resolution. GTX 960 seems like a good buy here at $180.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487091

Yes, the 290 is a much much much better card than a 960, but why waste $70 for power that won't be needed at that resolution? 1366x768 is only half the pixels of 1920x1080.

You know when the 295 came out right? January 2009.

If he keeps this card for another 6 years, he's not going to want a 370. Advising a 370 is really bad advice for a card with an estimated 6 year life span.

Have you even read this thread dude? 960 is NOT a good buy. He can increase budget a little bit and get 50% more speed and 2x the VRAM. You think 50% more speed and 2x the VRAM won't matter in 2020? PROTIP: It will.

 

[Seba]

Have you even read this thread dude? 960 is NOT a good buy. He can increase budget a little bit and get 50% more speed and 2x the VRAM. You think 50% more speed and 2x the VRAM won't matter in 2020? PROTIP: It will.

You think that 4GB VRAM and the R9 290 level of performance will be enough in 2020? The chances are that it won't be enough by then so he will have wasted the money on this futile chase of a "future proof" buy.

 

[Spjut]

Just wondering, what is the most demanding game you've played on the GTX 295 and how did it cope?

 

[SteveGrabowski]

You know when the 295 came out right? January 2009.

If he keeps this card for another 6 years, he's not going to want a 370. Advising a 370 is really bad advice for a card with an estimated 6 year life span.

Have you even read this thread dude? 960 is NOT a good buy. He can increase budget a little bit and get 50% more speed and 2x the VRAM. You think 50% more speed and 2x the VRAM won't matter in 2020? PROTIP: It will.

And I edited and changed my recommendation to a 960 because he'll probably want to run AA on such a low resolution on a large screen. A 960 is already enormous overkill for that resolution, what's the point of a 290 if the op isn't upgrading his screen any time soon? Might as well tell him to buy a 980 Ti so he can downsample from 1440p.