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GTX 770 vs 280x

Smoogels

Smoogels

Smoogels

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27 Oct 2007
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2,147
I know this is probably been asked many times but I'm still confuzzled what would be the better choice.

The 770 I was looking at currently comes in a bit cheaper than a 280X however, I'm worried that if I get the 770 that Mantle will be great and make me regret my purchase.

Here are the two I was looking at:
YOUR BASKET
1 x MSI Radeon R9 280X Gaming Edition OC 3072MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card with BattleField 4 PC Game Included £259.99
1 x MSI Geforce GTX 770 Gaming Edition 2048MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £239.99
Total : £499.98 (includes shipping : FREE).



The 770 has 3 free games whereas the 280X has Battlefield 4 (which I already have). I guess I'm more likely to sell the games to help get some money back after I buy it.

Is the 280X worth paying more for in hopes that Mantle will be any good? I do plan to (try) and keep the GPU for 2-3 years before upgrading. I play games at 1920x1080 at the moment so I'm not sure if the 3GB RAM will be that beneficial to me at the moment?

My specs:
8350 @4.4GHz
8GB RAM
Asus sabertooth 990fx r2.0
650W OCZ PSU

Thanks! :)
 
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The 280X is faster than the 770 even without Mantle. Plus the memory specs are superior, both capacity and bandwidth.

The 280X is overpriced at the moment though, apparently the supply is short right now. Gibbo wouldn't knock a penny off this week.
 
teppic said:
The 280X is faster than the 770 even without Mantle. Plus the memory specs are superior, both capacity and bandwidth.

The 280X is overpriced at the moment though, apparently the supply is short right now. Gibbo wouldn't knock a penny off this week.
Click to expand...

i keep hearing that, but it really differs game by game. i think overall 280x is faster but i wouldnt say it's the better card.

ive had a 7970 (which is essentially a 280x) and frankly i wouldnt be happy buying that card today.

i personally would say if you stretch your budget a bit and get a 290, it will be much better in the long run at least.

but if you're on a tight budget, i would recommend this:
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-115-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1750

with the silicon lottery, i would buy a card with a high clock at stock instead of relying on overclocking

but i would hurry up as the free games promoting will end any day now

EDIT: i wouldnt be too worried about mantle. firstly, it will take a few dev cycles before it will be properly utilized. which means it wont be used properly for at least year and a half or two. secondly, developers will make sure their games run on all the available hardware, specially since steam boxes are going to be nvidia based, at least around launch and with the tiny hardcore pc gaming market, i dont think devs would undermine at least 50% of their customer base.
i would not make a decision based on mantle, the same way i would not make a decision based on physx or nvidias new lighting engine.

these things will improve the experience, but are not essential and will not be on everygame

on the memory front. at 1080p, you wont be needing the extra bandwith or capacity. 2GB at 256 bit is more than enough. if anything, 770 has the memory running at 7ghz out of the box so you will gain more from it.
 
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Thanks for your posts :)

I have noticed a big shortage for the 280X - looking at many retailers some are constantly out of stock or not even listed. The ones I am interested in at overclockers also seem to loose stock quickly. Getting a 290 is sadly a no go since I can't bring myself to spend £300 on a graphics card :p

From what I can gather the 770 and 280X perform pretty much identical but with a few games weighing in to either benefit. I keep thinking to myself "you can't go wrong with either" but Mantle could very well be a big game changer which would make me regret getting a 770. If I decided to get the 280X I would have to pay a little more, wait a few weeks/months for stock of the brand I want and have to put up with slightly buggy launch drivers for a while. If I got the 770 I'd have less VRAM and no Mantle :(
 
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Smoogels said:
Thanks for your posts :)

I have noticed a big shortage for the 280X - looking at many retailers some are constantly out of stock or not even listed. The ones I am interested in at overclockers also seem to loose stock quickly. Getting a 290 is sadly a no go since I can't bring myself to spend £300 on a graphics card :p

From what I can gather the 770 and 280X perform pretty much identical but with a few games weighing in to either benefit. I keep thinking to myself "you can't go wrong with either" but Mantle could very well be a big game changer which would make me regret getting a 770. If I decided to get the 280X I would have to pay a little more, wait a few weeks/months for stock of the brand I want and have to put up with slightly buggy launch drivers for a while. If I got the 770 I'd have less VRAM and no Mantle :(
Click to expand...


As the 280x is a 7970 with a few bells .. the drivers are not an issues. Depending how long you plan to keep the card would be a big factor in how much the VRAM effects you.
 
i would say, with respect, not getting a 290 for an extra ~£40-50 is a bit daft. if you are planning to keep the card for 2-3 years, you need to keep in mind that the 280x (7970) is already 3 years old.

£300 is a steal imo. and £40 difference is not even worth thinking about. it's the price of a game. trust me, you will be kicking yourself when battlefield 5 comes out and the 280x/770 are struggling to run it properly, while they be flying on the 290 :D
 
I have a 6970 as well as a Titan and the titan just works, were as the 6970 needs things doing to get going. Nvidia for 'out of the box'. AMD for 'great but needs some user input'
 
I would go for the 280x, good deal and performance there. (not saying the 770 is bad, that itself is still a brilliant card.

####### not related to your thread but I quite like your PC setup, very nice system! will definitely perform brilliantly in any/most game maxed at 1920x1080 =]
 
FYI. i just bought myself a 770 Superclock for £260. i went through numerous reviews and benchmarks and the performance difference vs 280x does not justify going for an AMD card and put up with the high power draw and get a very hot card at the same time
 
mjenabi2 said:
FYI. i just bought myself a 770 Superclock for £260. i went through numerous reviews and benchmarks and the performance difference vs 280x does not justify going for an AMD card and put up with the high power draw and get a very hot card at the same time
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+1 above

only go for a 290 when they get the non reference coolers
 
mjenabi2 said:
FYI. i just bought myself a 770 Superclock for £260. i went through numerous reviews and benchmarks and the performance difference vs 280x does not justify going for an AMD card and put up with the high power draw and get a very hot card at the same time
Click to expand...

Also consider the amount of Vram as well today l would not buy a new GPU unless it had 3GB its just that more future proof.

You go on about power usage and heat, if your that concerned why overclock your PC in the 1st place?
 
OLDPHART said:
Also consider the amount of Vram as well today l would not buy a new GPU unless it had 3GB its just that more future proof.

You go on about power usage and heat, if your that concerned why overclock your PC in the 1st place?
Click to expand...

well i have been reading a lot of reviews and at 1080p very few games use more than 1-1.5 gb of memory and the ones that do will not be able to run at max settings on a 770 or a 280x for that matter.

and regarding the heat, i have owned a 7970 (matrix plat) and though mine was factory oced, it ran very very hot. the 770 very rarely goes above 70c but i hit 85c with my 7970 on a regular basis.

280x is faster in some games and 770 in others, but there is not a huge difference between the two, so really it's down to nvidia vs amd and how you feel about each brand.
 
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