Clash of the Titan's GTX 780ti VS 290X.

Jeps · 7 Nov 2013 at 15:52

Marine-RX179 said:
The high memory bandwidth has already allowed the 290x to trade blows with the GTX780Ti, as if you actually look at the more recent demanding games, they are mostly equal.

The reason why the overall performance of the 780Ti being reported to be quite a margin faster than the 290x is purely because of the bench suites that most reviewers use make up of around 80% of games that are dated, and benefit far more on the raw grunt of the GPU, than the higher memory bandwidth.

Doesn't the 780Ti have more memory bandwidth then the 290x due to the faster vram speed though?

Boomstick777 · 7 Nov 2013 at 15:56

MjFrosty said:
I sold the 290X not long after I bought it. Tested the water against the Titan and decided against it. It's a great card non the less.

Sorry, I meant I'll be testing the Ti against the Titan, not the 290x

Ah ok, did you not really rate the 290X then? This isn't helping my indecisiveness

Marine-RX179 · 7 Nov 2013 at 15:57

Jeps said:
Doesn't the 780Ti have more memory bandwidth then the 290x due to the faster vram speed though?

On stock yes...it has a small 16GB/s lead due to the 290s having a very low memory clock on stock, but if comparing overclock vs overclock, the 780Ti won't be able to catch the memory bandwidth on the 290s, due to the 384-bit vs 512-bit bus size.

Boomstick777 · 7 Nov 2013 at 15:58

*Double Post*

Silent_Scone · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:01

Boomstick777 said:
Ah ok, did you not really rate the 290X then? This isn't helping my indecisiveness

Oh it's got awesome performance and potential, but there wasn't any real reason for me to jump ship to AMD over my three Titans. I'm not even that sure if I'll keep the 780Tis yet

I'm pretty sure my opinion will still stand though. If the 780Ti is quicker than the 290X in most scenarios, unless money is tight I wouldn't really recommend the 290X over it. Under water and 1.4V through it would easily edge it but I find it difficult to recommend it over the Ti on that basis.

oldestgregg · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:02

dmferrett said:
Well in my mind if a 300 quid non reference 290 will overclock and best or draw even with a 780ti thats a pretty comprehesive shafting IMO.

Again today the 780ti is apparently the fastest single card and if it was the same price or even slightly more expensive because of the quality build and cooling subsystem compared to a 290x then yes i'd buy one. But only if I didnt have my 2 year old cards (2x7950's that are still much more powerful collectively with each singularly making only 5fps less than a gtx780 when oc'd in bf3 bf4)

And 2 cheaper cards have always been faster and price/performance goes out the window the higher up you get. I know 2 7950s were faster than one of my 780s because I had 2 before I sold them for 2 7970s. The rule I go by is to buy 2 top end cards for sli/crossfire then you wont be limited should games not be optimised for multi-card setups or simply not support it. The drop to one card then means games are playable with higher settings. Its just the way I prefer it I suppose

Boomstick777 · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:03

melmac said:
Am I reading this right? You have a 780 already?

Why would you want to change to either the 290x or the 780ti?

The performance difference between all these cards isn't all that much.

My vote is to keep what you have.

I'm a sucker for wanting the latest and greatest, I'm not going to bother with separate dual cards so it doesn't cost that much really for the top single GPU. I'll re-coup some of the money for my current card or give to family member, so not losing any value really. If you sell soon enough you can re-coup most of the value, leave it to long and hardware loses it's value even more. Tbh however you do it at some point upgrading will cost ya, either incrementally or a whole lot every few years.. I do build systems to, and often will use parts I've used into builds.. At least this way I get to play with the latest tech.. Will upgrade my CPU / Mobo as soon as something better comes along as well..

Krait · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:03

One thing to take into consideration is to wait and see how the non-reference 290x's measure up - or just put an Accelero on (£50.00) yourself and get the same results.

Oh and I'm very happy with mine (now it's silent and cool!)

Silent_Scone · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:04

Boomstick777 said:
Ah ok, did you not really rate the 290X then? This isn't helping my indecisiveness

Oh it's got awesome performance and potential, but there wasn't any real reason for me to jump ship to AMD over my three Titans. I'm not even that sure if I'll keep the 780Tis yet

I'm pretty sure my opinion will still stand though. If the 780Ti is quicker than the 290X in most scenarios, unless money is tight I wouldn't really recommend the 290X over it.

Under water and 1.4V through it might be a different story, but I find it difficult to recommend it over the Ti on that basis.

Boomstick777 · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:06

MjFrosty said:
Oh it's got awesome performance and potential, but there wasn't any real reason for me to jump ship to AMD over my three Titans. I'm not even that sure if I'll keep the 780Tis yet

I'm pretty sure my opinion will still stand though. If the 780Ti is quicker than the 290X in most scenarios, unless money is tight I wouldn't really recommend the 290X over it. Under water and 1.4V through it would easily edge it but I find it difficult to recommend it over the Ti on that basis.

