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MSI 290X Gaming Vs MSI 780Ti Gaming

Gregster

Gregster

Gregster

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Essex innit!
In the Red corner

MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G
The MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G comes equipped with a factory GPU clock of up to 1030MHz, a 30MHz increase over stock Radeon R9 290X GPU and features MSI’s Twin Frozr IV cooling system. It is configured with 4GB GDR5 memory running at a 6.0GHz effective rate. The cooling system is comprised of four heat pipes that carry heat away from the GPU to an array of aluminum fins that are cooled by a pair of fans. It is sporting one DVI-I, one DVI-D, one HDMI v1.4a and one DisplayPort connector. The card is also equipped with two different BIOS, the default being a UEFI based BIOS for faster booting and to support more advanced features and the backup BIOS that is a classic BIOS that can be used for troubleshooting and debugging.

The MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G comes with a 3 year factory warranty and is currently available in etail for $649.99.

MSI GAMING Series Features
MSI has recently re-branded many of its enthusiast class video cards and motherboards to carry the GAMING branding. The GAMING series is intended to represent products that are geared towards gaming enthusiasts that are looking for products specifically built for gaming. Each GAMING series graphics card is factory overclocked and features three different modes using the MSI GAMING app that comes with the video card. The three different modes are "OC Mode," "Gaming Mode," and "Silent Mode." If you do not install the software, then the card will default to "GAMING Mode."

For the review sample that we received for the MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G, the default clocks configured on the card were for "OC" mode. This is the same default configuration that was used on our prior MSI GAMING series card evaluation for the GeForce GTX 780 Ti which we accepted at face value during the course of the evaluation. After we published the evaluation, several of our readers that had purchased the cards were reporting that their default clocks were set to GAMING mode rather than OC mode and were wondering why there was a difference between the cards that all reviewers received and those that were shipping in the retail channel. We reached out to MSI about the difference and it confirmed that the cards sent to the media were different than those shipped to the retail channel. When we started the evaluation of the MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G, we re-confirmed that the card we received was set to "OC" mode clocks while the ones being shipped to the retail channel were set to "GAMING" mode clocks.

In "Gaming Mode" on the MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G, the core clock is set to 1030MHz, "Silent Mode" is set to 1000MHz (the same as the reference R9 290X) and in "OC" mode, it is set to 1040MHz. All three modes and clock speeds are fully supported by MSI, therefore you can run your card in OC mode full time and still receive full support for it to operate at those speeds. Since all three modes are fully supported, we elected to perform all of our testing at the "OC" mode clock speed of 1040MHz.
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Overclocking

For our overclocking efforts, we set the power limit to +50% (the maximum allowed) and the voltage to +50mV and started to dial up the clock speeds. We began by adjusting the Core Clock clock within Afterburner until we began experiencing instability (note that we had to unlock the voltage modification option within Afterburner and reboot in order to gain access to that functionality). We were able to do some gaming with the base clock set to 1160MHz, however it was not very stable at that speed. We backed down on the GPU speed until it stabilized at 1130MHz. After the GPU overclock was set, we began increasing the memory speed until stability was lost. We were able to achieve an effective 5.4GHz GDDR5 memory rate that was fully stable, even though we were able to run for a short period of time as high as 6GHz GDDR memory speeds.

The final overclock of the MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G achieved an observed GPU clock increase of 120MHz over "OC" Mode and a memory increase of 400MHz GDDR5 effective rate. The core clock overclock matches the overclock that we received with the XFX R9 290X Double Dissipation (at 1130MHz) and exceeds that of the ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC (at 1115MHz). From a memory perspective, the MSI Radeon R9 290X GAMING 4G (at 1350MHz) lags behind the ASUS R9 290X DirectCU II OC (at 1418MHz) and the XFX R9 290X Double Dissipation (at 1450MHz).
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In the Green corner

MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G
The MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G comes equipped with a factory base clock of 1020MHz, a 145MHz increase over stock and a boost clock of 1085MHz, a 157MHz increase over the stock boost clock and features MSI’s Twin Frozr IV cooling system. It is configured with 3GB GDR5 memory running at a 7.0GHz effective rate. The cooling system is comprised of four heat pipes that carry heat away from the GPU to an array of aluminum fins that are cooled by a pair of fans. The cooling system is quite tall in comparison to the PCB but gives a very solid hand feel. It is sporting one DVI-I, one DVI-D, one HDMI v1.4a and one DisplayPort connector.

