XFX 290x @ 289.99 + games

[Dannar26]

I have a placeholder gpu. For all intents and purposes just consider me to be using integrated graphics.

I have been looking to buy a gtx 970 this holiday season. It has everythibg, just about, that I have been looking for in a gpu. But with the rarity of gtx's the price is going up from $330, rather than going down. Ideally, I'd like to spend less than $300.

Meanwhile AMD gpus are tanking in price. Should I buy the deal in the title? GPU BOSS puts the 970 ahead of the 290x in every category...but I've heard you really shouldn't make judgement calls off of synthetic benchmarks.

The 290x has a wider memory bus. How important is that? I've never understood how it plays into a gpu. I know about the noise/ energy consumption differences. Is the 290x really a worse choice on every level? Especially at this price?

Also, the games!

 

[96Firebird]

Whats the rest of your system look like?

If there are games you want to play now, there is no point it waiting for the holiday to roll around. Sales of the 290(X) will continue into the holiday season, however, so don't jump on the first sale you see.

 

[Deders]

A 970 will see you further into the future with more advanced feature, but then the AMD cards have nice features too like Trueaudio and Mantle if they are actually implemented well into games.

The 970 uses memory compression to alleviate the need for bandwidth.

Personally I'd want the 970 but if the games factor in then it's not such an easy decision.

 

[Morgoth780]

The 290x is a better card for 4k especially if you get two of them.
But it's entirely possible that once you get a 4k display (assuming you don't have one yet) games will become intensive enough that it doesn't matter if you bought a 970 or 290x, you're going to need a better card regardless.

 

[3DVagabond]

@ $290 the 290X. It's an easy decision. I'm not sure which "more advanced features" people are talking about? AMD and nVidia have slightly different feature sets, but as to the 970 having more advanced ones, I don't see them.

 

[Creig]

I wouldn't discount the 290 (non-X) either. They can be found with aftermarket coolers for under $250 + games now.

 

[Leyawiin]

90W-150W more power needed for the same performance (more or less). That's material to almost anyone that pays their own bills.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/23.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_970_SC_ACX_Cooler/23.html

 

[chimaxi83]

90W-150W more power needed for the same performance (more or less). That's material to almost anyone that pays their own bills.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/23.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_970_SC_ACX_Cooler/23.html

You forgot to add that those power savings will take an entire year of 5-6 daily hours of full load usage to be enough to buy you and your wife a supersized cheeseburger meal. That's with both cards having equal prices (which they're not).

I know power savings always comes up, but with a difference of 100W, get real people.

 

[positivedoppler]

over 90% of the time your computer will be on idle. Get the 290 for cheap than later on get another one for CF if you want to move up to 4k.

 

[Headfoot]

90W-150W more power needed for the same performance (more or less). That's material to almost anyone that pays their own bills.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GTX_970_STRIX_OC/23.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_970_SC_ACX_Cooler/23.html

Which ultimately amounts to nothing. The value of the games bundle easily outstrips the power-savings value many times over, even if you generously say the OP would use the card for 5 years. Then you have to account for the difference in price. 290x + games for less money than 970 is an absolute no brainer for the 290x.

The power consumption argument is at best a mountain out of a molehill and at worst a deliberate strawman to derail rational discussion. Power consumption is only relevant for 1) 24/7 workloads (mining, GPU compute), 2) Calculating power supply limitations (HTPC, pre-existing computer with small PSU), 3) Tie breaker only when all else is equal INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY price

 

[positivedoppler]

Out of curiosity, where can I get the 290X plus game for 289?

 

[96Firebird]

Out of curiosity, where can I get the 290X plus game for 289?

TigerDirect.

 

[Leyawiin]

The power consumption argument is at best a mountain out of a molehill and at worst a deliberate strawman to derail rational discussion.

lol - oh please. Efficiency is just a valid of a point in a purchase decision as price or performance. Anyone who says its of no consequence (all other things being equal or close to it) is lying. Just $30-$40 more in purchase price for a card that uses that much less power and is slightly faster - I think I could live with that. Everyone has their own priorities.

 

[toyota]

Which ultimately amounts to nothing. The value of the games bundle easily outstrips the power-savings value many times over, even if you generously say the OP would use the card for 5 years. Then you have to account for the difference in price. 290x + games for less money than 970 is an absolute no brainer for the 290x.

The power consumption argument is at best a mountain out of a molehill and at worst a deliberate strawman to derail rational discussion. Power consumption is only relevant for 1) 24/7 workloads (mining, GPU compute), 2) Calculating power supply limitations (HTPC, pre-existing computer with small PSU), 3) Tie breaker only when all else is equal INCLUDING AND ESPECIALLY price

lol so its derailing this discussion? its just as important of a metric as anything else being discussed here.

 

[kawi6rr]

At that price the 290x is a no brainer!! Power savings will be thrown around alot in comparison between 970 but it really doesnt matter the 290x at that price is unbeatable. I'll be getting one soon

 

[boozzer]

best bang for the buck atm are 290 and 290x. 290$ for a 290x is a no brainer. anyone who tells you otherwise have no clue. damn I wish I had waited 3 weeks longer

 

[Dannar26]

Whats the rest of your system look like?

