With the recent price hikes of the 290x cards

I was about to purchase all the parts for my build yesterday, when I saw the price for the 290x card I was purchasing increased from $650 to $800 dollars. Is it even worth it to go with a 290x anymore? What would some better alternatives be? 280ti? 280? Reference or non-reference?

Help is appreciated.

780 (non-TI) would be my recommendation. Or you could get the 290 (non-x) for more than the 780 and stay firmly in the AMD camp - if that matters at all.

http://youtu.be/m1JOhT015ww?t=8m31s

i would say it is not worth it

either a non ref 780 or non ref 780ti would be the way to go.

I wanted to thank you I had asked the same question earlier and it really helped me out, so im proud to say im the new owner of a 780 (i ordered it tonight) you saved me $100 so thanks!!

Yeah, right now it's looking like anything about $250 USD or more is nVidia land. I'm still finding HD7870 cards going for $200, and at this point in time they should be quite a bit less. If anything the HD7950 cards should be about $200. Heck, even cards like my HD6950 are going for $180 used on Ebay. I bought it new just over a year ago for that much.

So if I were to go for a 780, would the Gigabyte version be a good choice, or is there another card that would be preferred?

Good stuff. You'll enjoy it, as I enjoy my 780. Great performing card that is often overlooked by later releases. But it is every bit as good.

You can choose the cheapest one, and you will not be disappointed. However, I find other vendors preferable to Gigabyte. If you want to build a quiet rig, the Gigabyte is definitely worth considering. EVGA have really good customer service, so you might give them strong consideration. ASUS are good, too.