A bit out of the loop: 780 or R2 290x?

[Noxia]

One massive plus on 780 (MSI OC at least) is it runs incredibly quiet, It's the quietest card I ever owned, sadly my AMD ones have always been horrendous in that regard bar a Twin Frozr one 6990 or something.
I actually just sold it but I'm looking to do SLI classifieds or Lightnings if they fit, just waiting to see what's happening at the end of the month like many here.

 

[ICDP]

And this is based on what exactly? Woman's intuition?

No, based on logic and past experience with AMD GPU releases. Whatever price the R9 290X is released at logically the lower spec'd 290 will be cheaper. 7950 was ~£70 cheaper than 7970 on release, 6950 was ~£70 cheaper than 6970 on release and 5850 was ~£80 cheaper on release than 5870. Are you seeing a pattern yet?

Nobody knows what price these are coming in at, nor do we have any benchmarks to go on.

I never gave a definite price, the word potentially in my post implies "wait and see" where price and performance of the R9 290 lies.

So potentially cheaper than a GTX780 but just as fast.

OP, wait for some decent (reliable) benchmarks and reviews on the new AMD cards. You'll then be able to make a more informed decision.

This I agree with 100%.

 

[tdream]

I suppose I should tell people to avoid one of the better custom cooled GTX780s because it gets to 95c after only two minutes of gaming.

My advice to the OP is to wait until the R9 290 and R9 290X are released. I would expect an R9 290 to match a GTX780 for a much lower price point. One would think a GTX780 should drop in price if that is the case.

Because Furmark and gaming is even remotely the same thing

 

[ICDP]

Because Furmark and gaming is even remotely the same thing

Have you not turned on your sarcasm detector yet this morning? How about you read the entire post.

 

[Phixsator]

GTX 780 gets my vote, epic performance at decent power consumption. However if you want some extra heating for the winter a 290X might come in handy.

Because the leaks about the 290x heat is surely true?!? Its okay you make jokes about it m8 but do not offer other people advice using data that has not been confirmed.

OP:
It would not make any sense buying now. If you want nVidia then wait for the launch and perhaps save 50 quid or actually buy the 290x if it is any good which nobody knows at this point.

 

[Marine-RX179]

My simple advice is...don't bite on the GTX780, not unless the price drop to at least sub £450 level.

 

[humbug]

Wow, you said that without even one hint of irony. Basing your advice on a flawed Furmark test on a leaked Chinese review is hardly logical. Come on man, you are usually a far more sensible poster than that.

Furmark is not even remotely indicative of actual thermal results from gaming. That test/review was from an R9 290X set at 40% fan speed. Are you going to suggest 40% fan speed in a Furmark test gives an accurate indication of the thermal cooling solution on a GPU?

Here is another review of an Asus DCII R9 280X hitting 90c in Furmark with only 40% (lowest) fan speed at which point the reviewer stopped the test. 50% fan speed resulted in a much lower and temperature of 71c.
http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1110&page=19

Or let's go one better. Here is a screenshot of my GTX780 with a fan speed of 40% hitting 95c after 2 minutes 23 seconds. I stopped the test before my GPU caught fire, as would any sane person. This is a GTX780 that normally runs at 1045 boost clock, note how throttling has dropped it to 914 Core clock.



I suppose I should tell people to avoid one of the better custom cooled GTX780s because it gets to 95c after only two minutes of gaming.

My advice to the OP is to wait until the R9 290 and R9 290X are released. I would expect an R9 290 to match a GTX780 for a much lower price point. One would think a GTX780 should drop in price if that is the case.

At last, some one with some common sense.....

@ AlecR wait for the R9 290X reviews, it could be a real winner.

 

[Silent_Scone]

To be fair you need more common sense to realise the central heating jokes aren't to be taken seriously lol.

 

[LtMatt]

Wow, you said that without even one hint of irony. Basing your advice on a flawed Furmark test on a leaked Chinese review is hardly logical. Come on man, you are usually a far more sensible poster than that.

