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Help me decide please!

peaty94

peaty94

peaty94

Associate
Joined
26 Aug 2014
Posts
2
Hello All,

Im new here, but basically signed up to get some advice of you guys on here!

Basically i've started a new project after years of putting it off, as i now feel my current system is getting abit old.

Ive decided to go with a z97 build incl an i5 Haswell 4790k and the Asus hero motherboard but its the problem is the graphics card!

Ive leaned more towards nvidia as ive heard they are much better for support and rolling out drivers! is this true? My current options are:

780
780ti
290
290x

maybe 770 and save abit of money?

i will be playing on a 27"-30" screen which i havent brought yet (any recommendations?) but i want to play on ultra all setting but dont want overkill really and want to save money where i can, so the question is, do i wait for 800 series or buy now, but which card can you guys recommend that is future proof but not totally overkill as i think £500 for a card is a tad expensive.

anyway, thanks!
 
Hi Peaty and welcome to the forums. Choosing a GPU can be tricky and quite tough for future proofing, as none of us know what is coming up. AMD has things like Mantle in a couple of games and nVidia has things like PhysX in a couple of games and they are both pretty good at what they do.

Would you be looking at a 1080P screen or 1440P screen for gaming?

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18594685

Have a read of that thread and that might help sway your own choice :)
 
Hey gregster,

thanks for the reply, thats a long read! To be honest, what do you recommend? is 1440p a noticeable difference, im assuming it costs more?

and haha boomstick, dont tempt me to much!
 
1440P is worth it, noticeably more pop, definition and clarity over 1080P especially if you're talking 27" 1080P VS 27" 1440P.

Problem is you would then need a powerful GPU to match the higher resolution, this is where the 780Ti comes in :D
 
I've used a 290 and a 780 over a period of time long enough to get a feel of both and I couldn't personally recommend a 290 over a 780. The 290 is probably marginally faster in some games but not noticeably faster to the naked eye (i.e. a couple of percent here and there)... but this comes at the cost of occasionally having to fiddle with things to get games running smoothly whereas things are a tad more plug and play for nVidia. This isn't a general rule of thumb, however, and some people have no problems at all with AMD cards. It really depends on what games you play...

The 290 / 290X are cheaper than the 780 / 780Ti though so that's definitely a consideration. As new cards are probably not that far away anymore I don't think it makes sense to spend LOADS on brand new GPUs now so you may be best going for a cheap 290 (the card I have is on offer at the mo for £289 which is a great price) and then selling that and spending the rest of your budget once the new GPUs arrive.
 
Yer it is but it does give you an idea of what way to go. Personally, I am a fan of how games look and PhysX adds extra's that make games look great. If you watch vids of Batman with and without PhysX - Borderlands 2 - Metro last light - Assassins Creed Black Flag, you can see what you get extra with nVidia. For AMD, Mantle helps with CPU bottlenecks in BF4/Thief/Plants vS Zombies but with a 4790K, that won't be an issue for you.

I run nVidia cards though, so my opinion would come across as biased :D But go nVidia 780.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-349-AS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1341

Nice price on that :)
 
peaty94 said:
Hello All,

Im new here, but basically signed up to get some advice of you guys on here!

Basically i've started a new project after years of putting it off, as i now feel my current system is getting abit old.

Ive decided to go with a z97 build incl an i5 Haswell 4790k and the Asus hero motherboard but its the problem is the graphics card!

Ive leaned more towards nvidia as ive heard they are much better for support and rolling out drivers! is this true? My current options are:

780
780ti
290
290x

maybe 770 and save abit of money?

i will be playing on a 27"-30" screen which i havent brought yet (any recommendations?) but i want to play on ultra all setting but dont want overkill really and want to save money where i can, so the question is, do i wait for 800 series or buy now, but which card can you guys recommend that is future proof but not totally overkill as i think £500 for a card is a tad expensive.

anyway, thanks!
Click to expand...

Check my sig. I have no probs @1080p
 
I recently sold a 780 Classified and bought a 290x, What a mistake that was, All the claims about the non reference models fixing the temps seem to have been ignored by my card, The fanboy's will tell you that's just bad luck, but if you search around there's a lot of it going around so I'd go with Nvidia if I was you, More to the point I'd wait if you can as the 880 may be about soon. If you must go with a 290 or 290x go for an AMD only brand like Sapphire or XFX who haven't taken there gk110 coolers and ported them over. They seem to do better than people like Asus and MSI have done but personally I'd still go Nvidia.
 
Last edited:
nashathedog said:
I recently sold a 780 Classified and bought a 290x, What a mistake that was, All the claims about the non reference models fixing the temps seem to have been ignored by my card, The fanboy's will tell you that's just bad luck, but if you search around there's a lot of it going around so I'd go with Nvidia if I was you, More to the point I'd wait if you can as the 880 may be about soon. If you must go with a 290 or 290x go for an AMD only brand like Sapphire or XFX who haven't taken there gk110 coolers and ported them over. They seem to do better than people like Asus and MSI have done but personally I'd still go Nvidia.
Click to expand...

What card do you have? The 290 PCS+ runs cooler than most 780s.
 
nashathedog said:
I recently sold a 780 Classified and bought a 290x, What a mistake that was, All the claims about the non reference models fixing the temps seem to have been ignored by my card, The fanboy's will tell you that's just bad luck, but if you search around there's a lot of it going around so I'd go with Nvidia if I was you, More to the point I'd wait if you can as the 880 may be about soon. If you must go with a 290 or 290x go for an AMD only brand like Sapphire or XFX who haven't taken there gk110 coolers and ported them over. They seem to do better than people like Asus and MSI have done but personally I'd still go Nvidia.
Click to expand...

What brand model 290x you got?
 
+1 for the 290. Faster, cheaper, free games, Mantle. What more could you want? Unless there is some specific Nvidia features you require, then why pay more for less. YMMV though as always. :)
 
If you can afford a 780Ti then I don't know why you looking at other cards. It's value over 780/290/X isn't there but then again that's not what your paying for, if you not interested in bleeding edge performance no matter the cost you should be be looking a Radon 290 non x edition.
 
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