AMD or Nvidia??

[PowerPie5000]

Ok, i returned a faulty/damaged R9 280X and now i'm on the lookout for another GPU from OcUK (temporarily using a GTX 660Ti at the moment)... Do i go for another R9 280X or try a 4GB GTX 770? The only thing pushing me towards AMD at the moment is Mantle.. And i'm not too bothered about PhysX, but it's still nice to have for the handful of games that use it .

I may consider holding out for the custom cooled R9 290 cards to be released, but i don't want to have to buy another PSU too (currently a 600W Cooler Master Silent Pro Gold with 48A on the 12V rail).

What do you guys think? If i buy now then ideally i don't want to go over £300. Cheers .

 

[PowerPie5000]

Fanboys attack!

I'll just ignore obvious/blatant fanboyism . I'm not bothered if the card i use it AMD or Nvidia... I just want the best for no more than £300 .

 

[PowerPie5000]

Unless you're running a multi monitor set-up, I wouldn't bother going for a 4gb GTX770.

I've been contemplating on ditching my current 1080p IPS screen for either a 120Hz+ screen or possibly a 27" 1440p screen... I'd still like more than 2GB VRAM even at 1080p though .

 

[PowerPie5000]

Your stand in card is pretty good so i would hold out for the 290 pro with custom cooler. Should net you a much bigger upgrade of course at more cost.

The GTX 660Ti is ok, but it's slightly slower than the Radeon 7950 i had before (which is now in another PC). I'd hold out for a custom 290 if they appear this side of xmas and i don't have to replace my PSU for it.

I go with what I know, green for me. Red would have to do something extra spectacular to sway me.

Josh

I'm enjoying Borderlands 2 at the moment with PhysX on high, but then there's Mantle which could be a game changer?... Why do they have to make it so difficult to choose! Nvidia also has G-sync, but i bet the monitors that use it will cost a fortune!

 

[PowerPie5000]

Mate, I've got 660Ti now. If I only had 300 pounds in my pocket, I'd buy another one to SLI - for about 150 quids (requires a lot of searching & hunting). Just my 2p

I have a mATX setup using my old (but VERY reliable) Biostar TH67XE motherboard... it does have a couple of PCI-E slots, but i'm not sure what they run at if both are used (currently PCI-E 3.0 16x with a single card and i7 3770K... Good for an old H67 board ).

EDIT: I forgot my Asus Xonar is occupying the PCI slot, so there's no room for another dual slot GPU anyway .

 

[PowerPie5000]

If you're budget is £300 I would pick up a second hand 780 for £340 and that will manage 1400p if you are willing to turn down aa and ultra settings. A 4gb 770 is a waste as you will run out of horse power before you run out of vram. A 7970 is your other option or the 2xx series equivalent

I usually avoid buying used hardware unless i know and trust the person i'm buying it from, or i know it hasn't been abused (i'm a bit picky ).

 

[PowerPie5000]

290 for me, would not look at a 770 at near £300, wait for custom 290's.

I'd snap up a 4GB GTX 770 if it was on offer at a decent price, but then i could say the same for other cards too . Maybe i should *try* and hang on for a custom 290... I can be a bit impatient sometimes and if i see a good deal on another card then i'll most likely buy it (nothing under a GTX770/R9 280X though)!

AMD is cheaper but with more noise and NV is more expensive but quieter, most of it is going to come down to personal preference since finally they are closely matched in terms of performance again.

Definitely needs to be fairly quiet (the KFA2 GTX 660Ti i'm using at the moment is almost silent!). My HIS Radeon 7950 is also pretty quiet most of the time, but the coil whine is quite noticeable when overclocked (fine running stock).... I hate loud cards as my case is quite ventilated with barely any kind of noise dampening! I have 4 case fans but they are very quiet, as are the CPU and PSU fans.

 

[PowerPie5000]

how much ££ have you got to waste

About £300, or a bit more if i wait for a custom R9 290.

If you have a 660 already, hold until the custom coolers appear on the 290, of GTX780 drops at around £300.

I believe spending the money of a 290 for a GTX770 isn't efficient.
Because for the ~same amount, someone can grab 2 7950 for CF.