Furmark is not even remotely indicative of actual thermal results from gaming. That test/review was from an R9 290X set at 40% fan speed. Are you going to suggest 40% fan speed in a Furmark test gives an accurate indication of the thermal cooling solution on a GPU?

Here is another review of an Asus DCII R9 280X hitting 90c in Furmark with only 40% (lowest) fan speed at which point the reviewer stopped the test. 50% fan speed resulted in a much lower and temperature of 71c.
http://www.ocaholic.ch/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=1110&page=19

Or let's go one better. Here is a screenshot of my GTX780 with a fan speed of 40% hitting 95c after 2 minutes 23 seconds. I stopped the test before my GPU caught fire, as would any sane person. This is a GTX780 that normally runs at 1045 boost clock, note how throttling has dropped it to 914 Core clock.

Spoiler

I suppose I should tell people to avoid one of the better custom cooled GTX780s because it gets to 95c after only two minutes of gaming.

My advice to the OP is to wait until the R9 290 and R9 290X are released. I would expect an R9 290 to match a GTX780 for a much lower price point. One would think a GTX780 should drop in price if that is the case.

ICDP - Speaking common sense since forever.

 

[humbug]

To be fair you need more common sense to realise the central heating jokes aren't to be taken seriously lol.

I know its obvious to every one now its Furmark and not a heat problem with the GPU.

its good banter to go on about it in the R9 290X thread, its certainly not to be used with a straight face as purchasing advice.

 

[LtMatt]

I reckon it is going to run hot, but not that hot.

 

[humbug]

I reckon it is going to run hot, but not that hot.

No doubt it will come set with a gazillion volts as default and you would need eyeifinity to run the volts slider down so far it runs into the next screen

 

[Marine-RX179]

I reckon it is going to run hot, but not that hot.

I got a feeling that the high temp probably has something to do with the voltage used for maintaining the stock clock 1GHz stable.

If the 290x was to drop to lower clock and have performance drop down to the level of matching the GTX780 and using a lower voltage, it'd probably be no hotter than the GTX780. But with that said, AMD's "new" reference cooler is probably still a piece of poo at cooling.

 

[Silent_Scone]

Mate it's furmark it's a well known GPU killer .

 

[humbug]

I got a feeling that the high temp probably has something to do with the voltage used for maintaining the stock clock 1GHz stable.

If the 290x was to drop to lower clock and have performance drop down to the level of matching the GTX780 and using a lower voltage, it'd probably be no hotter than the GTX780. But with that said, AMD's "new" reference cooler is probably still a piece of poo at cooling.

AMD just have a habit of setting to high volts, which is fine on a good 3'rd party cooler, but on reference coolers or a rubbish one like mine its not.

Default volts on mine like all of the boost cards is 1.256v, i can run a 225Mhz overclock with 1.20v and drop 8c from stock clocks on default volts.

I can even run it at 1.16v @ 1100Mhz (125Mhz overclock) and it never gets past 68c on that junk cooler with a silent fan profile.

 

[Phixsator]

AMD just have a habit of setting to high volts, which is fine on a good 3'rd party cooler, but on reference coolers or a rubbish one like mine its not.

Default volts on mine like all of the boost cards is 1.256v, i can run a 225Mhz overclock with 1.20v and drop 8c from stock clocks on default volts.

I can even run it at 1.16v @ 1100Mhz (125Mhz overclock) and it never gets past 68c on that junk cooler with a silent fan profile.

You know....Never Settle Forever....with stock speeds..

 

[humbug]

You know....Never Settle Forever....with stock speeds..

Right, yet they don't need to set the volts quiet that high....

 

[ICDP]

To be fair you need more common sense to realise the central heating jokes aren't to be taken seriously lol.

To be fair my post was aimed at Boomstick777 who was telling the OP to purchase a GTX780 because the R9 290X runs too hot. This is a thread started by a guy asking for solid facts and impartial advice. It's one thing having a laugh, it's another thing entirely advising someone to spend £500 on a GTX780 over an R9 290 based on a flawed Furmark test.

 

[MooMoo444]

Neither, the release of 290 will almost certainly affect 780 pricing. So wait and see what happens.

 

[Frenzy]

Basically wait a week before deciding.