Hmm, this hasn't helped lol

I'm waiting on payday anyway, maybe by then non ref 290X's will have arrived.. i guess it doesn't matter until I can actually buy one anyway lol. If 6GB GTX 780ti's are out by then, it'll make decision even harder

melmac · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:09

Boomstick777 said:
I'm a sucker for wanting the latest and greatest, I'm not going to bother with separate dual cards so it doesn't cost that much really for the top single GPU. I'll re-coup some of the money for my current card or give to family member, so not losing any value really. If you sell soon enough you can re-coup most of the value, leave it to long and hardware loses it's value even more. Tbh however you do it at some point upgrading will cost ya, either incrementally or a whole lot every few years.. I do build systems to, and often will use parts I've used into builds.. At least this way I get to play with the latest tech.. Will upgrade my CPU / Mobo as soon as something better comes along as well..

Well, then, if I was you, I would get the 290 or 290x. You already know exactly what a 780Ti is like, it's just a 780 with a little bit of a performance boost. There is nothing really new about it.

However the 290/290x are different and might be worth playing with.

But, either way I would wait until after the AMD developers summit to hear exactly what mantle is all about.

Silent_Scone · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:11

I will say there is some truth in that, the 290X is a great tinker toy

Marine-RX179 · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:16

Boomstick777 said:
Hmm, this hasn't helped lol

I'm waiting on payday anyway, maybe by then non ref 290X's will have arrived.. i guess it doesn't matter until I can actually buy one anyway lol. If 6GB GTX 780ti's are out by then, it'll make decision even harder

But the thing is...6GB 780Ti isn't really gonna make any difference over the 3GB 780Ti, unless you are gaming on 4K res (even then it might not make a difference). One difference you would definitely notice, is probably the extra £100 on the price tag over the 3GB version

I guess the sensible thing to weight current performance vs future potential. Now I'm not saying Mantle will definitely live up to the hype, but one thing for sure is if the £300 290 somehow end up being faster than my £550 GTX780Ti (suppose that I own one) in (at least) EA titles, I know I would be gutted and cursing myself for being so short-sighted. Also, not to mention driver performance wise, the 290s are still in its infancy, with much room to grow.

Krisali · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:17

780TI all the way. If you're looking for value and would like to keep your house warm you could go CF 290 as others have suggested

Boomstick777 · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:18

melmac said:
Well, then, if I was you, I would get the 290 or 290x. You already know exactly what a 780Ti is like, it's just a 780 with a little bit of a performance boost. There is nothing really new about it.

However the 290/290x are different and might be worth playing with.

But, either way I would wait until after the AMD developers summit to hear exactly what mantle is all about.

MjFrosty said:
I will say there is some truth in that, the 290X is a great tinker toy

Cheers guys, yeah I think I'll mess with a 290X until 20nm, then we'll all be getting new cards again then anyway lol. Hopefully by the time I get paid non ref 290X's will be out.

melmac · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:19

OF course if your philosophy is that you want the highest performance no matter what, then you get the 290x, watercool it and overclock it to the max.

teppic · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:20

The 780 ti is purely about extra performance over the 780. It's released to take the lead spot from AMD. The 290/290x is the more interesting card, given the higher memory specs, TrueAudio, and Mantle upcoming. Plus lots of game studios now working with AMD.

Given the 780 ti is barely faster than a 290x I don't think personally the performance edge is worth it, especially given what may come with Mantle. Review sites are often reviewing the reference coolers rather than the GPU - all the stuff about noise and being 'solidly built' apply to pretty much the cheapest part of the card.

ICDP · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:41

I have to say the 780Ti is actually slower than I anticipated, but it is undoubtedly a great card. More efficient than R9 290X but ultimately less than ~10% faster while being £140 more expensive. If you game on 2560x1600 or lower the 780Ti is the fastest card available.

I know people pay for a performance premium but when that premium does not = higher settings in games it's kinda pointless. Of course R9 290X has that awful cooler and AMD partners have so far showed no signs of releasing custom cooled versions any time soon. So if you are the impatient type and money is no object the 780Ti is the top dog. Well unless Mantle kicks that dog in the cojones.

It looks like the true king is going to be custom cooled versions of R9 290 at ~£330.

teppic · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:48

ICDP said:
It looks like the true king is going to be custom cooled versions of R9 290 at ~£330.

Yeah. Once the 290s get custom coolers I may well go Crossfire with them. All the benefits of the 290x and overall performance that nothing can even get close to for anything around the cost, and the memory to take advantage of the GPU grunt. TrueAudio sounds interesting too.

Tonester0011 · 7 Nov 2013 at 16:48

I'm confused Boom. Doesn't your rig currently play all games maxed out @60fps anyway? What's the point in upgrading, you buy based on value for money (cba to find a quote from you) spending money on a new card that will also play all games maxed out @60fps seems like a waste of money. Whatever though