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Poll: Galax GTX970 Infinity or an MIS 290x Lightning?

I need some serious pimpage on the GFX front.

  • GALAX GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infinity Black Edition"

    Votes: 71 57.3%

  • MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Lightning Edition

    Votes: 53 42.7%
  • Total voters
    124

james.miller

james.miller

james.miller

Soldato
Joined
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Posts
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Location
Woburn Sand Dunes
Ok i need some help on this. my 7950 is shot and i've had enough. I'm not buying another second hand card, I'm going new. I'm going to buy one of these two cards but i'm in two minds about it.

They are both great cards, both well engineered. The 290x LE is a massive slab of metal that's built to be abused, the infinity is built for silence; bit faster, more efficient and dumps less heat, but less...manly, and we know that's important!. Both much of a muchness in terms of speed for the resolution I'll be running at (2560x1080). the 970 is £28 EDIT: £18 more, but comes with some games i can sell (would keep Assassin's Creed), the 290x doesnt i believe? what else? AMD has mantle, nvidia has works stuff. I dont know, i cant decide!

YOUR BASKET
1 x GALAX GeForce GTX 970 OC Silent "Infinity Black Edition" 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card **WorldWide Exclusive** £287.99
1 x MSI Radeon R9 290X LE Lightning Edition 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £259.99 EDIT: now £269.99


GX-010-GX_104445_350.jpg
GX-273-MS_103425_350.jpg


Is there something else I'm not considering ?

OCUK, help me choose please!

Can I get a poll?
 
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The insane drop in price makes the Lightning worth it on that alone. Framerates will be very similar no matter which you go for. I went with a 290x, should be receiving it tomorrow or Tuesday :D.
 
If the extra power consumption and waste heat generated ain't an issue and you just want performance, the 290x Lightning should clearly beat the 970 no contest if both where pushed on overclocking. However, if you care more for lower power-consumption and less waste-heat generated and don't mind having slightly less performance, the 970 would be better.

For 2560 res I think the 290x should definitely be better option than the 970 in terms of performance, if don't mind having more heat being dumped into and coming out of the case. So the case you use and airflow could always be a consideration when choosing between these two cards.

If you play lots of Nvidia titles though (Batman series, Ubisoft's typical unfinished buggy titles etc), then go for the 970 instead, as AMD cards always not performing to what they are capable of in those games.
 
Negligible performance difference but unless there is some particular feature you NEED (such as the coil whine reduction or physx, which I doubt you'd be asking if you needed these anyway) then I'd go for the 290x.

AMD always seem to have better stock levels down the line and willing to reduce there cards to lower prices so it leaves you open for SLI/crossfire at a cheaper price overall. Your choice overall but it's just whether paying the extra for the Nvidia card is worth it in the end and usually I find it's not.
 
Intersting thoughts, keep them coming guys. Thanks!


What about DSR/VSR ? This is something i would like to use and i know AMDs VSR has its limitations right now; only works at 1920x1080 or 2560x1440 which is no good to me. Is that likely to be addressed soon and is DSR any different?
 
I run the same res and went from 290p to a single MSI 970

Wouldn't turn back, much prefer the silence, cool running, better performance and nicer software.

Stock, both are pretty much the same though and really it's down to personal preference.

I don't think you'd be disappointed with either.

With a custom bios mine is boosting to 1600 core and 8200 memory and doesn't bat an eye lid.
 
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I've been weighing up the same option over the last week and have pretty much settled on the 970, Which will be my first Nvidia card since a gtx 260.

The main reason for me was the power requirements and also power connectors looking longer term.

The lightning takes an 8 plus 2 x 6 pin connectors. If I want to xfire later on that's a new PSU for me both in terms of connectors and power limit. Heat is an issue as well with 2 cards.

From online reviews the 970 does appear to have better frame rates at stock but the 290x will clock better for a few more FPS but both are good performers...... It's the price that makes the 290 more attractive though, it's great VFM for the one card!

Best of luck choosing!
 
JamesM said:
I run the same res and went from 290p to a single MSI 970

Wouldn't turn back, much prefer the silence, cool running, better performance and nicer software.

Stock, both are pretty much the same though and really it's down to personal preference.

I don't think you'd be disappointed with either.

With a custom bios mine is boosting to 1600 core and 8200 memory and doesn't bat an eye lid.
Click to expand...
Just want to point out that your MSI 290p is almost a complete different animal to the 290x Lightning in terms of quality and cooling capability and even performance, so I don't think your experience can be passed as representation.

The 290x Lightning with its beefy cooler and better PCB more efficient power delivery should be mean its no louder than any 970 (though the part of generating more waste heat would still remain).
 
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Marine-RX179 said:
Just want to point out that your MSI 290p is almost a complete different animal to the 290x Lightning in terms of quality and cooling capability and even performance, so I don't think your experience can be passed as representation.

The 290x Lightning with its beefy cooler and better PCB more efficient power delivery should be mean its no louder than any 970 (though the part of generating more waste heat would still remain).
Click to expand...

But it still drank power like it was going out of fashion and the software was, imo, horrid.
 
Anecdotally, My xfire 290s outperformed a friend's SLI 970s at stock (in Heaven no less!), so I'd be inclined to go with the 290X and save £30. If you do plan on going dual card at some point you'll be glad of the lower power 970 though, so keep future plans in mind.
 
Devrij said:
Anecdotally, My xfire 290s outperformed a friend's SLI 970s at stock (in Heaven no less!), so I'd be inclined to go with the 290X and save £30. If you do plan on going dual card at some point you'll be glad of the lower power 970 though, so keep future plans in mind.
Click to expand...

You should add your xfire score to the heaven bench thread :)
 
I've also been through MSIs RMA twice, wasn't impressed with the speed of it. Both times it was around 3-4 weeks to get my GPU back. I imagine GALAX with their UK RMA base it'd be a hell of a lot quicker.

It's something I'm taking into consideration with my next GPU purchase. I never worried about the RMA service until I actually needed it.
 
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