MSI advertises the video card as having three different modes: "OC Mode," "Gaming Mode," and "Silent Mode." These modes are controlled via software that is installed with the video card and not by a hardwired switch a la the reference Radeon R9 290X cards. If you do not install the software, then the card will default to "OC Mode" (with the frequencies described above.) In "Gaming Mode," the core clock drops to 980MHz with the boost clock at 1046MHz and in "Silent Mode," the core clock drops to 876MHz and the boost clock to 928MHz (the same as the reference card.) Since the card is configured for maximum performance out-of-box, there is really no need for the other modes to be available to the end user, thus, all of our performance data and comparisons were done in "OC Mode."

The MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G comes with a 3 year factory warranty and is currently available in etail for $709.99. Assassin’s Creed 4 is also included with the card. Hopefully it will fall again to that price.
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Overclocking

A reference GeForce GTX 780 Ti has a base clock of 845MHz, a boost frequency of 928MHz and a memory frequency of 7GHz. The MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G ships with a factory overclock of 145MHz on the base clock and 157MHz on the boost clock pushing it to a total of 1020MHz and 1085MHz on the base and boost clocks respectively. The memory check in at reference speed at 7GHz GDDR5 effective rate. In our stock testing, we observed the effective boost clock on the card to be 1150MHz.

For our overclocking efforts, we set the power limit to +5% (the maximum allowed), the voltage to +75mV and spun up the fans to 100% and started to dial up the clock speeds. We began by adjusting the boost clock within Afterburner until we began experiencing instability (note that we had to unlock the voltage modification option within Afterburner and reboot in order to gain access to that functionality). We were able to do some gaming with the base clock set to 1080MHz which resulted in an observed boost clock of 1226MHz, but unfortunately, it was not very stable at that speed. We backed down on the GPU speed until it stabilized at 1055MHz. This resulted in an observed GPU clock of 1176MHz (though it was not uncommon for it to drop back to 1150MHz from time to time). After the GPU overclock was set, we began increasing the memory speed until stability was lost. We were able to achieve an effective 7.4GHz GDDR5 memory rate before the screen began glitching and games begin crashing.

The final overclock of the MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G achieved an observed GPU clock increase of 26MHz and a memory increase of 400MHz GDDR5 effective rate.
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Let's get ready to RUMBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

FarCry 3

In Apples-to-Apples testing, we ran all three video cards at 2560x1600 with 4X MSAA, HDAO, Enhanced Alpha to Coverage and all in-game Ultra graphics options selected.

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The MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G blasted past the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G by a margin of 24.6% during our apples-to-apples test. Overclocking the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G improved frame rates by 5.8% but still left it as unplayable as it was at stock clocks.

Crysis 3

Apples-to-Apples
In this Apples-to-Apples test we ran all four video cards at 2560x1600 with SMAA 4X, 16X AF and the very high system spec options selected.

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At the Very High System Spec level, the MSI GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G turns in a 25.5% faster frame rate than the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G. Overclocking the MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G resulted in a 4.8% performance increase but did not feel any more playable than it did at stock at these settings.

Tomb Raider

Apples-to-Apples
In this Apples-to-Apples test we ran all four video cards at 1920x1080 with 2X SSAA, TressFX and all in-game settings set to maximum.

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We spiced things up a little bit with this Apples-to-Apples test by testing SSAA at 1080p to determine whether a single card would be capable of SSAA at a lower resolution. The MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G came out on top of the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G by 10.7%. Overclocking the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G was not enough to push it past its GeForce GAMING brother. Surprisingly, all cards felt playable at this resolution throughout the run through and could be good single card solutions for those running 1920x1080p. Overclocking the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G resulted in a 6.1% performance increase that did not provide any difference in the gameplay experience.

Metro: Last Light

Apples-to-Apples
In this Apples-to-Apples test we ran all four video cards at 2560x1600 with 16X AF, Quality set to Very High and Tessellation set to Very High.

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With PhysX disabled, MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G clocked the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G OC by 25%. Overclocking the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G produced a 4.8% performance increase. All cards were playable at these settings.

Battlefield 4

Apples-to-Apples
In this Apples-to-Apples test we ran all four video cards at 2560x1600 with 4X MSAA and all in-game settings set to maximum.

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The MSI GeForce GTX 780 Ti GAMING 3G pulled ahead of the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G by a margin of 17.8%. Overclocking the MSI Radeon 290X GAMING 4G increased performance by 3.7%. Although there is a significant gap in performance at these settings, the overall in game experience did not feel any different between any of the 4 cards being evaluated.

And there you have it folks, both big hitters and both holding their own but a clear winner is the MSI 780Ti Gaming Edition for pure grunt

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-241-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1402

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http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-238-MS

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Price or performance? A big difference in the two prices, so only you can decide.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...0x_gaming_4g_video_card_review/4#.Uz1y8PldWlc
 
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Its not a good idea to base buying decisions on one reviewer, potential buys should look around as reviewers often have completely different results compared to eachother, and i would argue [H] has very diffrent results to the rest.

