I dont tend to look at benchmarks like that, raw game benchmarks are always better :) imo
The 290x and 970 practically perform the same at 1440. Get either. That said I wouldn't pay 100 more for the 8gb card.
I'm pretty sure that first link you have is nothing but lies, how does a a 780 Ti beat a both a titan black (which is the same exact card with better screening and more Vram) a titan-z, and a R9 295x. Nevermind, ignoring that nonsense synthetic; you are absolutely correct that the 970 beats a stock 290x. I am talking specifically about custom cooled cards when speaking about the 290x otherwise overheating, loud noises, and throttling is all that awaits you. The 970 also gets strong gains from overclocking which actually will grant higher in game settings.
The R9 290x needs only good cooling to achieve the same or better results as a 970 at a discounted price. If you overclock your 290x you will be sitting 5-10% better then a 970 and 15-20% worse then a 980. Again, in the real world AMD has better crossfire tech, scales better with higher resolutions, and has a much higher memory bandwidth. This amounts to higher performance in current games (likely future games as well) then the better designed better built 970s
think of it like a race between a muscle car and a lotus, only in this case the muscle car is winning.
so for 2k (1440p) is the 290x better? and what edition would you get? with a budget of £350
Yeah you're probably right about the 290x beating the 970 with aftermarket cooler. But from my point of view you can't get a 290x from Sapphire, EVGA or ASUS for the same price as the 970 when he wants the 8GB model.
You can't compare a muscle car with tuning to lotus not counting the cost for the tuning. :-)
At the end of the day it is all about personal preference. You will win with both cards, the difference is not that huge. If you like raw power go with the 290x, if you care more about software take the Nvidia train.
This should answer most of your questions however, I would probely go for the 970 as the software imo and it uses a lot less power so you need to get a new PSU to add on a new one.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgZ7w7i19Do
Okay, so im going with the 970, but should I pay an extra £5 for a Strix over a G1? Linus says it performs similar to 980 stock, and I cant be arsed overclocking just yet, and of course, two later on.
Both the strix and the G1 are relly good coolers and when you get to the point you can overclock them like crazy, really i'd say it comes down to personal preferance, what you like the most. Just keep in mind that the G1 is very large, and the strix is a bit smaller.
I'm more than likely gonna get a G1 970 within the next month or so.
I think ill get a 970 g1, its cheaper and faster than the strix, and also it will easily fit in the fractal, as I plan on rear mounting SSDs and stuff so I can take the cage out