The old 780 ti vs R9 290x question

LeakingLava

Hey guys. You might know about the question yourself so here's me asking for opinions regarding a coming upgrade. I currently have a 7850 that I will definitely be getting rid of. So the famous question comes, 780 ti or R9 290x?

A good point I've seen around google regarding 780 ti is that it's quiet. But I'm wondering, I currently have an ASUS DC2 7850, and I will most likely be getting an ASUS DC2 card(absolutely love my card, no problems whatsoever with it, but it is noisy), doesn't that mean that I have pretty much the same cooling system meaning same noise levels? My 7850 is pretty noisy at times so this 'quiet' point is a big thing for me.

Obviously, the R9 290x' major positive point is that it's cheaper.

I 'kinda' don't mind the price if the 780 ti is actually a better performer compared to the r9 290x.

If it matters:

RIG:
ASUS Z97-PRO(Wi-Fi ac)

8GB Crucial Ballistix Sport Series DDR3-1600 CL9

Be Quiet! System Power 7 700W


I run 3 monitors which are at 1920x1080 each. I am planning on upgrading them soon. Not too sure to what though. Could be 120Hz monitors or higher resolution or both. Monitor upgrade will be happening next year maybe Q2.

I bought the 700W power supply in the thinking that I was going to CrossFire my 7850 but reading up about CF discouraged me about it so I will definitely be staying single-card.

Purpose of rig is for gaming with 3 monitors.

Any suggestions are welcome. Maybe even regarding my whole rid. Thanks a lot for your time guys

Genghiz Cohen

For what it's worth, I think the Tri-X cooler is better.

frozenfrozen

What about a 980?

BloodBath

Neither, get a gtx 970. The gigabyte G1 gaming being the top one to get.

LeakingLava

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

For what it's worth, I think the Tri-X cooler is better.

I would agree. But I haven't seen/tested one so I don't really know if I should move away from my comfort zone. I wouldn't mind trying it out though I guess.

frozenfrozen wrote: »

What about a 980?

I little too far out of my budget, unfortunately. Thanks for the suggestion though.

BloodBath wrote: »

Neither, get a gtx 970. The gigabyte G1 gaming being the top one to get.

I thought that people should avoid gigabyte? I can probably get a GTX970. How is it compared to a 780 ti? I've read somewhere that they're pretty much the same and sometimes 780 ti is better. Is this true?

BloodBath

The 970 is better than the 780ti, hands down.

Especially the Gigabyte G1 which is overclocked and still has good headroom for even higher overclocks. People have been hitting 1500mhz on them which pushes it's performance ahead of even a stock 980.

Not sure where you have heard bad things about gigabyte, they have been one of the best in the market for a long time.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-970-g1-gaming-review,26.html

LeakingLava

BloodBath wrote: »

The 970 is better than the 780ti, hands down.

Especially the Gigabyte G1 which is overclocked and still has good headroom for even higher overclocks. People have been hitting 1500mhz on them which pushes it's performance ahead of even a stock 980.

Not sure where you have heard bad things about gigabyte, they have been one of the best in the market for a long time.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles-pages/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-970-g1-gaming-review,26.html

Cool. So this is currently my first choice unless someone else persuades me to get a different card

TerrorFirmer

Even though it consumes more power, I've seen R9 290 Tri-X's go for ridiculous money - I think 280 or 290 at the moment on Amazon.

They also have R9 290 Direct CUII for €265 brand new delivered at the moment, so I don't think it's as clear cut as saying that the 970 is hands down the one to go for - the G1 in particular is about €100 more than that.

TerrorFirmer

Also the R9 290 Vapor-X is €310 delivered on Amazon at the moment, that's actually faster than the R9 290X and 780Ti, so it would be close if not on par with that G1 for a good chunk less money. Does use more power of course...

BloodBath

It's not going to be on par since you can't overclock it at all with it's temps but the prices on some of them are definitely very good and it won't be far behind in performance.

For the silence and overclocking potential of the 970 though it's worth the extra imo.

-Edit- Saying that you can't really argue with prices like this. €258 with geizhals discount. Silly cheap for a high end card.

http://www.hardwareversand.de/4096+MB/150717/PowerColor+Radeon+R9+290+TurboDuo+OC+mit+MANTLE+und+Gaming+Evolved+Client%2C+4GB+GDDR5%2C+2x+DVI%2C+HDMI%2CDisplayPort.article?pvid=4pqledwdw_i1t7clc0&ref=13

LeakingLava

TerrorFirmer wrote: »

Even though it consumes more power, I've seen R9 290 Tri-X's go for ridiculous money - I think 280 or 290 at the moment on Amazon.