The GTX 780TI runs at 1120 MHZ, while the 290X MSI Gaming runs at 1140Mhz, the clock rates are as near as makes no difference Apples to Apples.

One example.

[H] have the GTX 780TI "Apples to Apples" 17% faster than the MSI 290X.

Guru3D have the MSI 290X Gaming 24% faster than the similar clocked GTX 780TI, a Massive 40% + discrepancy between [H] and Guru3D

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_290x_gaming_oc_review,18.html

The best policy is to look around, at the end of the day the MSI Gaming 780TI is £130 more than the 290X. in reality i think the performance of the two is very similar, if not the same :)

 
Just spent the last 7 days, looking at which card to get, spending at least 2 hours a day reading reviews and people’s opinions.

I have just ordered 2X MSI 290X Gaming as a result of this homework for £399 each, it’s unbeaten at this price.

Only the Tri-X beats it clock for clock out the all the 290x's (-£500) even then not by much and the MSI has a back plate and lower noise levels, and of course for my upgrade it turns out £160 cheaper.

Will be selling 2 lots of 4 games codes on the market place soon ;)
 
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That [H] review seems abit of doesn't it? It's hard to know which reviewer has accurate results these days...

The [H] review seems to suggest that the 290X is about 25% slower than the 780Ti, but Legit reviews has the 290X at only 7-13% slower and they used a superclocked 780Ti vs a reference 290X....

Have the drivers really improved the 780Ti's performance that much in the last few months?
 
iB CoMpL3XiTy said:
That [H] review seems abit of doesn't it? It's hard to know which reviewer has accurate results these days...

The [H] review seems to suggest that the 290X is about 25% slower than the 780Ti, but Legit reviews has the 290X at only 7-13% slower and they used a superclocked 780Ti vs a reference 290X....

Have the drivers really improved the 780Ti's performance that much in the last few months?
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Guru3D are actually using later NV driver than what [H] are, and still the have the 290X faster, if only by a little.
 
Born_2_Kill_83 said:
Just spent the last 7 days, looking at which card to get, spending at least 2 hours a day reading reviews and people’s opinions.

I have just ordered 2X MSI 290X Gaming as a result of this homework for £399 each, it’s unbeaten at this price.

Only the Tri-X beats it clock for clock out the all the 290x's (-£500) even then not by much and the MSI has a back plate and lower noise levels, and of course for my upgrade it turns out £160 cheaper.

Will be selling 2 lots of 4 games codes on the market place soon ;)
Click to expand...

You will be pleased with your purchase mate I've got 2x msi 290x's reference and for the price there's nothing out there can match them.
 
Born_2_Kill_83 said:
Just spent the last 7 days, looking at which card to get, spending at least 2 hours a day reading reviews and people’s opinions.

I have just ordered 2X MSI 290X Gaming as a result of this homework for £399 each, it’s unbeaten at this price.

Only the Tri-X beats it clock for clock out the all the 290x's (-£500) even then not by much and the MSI has a back plate and lower noise levels, and of course for my upgrade it turns out £160 cheaper.

Will be selling 2 lots of 4 games codes on the market place soon ;)
Click to expand...

Any chance of you posting a pic in the link below to go on the "Roll of Honour" when you get your cards.:)

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18551717
 
Born_2_Kill_83 said:
Just spent the last 7 days, looking at which card to get, spending at least 2 hours a day reading reviews and people’s opinions.

I have just ordered 2X MSI 290X Gaming as a result of this homework for £399 each, it’s unbeaten at this price.

Only the Tri-X beats it clock for clock out the all the 290x's (-£500) even then not by much and the MSI has a back plate and lower noise levels, and of course for my upgrade it turns out £160 cheaper.

Will be selling 2 lots of 4 games codes on the market place soon ;)
Click to expand...

Nice one Born. I like forward to some trolling with ya on the Battlefield :D

You will not be disappointed bud :)
 
Tonester0011 said:
:confused:
they don't test all the cards everytime lol. They were using 331 when they tested the 780ti, so....yeah.
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334.89 is the only driver they have listed in that review, the reference 290X result is different in that review than their other one, they retested the old GPU's :)
 
Tonester0011 said:
:confused:
they don't test all the cards everytime lol. They were using 331 when they tested the 780ti, so....yeah.
Click to expand...

+1

One of my biggest complaints about any of the review sites.

Guru3d are very bad as they even get the results from different resolutions mixed up as well.

The only way to review and compare cards is at the same time and under the same conditions.

The other question about reviewing cards is should they use the latest drivers or the best drivers, they are not always the same thing.
 
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