HD 290 Crossfire or GTX 780 SLI for 1440p?

almighty15 · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:00

Already got a GTX 780 and I'm picking up a 2560x1440 monitor tomorrow so wondering if I should pick up another 780 for £400 or get rid of my existing one and get a couple of cheaper 290's??

I just want as much performance as possible without spending over £400 per GPU.

zuludawn · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:21

I don't get your logic, get another 780 for sli, why sell a 780 make a loss, then spend £xxx on 290's xfire. Sli 780's will be fine at 2560 simples.

If you want reassurance look here loads of 290's lol

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25214820&postcount=1742

Its not at 2560 but gives a good indication.

Bayk · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:32

i agree with Zuludawn seems silly selling one then buying another set of GPU costing you more in the process

thefogo · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:34

Just get another 780. 290 and 780 are pretty even.

maddness · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:38

I know the feeling, do you really want to get another 'old tech' 780 ... and then regret it

just get 2 x 290s and feel better already

... so how much you selling the 780 for?

get another 780 obviously

almighty15 · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:38

From reading posts on here of overclocked 290's they're not even with a 780 as the R290 pulls quite a big advantage when clocked.

I bought my 780 when it was cheap, same card is now £40 more expensive and its only a few weeks old do I won't loose too much on it.

Remember I want as much performance as possible.

maddness · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:39

someone is selling a 780 in the mm for £300

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18563171

Bayk · 13 Dec 2013 at 22:40

if your going for the 290s wait for non reference if you want performance they should help a lot

zuludawn · 13 Dec 2013 at 23:00

almighty15 said:
From reading posts on here of overclocked 290's they're not even with a 780 as the R290 pulls quite a big advantage when clocked.

Like you think its massive, or the majority of people went for 780's cause they are so slow, they also overclock quite well. You best take another look here.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25214820&postcount=1742

Looks like there are a lot of shy 290 xfire owners out there.

Just remember most games you will have 100fps plus sli or xfire, so it aint going to make any difference what so ever. Again 780 will be your cheapest and best bet.

almighty15 · 13 Dec 2013 at 23:23

zuludawn said:
Like you think its massive, or the majority of people went for 780's cause they are so slow, they also overclock quite well. You best take another look here.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showpost.php?p=25214820&postcount=1742

Looks like there are a lot of shy 290 xfire owners out there.

Just remember most games you will have 100fps plus sli or xfire, so it aint going to make any difference what so ever. Again 780 will be your cheapest and best bet.

I don't play Heaven.... think the game play and story are terrible... So those results are useless..

zuludawn · 13 Dec 2013 at 23:28

almighty15 said:
I don't play Heaven.... think the game play and story are terrible... So those results are useless..

Really what games you play cause i have most of the demanding ones and like i said at 2560 you will still see around 100fps average no matter what.

So its still a good indicator for those who know and have them so they can share their experiences. Best you sell the 780 and get 290 xfire then.

Rroff · 13 Dec 2013 at 23:40

A well clocked 780 will be so close to a well clocked 290(X) its academic - personally I'd stick with the 780

but thats just me.

ChrisD. · 13 Dec 2013 at 23:42

Err, shouldn't a 780 be fine at 1440p anyway?

Rroff · 14 Dec 2013 at 00:52

MilanoChris said:
Err, shouldn't a 780 be fine at 1440p anyway?

It shouldn't be too bad - at 1920x1080 with this GHZ edition I get ridiculous framerates - BF4 ultra settings mostly 100-120fps and only drops to 80 in heavy action and/or some sections that the fps drops out on anything regardless due to bugs/lacking optimisation. Just had a whirl with skyrim with tweakd ini (ultra high reflections, filtering (super sampling and so on), etc., crazy levels of vegetation and shadowing on everything, yada yada) and ultra high res mods and getting 70-80+fps pretty much constantly (pretty impressed with that).

setter · 14 Dec 2013 at 02:08

780 sli will run cooler, less noise and lower power use. Got one 780 here at present. Cant wait to add another. Yes the new 290x non ref cooler cards will run cooler, but the heavy power use will still be there.

Avenged7Fold · 14 Dec 2013 at 03:02

zuludawn said:
Its not at 2560 but gives a good indication.

That list is definitely not a good indication. There is hardly any info on 290pro crossfire as there seems to be only one entry of it at stock with the reference cooler. Obviously this is hardly relevant as the after market coolers are out soon and does not show clocking potential at all, which is shown to be incredibly impressive in other benchmarks and from owners. The 290 has also only been released for little more than a month, so it isn't surprising there are not many entry's tot he list. If you were to run a single 290 in heaven in a not so ventilated case, you get throttling, so i cant imagine Crossfire 290pros would be throttle free in the benchmark even on a test bench. Not saying OP should go 290 but linking a barely relevant list of GPUs and saying they are a good indication, is not a good way to advise someone.

@almighty
TBH 290s and 780s are neck and neck. I would go for whichever is easier or has more appealing features. If you have a 780 already, go 780 unless you think mantle is worth the loss of selling the card. If you have an interest in mining that can also be a plus, i found it fun to learn about and it kept me busy when bored (interest and not an interest in profit, as buying based on estimated profit is stupid).

Rroff · 14 Dec 2013 at 03:13

Avenged7Fold said:
(interest and not an interest in profit, as buying based on estimated profit is stupid).

Not really the thread for a discussion on it but I know a couple of people who are gonna take a big hit if/when the value of it drops out (as in they've banked pretty much everything they own on it continuing the current growth curve for the next 2-3 years - it almost certainly won't). Seems to be almost human nature for some reason to blindly assume something like that just continues to go up forever

setter · 14 Dec 2013 at 03:18

Mantle sounds great in theory, and tbh amd bulldozer cpu's did sound great too. And look how they turned out. All to often were promised theese great things and they turn out to be a bit of a damp squib.

Avenged7Fold · 14 Dec 2013 at 04:08

setter said:
Mantle sounds great in theory, and tbh amd bulldozer cpu's did sound great too. And look how they turned out. All to often were promised theese great things and they turn out to be a bit of a damp squib.

TBH i don't think bulldozers turned out as bad as people made out but you raise a good point, one i contradicted myself in a way with:

'...unless you think the loss of selling the 780 will be worth the difference of features'

And later that post:

'Don't buy on the estimate of profit'

Though mantle preview on bf4 isn't all that far away, so there is little harm on waiting on it. Especially if most couriers are backed up due to Christmas. Wait a few weeks and we see the introduction of mantle and after market coolers. If ordering soon wont net you a card all that much sooner, then might be worth waiting on if you are eagerly anticipating the result of them.

@setter
Off topic a bit but i have owned a few bulldozers (still own some) and a few PDs and i personally notice very little difference, except when it comes to memory clocking. I cant help but feel if bulldozer was released but a bit later when there was better support for multi-threaded apps, it would have been better received and that the bad media around it was largely exaggerated due to high expectations, like the stock 290x release. Mantle might well prove the same 6 months down the line, however i still wouldn't buy on assumptions.

tommybhoy · 14 Dec 2013 at 09:42

Bayk said:
i agree with Zuludawn seems silly selling one then buying another set of GPU costing you more in the process

Chances are it will work out more or less the same money give or take getting 2xreference 290's but with the hassle of selling his 780.

Then you lose PhysX/screen capture thingamy but gain Mantle/True Audio/more vram should any of them be of any use to the op but with extra noise.

According to pgi(doesn't get into daft arguments and is quite honest about it all), AMD gpus scale better, but SLI requires less tweaking.