Ok, my current system is this http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2D9Sn but now I am ready for a new graphics card as my current card is a Sapphire Radeon HD6670. I was thinking about a EVGA 780 or the 780ti. I only play on a 1080p monitor. I don't know if I should get a 2GB or 4GB version. The main game that I play right now is Rome 2: Total War and I will be playing TitanFall when it comes out. Thanks in advance.
If you could afford i would look at a GTX780 or R9-290 non reference. Both great cards, the 290 is a littlebit better, but also cost a littlebit more. But offcourse its a bit overkill for 1080p. single monitor gaming, a R9-280X or GTX770 would also be fine for that, but if you could afford a GTX780 or R9-290 i would go for that.
GTX780 ti or 290X are not worth theire price point in my opinnion.
Which card should I get?
EVGA SuperClocked 03G-P4-2783-KR GeForce GTX 780 3GB 384-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 SLI Support Video Card
or
GIGABYTE GV-R929WF3-4GD Radeon R9 290 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5 PCI Express 3.0 HDCP Ready Video Card
or something else.
Both cards are great its a bit depending on which games you play, some prefer nvidia other do better on AMD its how its designed. But just look at the price point of both cards, if they cost nearly the same, then i think that i would go for the 290 windforce. because in most gaming benchmarks that ive seen online, the R9-290 beats the GTX780, but the performance diffrence is not big.
so the price point would be the decider. Just grab the one that is the cheapest.
p.s the GTX780 you looking at is a reference card, i would advice to look for a ACX cooled version
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130918
I have been with AMD cards from hd 2900x til hd 7970ghz and it was great experience but after all these years i have to say that they run hotter than nvidia cards except the gtx 480 if I remember correctly.
If you don't mind the heat/noise and the budget is tight then AMD is your pill, but if you have the money I think nvidia will be the better choice.
Performance is the same, they trade blows by about 1-3fps so it is up to you what suits you better.
Have fun with the new GPU.
In all honesty both cards are complete overkill for Single monitor 1080 gaming.
I'd strongly recommend grabbing a 770 or 280x instead and using the savings for a second monitor. In my opinion adding an extra monitor is something that enhances your entire experience on the computer. Not only can you game in 1080p at max, but you can also stream and keep heat and frequency monitors, twitch chat, and any other combination of windows and programs on your 2nd screen while you have your game fullscreen on your main.
You can also do things like play in 1080p borderless windowed mode so you can alt tab between windows without having to minimize your game.
I'd never go back to single-monitor myself, I'd rather run at medium settings than have to alt-tab and try to resize windows so I can fit them all on one monitor.
What do you mean by a reference card? I have seen that term used many times in this forum but I do not understand what it means.
I do not have the room for a second monitor. I am not sure if I could even handle that as I am used to using one monitor. I just want to play my games completely maxed out on the settings and being able to do that for a while.
Nonsense... the only thing overkill about buying a card that's "overkill" is how many years it will provide Ultra settings at playable frame rates... look at your budget... get the best card you can...
I own the EVGA GTX 780 Classified and it runs everything on ultra at higher frame rates than my monitor can process... If you can afford it (it's a bit pricier than a normal 780) it will be a plug and play card that will last a LONG time at 1080p... it spits out 100+ FPS on Battlefield 4 Ultra (I do have it overclocked a bit)... but it's an absolute beast, and can run 1440p with ease as well should you choose to upgrade down the line...
Most games you have to dial it back so it doesn't stutter... so 6-8 years down the line you'll still be playing on ultra but it might be pushing out all it can...
the GTX 770 (don't bother with the 4GB model unless you plan to SLI) is a good card, as is the R9 280x (albeit inflated pricing due to mining if you're in the US)
Buy the best card you can afford... it's a big purchase... the better you buy, the longer it'll last...
If there is any chance that you will upgrade your monitor before you get your next computer, I would say buy the best card in your budget. You may end up with a 1440 or 1600 or better monitor in the future and, at that point, a 780 vs a 770 or a 290 vs a 280x would be noticeable.
As to your question about reference vs non-reference, it refers to the type of cooling solution (among other things) that a given graphics card uses. Nvidia and AMD design a graphics card around a graphics chip and release that to the card manufacturers. This is called the reference design. Reference cards have the single impeller style fan that draws air into the cooler and expels it out of the back of the card. Non-reference cards are any card that does something different from the reference design. The card manufacturers decide what they want from their custom solution and build to match that goal. Sometimes they use the reference PCB (the actual component card that the cooler is attached to) and add their own cooler. Sometimes they change the entire PCB and change the power delivery, components, cooler, and other features in order to get better performance. Here is a video from Newegg that demonstrates it with a 660Ti
www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sIc3l8koWM
Thank you, this is great information.
Whats the difference between this card
and this card
You're welcome! In general, you get better performance and lower GPU temperatures from a non-reference design. The biggest component in the debate between reference and non-reference is that the reference design removes heat from the system, while the non-reference designs remove more heat from the GPU, but they don't expel that heat from the case. As long as you have good airflow throughout your case, you're only going to see an internal case temperature difference of a few degrees, which isn't too big of a big deal.
The only difference between these two are the base and boost clocks. The FTW is slightly faster with a base clock of 980 MHz and a boost clock of 1033 MHz, and the standard ACX card has a base clock of 967 MHz and boost clock of 1020 MHz. In other words, barely noticeable. If you want one of these two, I would say buy the cheaper one.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127774
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130918
2 nice cards. With the Msi R9-290 you get a free BF4 coupon. choice is up to you ☺