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Considering "upgrade?" from 670 SLI to R9 290.. thoughts?

Monkeyspaz5000

Monkeyspaz5000

Monkeyspaz5000

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Scottish Borders - UK
Hi folks...

I currently have GTX670 in SLI (2GB cards) - watercooled

I'm feeling the upgrade itch to upgrade?...

I was looking at the R9 290 card. I know the reference card is loud and hot, but I would be looking at watercooling it, so that obviously wouldn't be an issue.

How do the GTX670 SLI compare to the single R9 290? I've noticed there's not much difference between the R9 290 and the R9 290X - or not to warrant the extra cost in my eyes.

I've also looked at the 780 and 780TI, but for the price of the R9 290, I can get a card and water block for about £400.

I could then sell off both my cards and blocks without spending that much more.

What are your thoughts on this? In particular the performance difference between the GTX670 SLI and single R9 290? (what is the difference?).

I like the idea of 4GB Ram for slight future proofing and I can always Xfire down the line if I need to?

Currently playing on a 1080p 120hz monitor.

Would really appreciate your input. THANKS!! :D
 
Going to say its much like going to a 780/ti
About similar or slightly lower fps in games where SLI is working great but better power consumption and takes less space
 
If you are worry about getting a duff 290 card like some unlucky people, you should probably look for a cheap 2nd hand reference GTX780 to put block on instead.

To be honest, I don't really think GTX780's performance really worth the asking price of £400 +/-. If you want to get a GTX780, you should try to find one 2nd hand for around £260-£300 instead.
 
Monkeyspaz5000 said:
Hi folks...

I currently have GTX670 in SLI (2GB cards) - watercooled

I'm feeling the upgrade itch to upgrade?...

I was looking at the R9 290 card. I know the reference card is loud and hot, but I would be looking at watercooling it, so that obviously wouldn't be an issue.

How do the GTX670 SLI compare to the single R9 290? I've noticed there's not much difference between the R9 290 and the R9 290X - or not to warrant the extra cost in my eyes.

I've also looked at the 780 and 780TI, but for the price of the R9 290, I can get a card and water block for about £400.

I could then sell off both my cards and blocks without spending that much more.

What are your thoughts on this? In particular the performance difference between the GTX670 SLI and single R9 290? (what is the difference?).

I like the idea of 4GB Ram for slight future proofing and I can always Xfire down the line if I need to?

Currently playing on a 1080p 120hz monitor.

Would really appreciate your input. THANKS!! :D
Click to expand...

As you have 120hz monitor i'd get a 290 and add another one at a later date. Not one single problem here, just plug and play and all set for future gaming with plenty o vram too.
 
Vram is what I'm thinking. Now I know 2GB should be fine for 1080p, but we're recently seen Titanfall which requires more for insane texture settings.

My thinking is we may see more games go this way?

Do you think it's worth going to R9 290 watercooled? I assume I may see slightly less performance compared with GTX670 SLI?

Saying that, my cards aren't overclocked - so I could overclock the R9 290 to get more out of it under water.

I CAN'T DECIDE!? lol
 
Monkeyspaz5000 said:
Vram is what I'm thinking. Now I know 2GB should be fine for 1080p, but we're recently seen Titanfall which requires more for insane texture settings.

My thinking is we may see more games go this way?

Do you think it's worth going to R9 290 watercooled? I assume I may see slightly less performance compared with GTX670 SLI?

Saying that, my cards aren't overclocked - so I could overclock the R9 290 to get more out of it under water.

I CAN'T DECIDE!? lol
Click to expand...

Well at 1080P i can't see you ever needing more than 3gb, unless you play modded skyrim or such. 4gb is definitely nice for 1440p/1600p though.

You'll get almost equal performance. A well clocked, water cooled 290X will offer equal or faster performance than 670 sli unless scaling is superb i would've thought.
 
You will loose a bit of performance. I moved from 2gb sli 670's to a single 780, (very similar to 290). However the extra vram is handy to have in reserve. Tbh i have no regrets about making the switch. If they had been 4gb 670's it would have been a much harder choice to make.
 
LtMatt said:
Well at 1080P i can't see you ever needing more than 3gb, unless you play modded skyrim or such. 4gb is definitely nice for 1440p/1600p though.

You'll get almost equal performance. A well clocked, water cooled 290X will offer equal or faster performance than 670 sli unless scaling is superb i would've thought.
Click to expand...

Ever?
Considering weve gone from 1gb to 3gb in less than 3 years, that is a pretty bold statement :D
 
andybird123 said:
Ever?
Considering weve gone from 1gb to 3gb in less than 3 years, that is a pretty bold statement :D
Click to expand...

For now and the foreseeable future 3gb seems plenty for 1080P. By the time its not enough i doubt he will have the grunt to use more than that.
 
LtMatt said:
For now and the foreseeable future 3gb seems plenty for 1080P. By the time its not enough i doubt he will have the grunt to use more than that.
Click to expand...

This.

1080P / 1440P are fine with 3GB. There isn't a GPU powerful enough to push 4K pixels yet, all the vram in the world won't help that. More GPU performance is needed.

With tiled resources being implemented in future Direct X, it should go some way to helping 2GB /3GB cards as well. no need to panic about not having enough vram just yet.. 3-5 years from now maybe things will be different, odds are you would upgraded again by then anyway..
 
unless you're running into situations where you're running out of vram, it's a sidegrade rather than an upgrade.

When you have the itch though, reasoning tends to go out of the window!
 
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