Can't decide gtx 780 and r9 290x Future-proofing

Hardware Hub GPU
1

I know that this dilemma was mentioned few times and yes i have read them and no they didn't helped me. So i'll start with my rig:

  • CPU: Xeon E3 1230v3 (slightly OC)
  • RAM: 8GB HyperX Beast
  • PSU: CM G650M 650W (i checked and both will be able run with his psu)

In general My goal is to not touch my PC (new parts) for something like 5 years and play mostly everything maxed out on 1080p (1440p OGSSAA or native 1440p in future) so i would like to future-proof my PC. I was and maybe still are somewhat nvidia fanboy but now with mantle (and rumors that GTA V will use it) i'm looking more and more to the red side. The cards in details are:

  • EVGA GTX 780 FTW 03G-P4-3784-KR (or 03G-P4-3783-KR with slightly lower clocks)
  • Asus DCII R9 290X (personally I don't know any good manufacturer so asus was my "must be good")

I know that 290x is faster but for me the hair dryer loudness (and heat) is kinda killing it and gtx 780 at similar price is weaker. I'm eventually considering waiting some time while saving some money for GTX 780ti. So what do You guys think? I'm open for suggestions and criticism ofc.

2

No such thing as 'Future-proofing' Asus 290x is not the best 290x (infact thay mesed up a lot of them placeing the heatsink incorrectly)

The r9 290 none x is way cheaper than the 'x' vershon and isent realy slower (your looking at 1-3fps slower)

I'd look for a sapphire toxic/try-x/MSI lightning vershon of the R9 290 

3

R9 290x is far ahead of 780, go for 780ti if you want "future proofing". As far as noise with r9 290x, you need not worry about it with the non reference coolers.

4

MSI Ri 290x Lightning isn't worth it unless OP is getting into LN2 cooling, most of the premium comes from the over engineering for LN2. So unless it's being utilized, it's completely wasted. OP might as well just go for a 780ti.

5

The Sapphire Tri-X 290 is probably the best bang-for-buck AMD card out there, in the upper tier. The cooler is really effective, and quiet.

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290

6

Both cards are good. If you're gaming, you should invest in the cheaper, but equally powerful, R9 290 (non-x). Really good price/performance.

7

Thanks for such a quick response. I looked up some of the cards that was mentioned and i'm very interested in tri-x (it matches my color scheme). I'm thinking now only about that dam'n x. In my IT shop difference in price is bearable but is it worth for few FPS... I think not. Again thanks for advice :)

8

The best thing about the 290 Tri-X is how quiet it is, but also overclocks really well, too. Newegg has them for $390 right now and that's pretty decent.

9

I like the R9 290 for high end price/performance... the 290x is a little faster at stock but doesn't have the overclocking capabilities of a 780... you can overclock a high end 780 to 780 ti stock 1080p fps standards... the biggest misinformation I've seen is people saying a 290x murders a 780.... it's barely faster at stock... and a high end 780 with good cooling can overclock (which the 290x's have very little overclocking room) a good amount... I know my 780 Classified hit 780ti Kingpin stock standards on BF4, Bioshock, and Crysis... I dialed it back down after I hit a very stable 1300 overclock because I'm at 1080p and have no need for it and have to use vsync regardless with a 60hz monitor... but it was spitting out ~130 fps on BF4...

the 290's still have some overclocking room, are way cheaper, and have better scaling for 1440p than the 780s... but if it were between a 780 and a 290x, I'd get a high-end 780... 

10

I'd have to agree. Overclocked performance, at 1080p, the 780 does take the cake. Though, the R9s perform better at higher resolutions, as you stated.

11

At 2 times the price of a 290 it should be faster, but I'm poor and can't justify the difference in cost between them.

12

well the thread was 290x vs 780... was answering his question... 290 vs 780 price/performance.... 290 all the way... and yes the 780 is a good bit faster than a regular 290 (again, I was comparing a 290x to a high-end 780)...

all three are good cards... the 290 swamps a 770 at not much difference of price... but if you're looking for high end, I think the 780ti prices are ridiculous

13

First thing is that how big is your monitor resolution? If higher than 1080p go for R9 card. Otherwise Nvidia is very strong on 1080p. Second thing, which titles are you playing? Did you know that Cryengine is now using mantle and there are multiple games working with mantle coming soon for example Sniper elite 3, Dragon age, Star citizen. My only concern is the price. If I were you, I'd pick R9 290 card, not an R9 290x or GTX 780. My choice would be http://www.jimms.fi/tuote/GV-R929OC-4GD-BUNDLE or http://www.jimms.fi/tuote/R9-290-GAMING-4G-BUNDLE since XFX has so crappy bios on their cards. I own two XFX 7970DD cards and I flashed both for Gigabyte bios.