They also have R9 290 Direct CUII for €265 brand new delivered at the moment, so I don't think it's as clear cut as saying that the 970 is hands down the one to go for - the G1 in particular is about €100 more than that.

Also the R9 290 Vapor-X is €310 delivered on Amazon at the moment, that's actually faster than the R9 290X and 780Ti, so it would be close if not on par with that G1 for a good chunk less money. Does use more power of course...

BloodBath wrote: »

It's not going to be on par since you can't overclock it at all with it's temps but the prices on some of them are definitely very good and it won't be far behind in performance.

For the silence and overclocking potential of the 970 though it's worth the extra imo.

BloodBath kind of answers my query exact to the point. As I've said, if it's worth it, I really wouldn't mind paying extra. If there is that much difference in noise between the 970 and any of the AMD cards for you to say that it's worth it, I would really lean over to the 970, regardless of the cost.

Another good point for the 970 is the temperature. When I was gaming during the summer, while gaming, my room was the warmest part of the house when it was actually the only room that didn't get sunlight. I hated it. This is a big selling point for me.

The less power consumption of the 970 is pretty much just a bonus for me :P

Thanks a lot for both of you guys' suggestions. I will still be reading a lot regarding these few cards that came up in this thread to find out more so keep suggestions coming. Maybe even links to the best prices on the internet. I obviously can't check everything single site so I could miss the best price possible Thanks a lot yet again.

BloodBath

Well terror does have a point as well. I didn't realise the 290's had been discounted so heavily. They are extremely good value now and I'll definitely consider recommending them more in future.

The 970 G1 gaming card has crept up in price as well since launch as they are selling like hot cakes so the price gap is even bigger now.

LeakingLava

BloodBath wrote: »

Well terror does have a point as well. I didn't realise the 290's had been discounted so heavily. They are extremely good value now and I'll definitely consider recommending them more in future.

The 970 G1 gaming card has crept up in price as well since launch as they are selling like hot cakes so the price gap is even bigger now.

Yeah that G1 970 is out of stock in hardwareversand currently as well.

Again, I don't mind paying more if the overall rating of the card is worth it. Wouldn't mind waiting for the G1 either if it is worth the wait .

.G.

What sort of power and heat difference are we talking about between a 970 and that 290 you linked to Bloodbath?

BloodBath

About 220-240w on the 290 and 160-180w or so on the 970 depending on models and speeds.

Temps vary as well. The 290 linked above goes to around 70c on open test bench. It will probably be a bit higher inside a case. Maybe 80c.

The 970's with good coolers and a moderate factory overclock are usually around 60c.

.G.

Cheers, I have a 1GB 5870 I'm thinking of upgrading soon but there's a myriad of options out there. I was set on a max budget of €200 but for an extra 50 odd that 290 is tempting. I'm on a 1080p monitor and am not overly arsed with max settings on stuff although I'd like to future proof as much as possible.

vibe666

Genghiz Cohen wrote: »

For what it's worth, I think the Tri-X cooler is better.

me too, i have a pair of the Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC's and they're ridiculously quiet considering the heat and power in the cards.

ZeroThreat

vibe666 wrote: »

me too, i have a pair of the Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC's and they're ridiculously quiet considering the heat and power in the cards.

does tri-x mean its a 290 or 290x ?

vibe666

Tri-X is just the name of the aftermarket cooler on it (afaik), they do them on both the 290 and 290X cards and several others for both AMD and nVidia too I believe.

3 big fans, lots of heatpipes and fins everywhere, but it definitely does the job.

ZeroThreat

From cost & power consumption point of view, I'd personally chose the 970 over either the r9 290/290x or 780ti.

LeakingLava

ZeroThreat wrote: »

From cost & power consumption point of view, I'd personally chose the 970 over either the r9 290/290x or 780ti.

Any comments regarding which 970 to pick? I'm most likely going to buy through geizhals.de > HWVS and availability for the Gaming G1 ain't looking good.

ZeroThreat

LeakingLava wrote: »

Any comments regarding which 970 to pick? I'm most likely going to buy through geizhals.de > HWVS and availability for the Gaming G1 ain't looking good.

HWVS seems to be saying it's in stock right now...

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/4096+MB/179598/Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+970+G1+Gaming%2C+4GB+GDDR5.article

LeakingLava

ZeroThreat wrote: »

HWVS seems to be saying it's in stock right now...

http://www.hardwareversand.de/en/4096+MB/179598/Gigabyte+GeForce+GTX+970+G1+Gaming%2C+4GB+GDDR5.article

Oh WOW! I was looking at this during the start of this thread and it said 7 days or something. Cool. I'm set then. Thanks a lot.