970 vs R9 290 which one shall i get?

hobib_ali · 24 Jan 2015 at 00:28

Im literally one click away from ordering a new GPU, after much thought and after a selection of 5 different cards I have opted between the 970 and R290.

Costs are about the same, which card do you guys prefer and will be better?

Also:

I usually keep cards for 2 years or so, the 970 has DX12, but the R9 has DX11, do you think the R9 290 will have driver updates to update it to DX12?

MeatLoaf · 24 Jan 2015 at 00:50

I was going to say 290, but if you really want DX12 then its got to be a 970

~>Dg<~ · 24 Jan 2015 at 00:56

970 is better

no fanboy.

Panos · 24 Jan 2015 at 01:02

MeatLoaf said:
I was going to say 290, but if you really want DX12 then its got to be a 970

R9 290 is GCN so yes supports DX12 according to AMD (source AMD production manager Devon Nekechuk)

@OP

970 or R9 290 depends which models and how cheap you can find each.
After that comes down to Gsync or Freesync actually.

R9 290 is cheaper than the 970s, and for the money of a 970 you get a R9 290X, which is faster than the 970.

NoNameNoNumber · 24 Jan 2015 at 01:06

But the 290p/x is nearly 18 months old now...

I'm rocking a hd4350 gpu at the minute because both of my 780's have gone and I'm waiting for the R9 3xx series due in Q2 or 3...

~>Dg<~ · 24 Jan 2015 at 01:07

290x isnt faster unless at 4k then we talking 2-3 fps in games its faster at.

what you need to remember is none of these cards can run 4k comfortably. so with logic in mind 970 gtx is the card to get.

better on power temp noise performance. only thing id choose amd for is the image quality. which i think is better.

Panos · 24 Jan 2015 at 01:08

~>Dg<~ said:
290x isnt faster unless at 4k then we talking 2-3 fps in games its faster at.

what you need to remember is none of these cards can run 4k comfortably. so with logic in mind 970 gtx is the card to get.

better on power temp noise performance. only thing id choose amd for is the image quality. which i think is better.

All depends the game. Is faster even on 1080p on BF4 with DX11, but is faster on 2560x1440 except on Bioshock.

TheRealDeal · 24 Jan 2015 at 01:45

I would not be buying a gtx970 until Nvidia respond to the possible memory problems that the card supposedly suffers from.

Have a read here.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18651061

hobib_ali · 24 Jan 2015 at 02:38

TheRealDeal said:
I would not be buying a gtx970 until Nvidia respond to the possible memory problems that the card supposedly suffers from.

Have a read here.

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18651061

my god, that has massively put me off, I wish I could afford a 980 now, and the 290, seems kinda old to buy a new gpu thats 18 months old.

If there was 100% confirmation that the 290 will be DX12 then I will buy that without hesitation,

Also having a look at the nvidia 970/80s, why is it that the older 770/80s has more Stream Processors? the 780 and 770 normal and ti have much more Stream Processors than the 980 and 970, it does not make any sense as usually the newer cards have much more Stream Processors? :confused:

What comes after the 980? any rumours

TheRealDeal · 24 Jan 2015 at 02:50

hobib_ali said:
my god, that has massively put me off, I wish I could afford a 980 now, and the 290, seems kinda old to buy a new gpu thats 18 months old.

If there was 100% confirmation that the 290 will be DX12 then I will buy that without hesitation,

Also having a look at the nvidia 970/80s, why is it that the older 770/80s has more Stream Processors? the 780 and 770 normal and ti have much more Stream Processors than the 980 and 970, it does not make any sense as usually the newer cards have much more Stream Processors?

What comes after the 980? any rumours

Maxwell 970/980 is a different architecture to the kepler 770/780 so you can't really compare how many cuda cores each have. 970/980 also run much higher core clocks at stock. The rumors seem to say Nvs next card will be of the Titan type but really there's no solid info yet. Amd are releasing new cards in q2 so April to June.

Rroff · 24 Jan 2015 at 02:54

900 series cards have a different stream processor architecture to 700 so numbers aren't directly comparable. When you start hitting very high numbers of SPs often various inefficiencies start to creep in which is partly why the next generation after that tends to have a smaller number of SPs using a new or updated design.

hobib_ali · 24 Jan 2015 at 03:28

TheRealDeal said:
Maxwell 970/980 is a different architecture to the kepler 770/780 so you can't really compare how many cuda cores each have. 970/980 also run much higher core clocks at stock. The rumors seem to say Nvs next card will be of the Titan type but really there's no solid info yet. Amd are releasing new cards in q2 so April to June.

oh ok thank you for your answers, im looking at the 970/80 right now and it states that the DSR tech can upscale 1080p to 4k resolution, that's cool but it only says about 1080p, what if people use 1440p, can the Nvidia DSR tech still work so you get 4k resolution??

this is what it states:

Enable the detail of 4k monitors, on a 1080P display. DSR produces smoother images by rendering a game at a high resolution, then downscaling it to the native resolution of the display using advanced filtering.

So my question is what about people with 1440p monitors, do they miss out?

gazzaa · 24 Jan 2015 at 07:08

Get the cheapest if you ran both side by side in games they would look to be running the same.

Both are great cards

Mei · 24 Jan 2015 at 07:39

how come "reviewers" are even hinting that only nvidia 9series supports dx12?
where did they get this from?
are they just moronic or was there some misinformation put out about this?

just wondering lala...

LtMatt · 24 Jan 2015 at 08:03

MeatLoaf said:
I was going to say 290, but if you really want DX12 then its got to be a 970

Panos said:
R9 290 is GCN so yes supports DX12 according to AMD (source AMD production manager Devon Nekechuk)

@OP

970 or R9 290 depends which models and how cheap you can find each.
After that comes down to Gsync or Freesync actually.

R9 290 is cheaper than the 970s, and for the money of a 970 you get a R9 290X, which is faster than the 970.

Mei said:
how come "reviewers" are even hinting that only nvidia 9series supports dx12?
where did they get this from?
are they just moronic or was there some misinformation put out about this?

just wondering lala...

Just to be clear, all GCN cards will support DirectX12.

malachi · 24 Jan 2015 at 08:14

Buying new, get the 970. Buying 2nd hand, get the 290.

Orangey · 24 Jan 2015 at 08:18

970 may be getting recalled or revised so bear that in mind.

Dirk Diggler · 24 Jan 2015 at 08:37

hobib_ali said:
oh ok thank you for your answers, im looking at the 970/80 right now and it states that the DSR tech can upscale 1080p to 4k resolution, that's cool but it only says about 1080p, what if people use 1440p, can the Nvidia DSR tech still work so you get 4k resolution??

this is what it states:

Enable the detail of 4k monitors, on a 1080P display. DSR produces smoother images by rendering a game at a high resolution, then downscaling it to the native resolution of the display using advanced filtering.

So my question is what about people with 1440p monitors, do they miss out?

It offers a range from your monitor stock all the way to 4k. For example, on 1080p I could select 1440p or upwards.

Unfortunately, I made the move to SLI and a G-Sync monitor and now DSR is broke. :mad:

Mei · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:13

AMDMatt said:
Just to be clear, all GCN cards will support DirectX12.

someone at AMD should let reviewers know this, i know thats not ur fault and they should do their homework but still

LtMatt · 24 Jan 2015 at 09:26

Mei said:
someone at AMD should let reviewers know this, i know thats not ur fault and they should do their homework but still

We have multiple times.