I think a 4GB GTX 770 for under £300 or close to 280X prices would be ok. It seems some reviews show the GTX 770 as being slightly faster than the 280X and some reviews show the opposite! I'm guessing they're both in the same league, but Mantle could change that.

I can't really do SLI or Crossfire without sacrificing my Asus Xonar... And i'll most likely need a beefier PSU too (adding more to the cost ).

 

[PowerPie5000]

On-board all the way

I'm not planning on buying another console

 

[PowerPie5000]

Matrox Parhelia, they're making a comeback to 3d gaming, awesome.

My last Matrox gaming card was the Millennium G400 Max .

 

[PowerPie5000]

Whatever card i get will probably last me a year as i've gotten into the habit of upgrading each year (although i'm skipping Haswell). My Radeon 7950 was bought just over a year ago as was my GTX 660Ti (7950 is now in another PC and i'll hopefully be selling the GTX 660Ti soon). I'm thinking in a years time i'll probably build a whole new PC depending on what Intel and AMD have to offer at the time.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on this card for £287.99?

YOUR BASKET
1 x Gainward GeForce GTX 770 Phantom 4096MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card £287.99
Total : £287.99 (includes shipping : FREE).




I'tll be even less if i decide to sell the games that come with it ... I don't even think the R9 cards even come with any free games.

 

[PowerPie5000]

If it was me I would buy this,

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-114-GI&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

Great cooler, very fast card, you can sell the games for ~£45 making it about £340.

That or a 290, but if it was me, I would rather have the Windforce 780 for just a smidge more cash.

I could probably stretch to that, but will it be ok with a 600W PSU (gold rated with 48A on the 12V rail)? I'm not a big fan (no pun intended) of the Windforce coolers unless they're quieter on Nvidia cards than they are on a Radeon 7970... My friends one gets quite loud under load.

 

[PowerPie5000]

Personally I don't think the 770 would be much of an upgrade from a 660ti.

If you stick some custom bios on the 660ti and clock it up there is only a few frames in it.

If you want an upgrade go 780 or 290.

My friends 7970 Ghz edition is quite a bit faster than both my 7950 and 660Ti, so i thought i'd get a nice boost with a GTX 770 or R9 280X (basically a slightly improved GTX 680 and 7970).

 

[PowerPie5000]

Honestly OP,just re-use your HD7950. You told me you can get upto 1100MHZ with it but the coil whine is a problem.

I just think you have been beset by upgradetitus.

I would ditch your In Win Dragon Slayer and get a case with better soundproofing like a Fractal R4 or a Define Mini.

But the In-Win case has great cooling and is still a decent size (not too big), although i do hate the name!... Getting another case just adds more to the cost and at this rate i'll just end up building a whole new PC (and i only recently got my 3770K CPU lol ).

I didn't notice the coil whine at first on the 7950 (it suddenly appeared!), but it increases the more i overclock. The performance and temps are good (not the power consumption though), but it screams at different pitches with certain games ... It's pretty much silent when running stock and that's why i've relegated it to our other PC (replacing the slightly slower GTX 660Ti).

Right now i could buy an R9 280X or GTX 770 and still get cash back from selling my GTX 660Ti and any games that come with the new card... Doesn't sound too bad when i look at it that way, and i'll be getting a nice boost .

 

[PowerPie5000]

I have a feeling i might just end up flipping a coin soon... I'll wait maybe another week to see if any prices change or if there's any news about custom 290 cards (there's no way i'm forking out for a stock one ).

I definitely won't be sticking with the 660Ti (a bit slow for me, although it's still an ok card)... The 7950 can stay where it is too.

 

[PowerPie5000]

Ok i'm too impatient and couldn't wait! I just ordered the Asus R9 280X DirectCUII TOP . That's me done with this current setup now... Give it a year or so and i'll probably build a whole new gaming rig anyway .

Might as well save some money and just stick with my current 1080p IPS display too... If i had bought a GTX 780 or 290 then i probably would have spent more money buying a 1440p screen too! I'll save that for the next build .

Thanks for the advice people!