Wanted to get the AMD fans feedback on the subject. To run the Linux/Windows setup I want to get going I'm going to need two GPU's, not to work in crossfire (but leave that option open for later). I was considering going with twin 390's (non X). The linux host doesn't need a lot of GPU but for the sake of simplicity and the good possibility of crossfire later on I would like to go with identical cards. The second card will be used for the windows virtual machine that will be running purely for gaming at 1440P.
So for 1440P the 390 should easily cut it for a good while correct? I don't see the value in the Fury (non X), and I think fury X's would be a little bit of a hassle to fit in a case along with an H100i GTX cooling the CPU?
Which 390 cards do you guys feel is the best and why? Don't just say brand X because I use it lol.....
The R9 290/290 is a good choice for 1440p. Look for a 290 as they can be had for much cheaper but they are essentially the same card except for the VRAM amount.
Generally Sapphire is the best on the AMD side. High quality well designed cards. ASUS is also a good choice although their 290s did run a little hotter than others.
The Fury is probably the best valued card AMD has right now IMO except for maybe the 390. It is nearly as fast as the Fury X for ~$100 less.
I believe the 390 cards will also be supported on the new amdgpu drivers on Linux. Though you don't seem to want to game on Linux and cards most are well supported.
I just upgraded from crossfire 280Xs to a 390 at the beginning of the month and I've been impressed with the performance so far actually. I haven't had to sacrifice any settings at 1440p in any of my games (except games like Star Citizen) and I play everything at high and/or max settings but with no AA (except for games like Skyrim where I run it at 3200x1800 with 4xSSAA (#whatarejaggies?), but sometimes it dips to 45 fps, need a freesync monitor...1st world problems).
I have the PowerColor 390 because its a good looking card IMO and has a pretty beast cooler, temps usually dont get over 60c with my custom fan profile, but fans are audible at highest fan speed (set to 65% max). Cant really go wrong with any brand, all of them have backplates except for the one from Sapphire (I was kinda surprised there), all of them should stay under 70c while gaming with a good fan profile and not be too loud.
The 980 Ti (it seems) will be more difficult to get to work in the pass through configuration, I want to make the setup as easy as I possibly can to setup. In of itself, it's not that popular and can be more difficult with Nvidia GPU's from what I have gathered so far.
I really don't want to dual boot. It's amazing on this old Acer laptop how much faster it is in all respects running Linux than it was on Windows 10 or even Windows 7 which was the OEM OS on it. Just such a vastly different experience in every single way (for the better)