Getting cross with myself, tell me what to buy! (with reasoning and graphs please)

[TheBigCheese]

Hi guys

Right...I've posted in others threads, I've read...probably too much...and I'm in a real quandry...hoping a dedicated thread will get me to an answer!

Here's the situation - Nvidia 970 SLI - OUT (RMA's through already)

AMD - IN

I need:
60fps if poss (I know I won't get that with everything, now I've seen the light with 60fps, anything above 30fps is welcome).

Specs:
i7 3770K
Gigabyte Z77X-D3H
32GB RAM
1000W Evga gold rated PSU
Philips 40" 4K monitor - hence wanting smooth 4K!

What am I wanting it for?
Games

Also I will be using the GPU grunt in other applications such as Adobe for video rendering etc.

I've already checked that Adobe support all the AMD chipsets and they do (no mention of the new ones as yet).


So...what do I do.

Do I get the 295x2? I know it's a beast of a card, it has 8GB VRAM, but some people have indicated that it's somehow wasted, or not all usable or something...?

290x in crossfire - other people have suggested these...the power consumption is higher, there is more heat produced but some benches I have seen show they they can be faster. What should I get though? And are the 8GB any better than the 4GB versions? Some people have stated the combined 8GB of VRAM will be better utilised on two of these than on the 295x2...I have to admit I'm not sure why...

390x in crossfire - should I hold off until the 390x cards are in circulation? It won't be long by the sound of it, apparently they sound very good, but I've found no definite specs of benches yet so it's all supposition.


My head is in an absolute spin with it all, this will be my first AMD/ATI card ever (went from 3DFX to a Geforce 2 back in the day ), so I'm feeling rather out of my depth.

I'm hoping for the collective knowledge of the forum in a dedicated thread to point me in the right direction!


Thanks.


P.S. I should add that I'm not one of these people who buys a card and sells it when a newer model comes out, I'm hoping that whatever I get will last for years.

 

[TheBigCheese]

Thank you all for your replies, there are some quite diverse opinions here and it's really useful to read everything!

I'd like to come back and address the points after, but I do just have one question that's confusing me...

If the 295x2 is just 2 290x's stuck together why can't it use the full 8GB VRAM?
2 290s are being suggested at 4GB each...but how is that a different config than 1 295x2? I don't understand that and the reviews I have read about it seem to give it fantastic reviews which don't tally with a hobbled memory...

 

[TheBigCheese]

Thanks everyone for your posts, I'm getting to close to a solution and it seems like the 290Xs are the way to go.

because its effectively 2 seperate 4gb cards on 1 PCB, not 2 cards cobbled into 1 card on 1 PCB sharing the same 8gb Vram.

Each card is a 290X with 4GB of Vram in its own right, but they bundle 2 onto 1 PCB with an AIO cooler to save space and heat etc, its a decent card in its own right but it has its drawbacks

Oh I see! So effectively the memory can't be utilised properly as there is a bottleneck which wouldn't be the case on two separate cards?

For the OP two 8GB 290X's could very well be what you are looking for, but be prepared to turn down some details down to keep the frame rate up at 4K (this doesn't mean a game has to look crap)

Quite possibly, a lot of the benchmarks have fairly skewed figures as they all have AA switched on, from what I've seen with the 4K I'm using now, AA absolutely batters frame rates and isn't required, 4K resolution is smooth enough without it, so that will certainly be switched off!

If you're looking for longevity then i would recommend 2/3/4 290X 8GB cards, 4GB is not enough for every game at 4K.

OK, so if I'm looking at the 8GB cards...narrows the field somewhat.

Do the AMD cards still suffer from coil whine like the Nvidia cards do? The 970s I got from OCUK were specifically guaranteeing now to suffer from it, I have very sensitive hearing and despite my years creeping up I can still pick up high notes so whine can really bother me.

To OC or not OC?

Looking on OCUK, there are a couple of cards that have caught my eye...

this and this

the sapphire seems to focus on overclocking and cooling, whereas the powercolor while oc'd also mentions no coil whine.


in real world terms, does an oc card really make a difference? price wise, the cheapest 8gb 290x is an msi at £300, the most expensive a sapphire at £360, that's £120 difference in crossfire and the msi has an extra year guarantee.

i'm not doing benchmarks, i'm not trying to squeeze out every last point for a card in a benchmark (i used to years ago! :d)...and one of the tests i was looking at, actually showed the powercolor oc to be slower than a standard 290x...am i looking at the right thing?

Here's the review page


AMDMatt, will I be OK with the power requirements, with the EVGA Gold 1000W PSU I was talking about yesterday if I got two of the 290X's in crossfire?


Thanks again everyone, this is really helpful!

 

[TheBigCheese]

Thanks for your continued help guys, this forum is fantastic!

Sorry, I missed the displayport question, as Uncle Petey has answered, yes it does, I'm using it now...the screen makes me very sick at 30Hz!

There's some really good points here about cooling as well which I hadn't considered. I was looking at the raw power of them, and not necessarily thinking about the heat dissipation.

I have an Antec 1200 case so there's no problem with room and there's 3 120mm fans at the front and two 120mm fans sucking it out the back so with the cooling solutions of the Tri-X recommendations, I think that's going to be the ones to go for.


Before I press buy, can I just check one last thing...

This is my motherboard, it does say crossfire...there's no reason why that wouldn't work with them is there?

Also, am I right in thinking that crossfire doesn't need the little bridge connecting the cards like Nvidia SLI does? I got an SLI bridge in the motherboard box, but nothing for crossfire, I think I remember reading that some (all?) AMD cards don't need a bridge?


Thanks!

 

[TheBigCheese]

Thank you all so much for your help, I've been reading and reading and getting really befuddled about which I should be going for ever since I found out about the 970 memory problems!

All your advice has been absolultey invaluable in making sense of it all and I've now bought two of the suggested 8GB Sapphire Tri-X, which I hadn't even been looking at before!

Reading the reviews of how it runs at 4K, it seems to batter even an Nvidia 980, so I'm very excited to see what it can do for me at 4K...roll on Monday!

I'm quite glad to be moving back into the AMD fold, I always used to use AMD processors from the K6-200 onwards back in the day, then when I needed more video processing grunt I moved back to Intel and have been that way ever since.

If AMD can produce processors of the calibre of their graphics cards it'll be an exciting time for purchasing again!

 

[TheBigCheese]

Get out and stay out!

Hah!

Do you really need to game at 4K? Maybe downgrade to a 1200p monitor and keep to one card for now?

Yeah I do as it happens. I moved to 4K resolution due to the video etc., I'm working with, I had videos to edit etc., and I couldn't even see them at their native resolution!

Now I've got the monitor I do want to put the best I can through it.

I'm very happy and settled with what's coming now...should be good! I sense a sick day coming up on Monday *cough* *cough*, good thing I'm my own boss.

 

[TheBigCheese]

Apart from crossfire on a number of recent titles (Ok, not so recent any more), I imagine you will be quite happy with 2 x 8gb 290x's.

Hope so! Mei asked me earlier what sort of games I'm looking at...all sorts really:

Hitman Absolution
Skyrim (modded hopefully)
GTA IV modded
ARMA 3
Sniper Elite 3
Bioshock series
Sleeping Dogs
Broforce (really looking forward to crossfiring that one! )
...all sorts really!