If there are games you want to play now, there is no point it waiting for the holiday to roll around. Sales of the 290(X) will continue into the holiday season, however, so don't jump on the first sale you see.

i5 4690k, ASRock Extreme 4, 8 GB RAM, 750 rosewill capstone psu, Asus 144 hz 1080p 24" monitor

I care most about value. I don't spend enough time using my computer for power consumption to matter. The heat generation gets a nod, I like my gear to last, but again likely won't be an issue with my use case.

I can hold off, especially if there are greater deals coming soon. The games are nice, but all PC games eventually go for nothing on Steam if you wait long enough. And with the size of my backlog...

The 970 will likely hold its value better when I replace it down the road though. But the point is moot because it's so expensive right now. If prices went down to $300 for the holidays I'd be in, but there are too many fanbois keeping that price aloft.

What do you guys think is in store for the holidays? I haven't studied this market before. What has happened in the past?

 

[toyota]

"But the point is moot because it's so expensive right now"

its 40 bucks more for a slightly faster card that uses a lot less power. that seems pretty reasonable to me. if all you care about is the immediate up front cost then go ahead and get the 290x as there is probably no chance the 970 will go down in price in the next few weeks.

 

[kawi6rr]

Nvidia does make great cards but I've read that Nvidia are having supply issues with the 970/980 so I doubt you'll see a price drop. The high prices are why I went with the 280x last year and I've had no issues with this card and its pretty fast too lol. The price of that 290x is cheaper then my 280x last year so I'm not sure how much it will really go down. I wouldn't be surprised if it sells out at that price and you wont be able to pick one up. I'm currently looking at that card or either a 290 prices are just way to good at the moment.

And heat was only a real issue on the reference cooler all the other suppliers have built in great coolers on the 290/290x so heat wont be an issue.

 

[toyota]

Nvidia does make great cards but I've read that Nvidia are having supply issues with the 970/980 so I doubt you'll see a price drop. The high prices are why I went with the 280x last year and I've had no issues with this card and its pretty fast too lol. The price of that 290x is cheaper then my 280x last year so I'm not sure how much it will really go down. I wouldn't be surprised if it sells out at that price and you wont be able to pick one up. I'm currently looking at that card or either a 290 prices are just way to good at the moment.

And heat was only a real issue on the reference cooler all the other suppliers have built in great coolers on the 290/290x so heat wont be an issue.

um no matter what cooler is used its still about the same actual heat that all 290x card will put out. and all of that heat will be dumped in the case on non reference.

 

[Techhog]

"But the point is moot because it's so expensive right now"

its 40 bucks more for a slightly faster card that uses a lot less power. that seems pretty reasonable to me. if all you care about is the immediate up front cost then go ahead and get the 290x as there is probably no chance the 970 will go down in price in the next few weeks.

The difference in power consumption costs will not add up to $40 over the life of the card. Heat is an important point; power consumption itself is just something to brag/complain about. Seriously, do the math and see how long it actually takes for the 290X to become more expensive, even when not counting the games.

 

[toyota]

The difference in power consumption costs will not add up to $40 over the life of the card. Heat is an important point; power consumption itself is just something to brag/complain about. Seriously, do the math and see how long it actually takes for the 290X to become more expensive, even when not counting the games.

I dont care about the actual cost but if someone is going to count every dollar then its part of the equation. I dont play enough for the costs to matter but I do hate the extra total heat output especially in summer. plus if possible I just like having the more efficient part that still gets the same job done.

and as i said if 40 bucks more is really a big deal then go for the 290x as there is no point in waiting.

 

[96Firebird]

Since you game at 1080p, and made no mention of wanting to go multi-card, the 970 sounds like the better card for you. It is about 8% faster than the 290X at 1080p, not enough to make a real difference but like you said, resale will probably be better on the 970 just because it is newer. Stock is low right now, but by the holidays it should rebound. I'm not sure if it will go on sale for $300 around the holidays though, can't guarantee anything. If $300 is your hard ceiling, you might as well go for the 290X.

What do you guys think is in store for the holidays? I haven't studied this market before. What has happened in the past?

Around Black Friday/Cyber Monday, there will be decent deals. Usually it is on the lower tiered brands (Zotac, PNY, Diamond), but some better models might go on sale as well.

 

[Dannar26]

and as i said if 40 bucks more

But it's not.

This deal is $290 after it's all said and done. Most 970's I've seen go for about 350. Price delta is $60...plus you don't know about the shipping of the 970 (admittedly a minor comcern)...aaand there aren't any games with it. 970 is spanked here for value.

My ASUS VG248QE plays better with nVidia due to some features it has. I couldn't care less about the 3-d. But is my monitor a G sync monitor? Now *that* might be a solid value add.

I am really sorry that I missed out on the $220 HiS 290 with games that went on sale a few days ago. I've wanted an R 290 for awhile, and they really have fallen in price. I hope that maybe a quieter one like the MSI model will go on sale...

 

[positivedoppler]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/15

65 watts difference comparing reference 970 to 290x. At 15 hours of gaming a week for an entire year at 15 cents oer kilo hour work out to be $7.60 a year if you game that much.

Remember the difference is even smaller for none referemce cooler 290x parts or none reference slightly oc 970 parts