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R9 290 or GTX 970

xtal191

xtal191

xtal191

Associate
Joined
14 Jul 2009
Posts
290
My specs are as follows:

Fx 8320
8 gb ram
1tb HD
Samsung SSD
AMD 7970
Corsair vx550w

I'm looking to upgrade the graphics card, play at 1080p and I'll be buying second hand. I can get a Galax 970 for €300 or a 290 for around €200/220 max.

Would my 550w even be able to run a 290? If so would I be better off saving the €100 or spending the extra for the 970?

Thanks!
 
If you can get a 290X it will be a bit faster than the 970. A 290 is about the same as a 970, maybe slightly slower. You are better off saving the €100 since a 970 won't be worth 50% extra.
 
You'd be fine with a decent 550W PSU for a 290. That Corsair unit is ancient, but reviewed well at the time. Personally, I'd get the 290, since it's so much cheaper, performs about the same with a little boost on the core clock and doesn't have any VRAM issues (not that you're likely to often hit them with the 970 at 1080p).
 
wouldn't u be better getting a 390 as there virtually the same price as a 290 but higher clocks and better cooling on most
 
If I was buying new I'd prob get the 390 but I'm going second hand. 290's seem to be going for around 100 less than 970s second hand here.

Cheers for the replies.
 
xtal191 said:
If I was buying new I'd prob get the 390 but I'm going second hand. 290's seem to be going for around 100 less than 970s second hand here.

Cheers for the replies.
Click to expand...

200/220 for a 2nd hand 290 is virtually the same price as a brand new 390 isnt it?
 
I'd go 970 over 290 and 390 over both. There may not be much of a performance difference between a 290 and 390 but there is some and more importantly they took every thing learned from the mistakes they made with Hawaii and have given us a much improved version that clocks better and runs cooler. Plus the manufacturers like MSI know they messed up with the Hawaii coolers and have made a decent effort with the Grenada coolers. So both the AMD improvements and the manufacturers improvements together have given us a stronger, more refined version of the chip and card.
 
I have both cards, both overclocked and the GTX970 offers a faster much smoother experience than the 290. Also cooler and less power hungry.

Only buy the 290 if it's very cheap!
 
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