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Help picking a gpu

ternity

ternity

ternity

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Joined
12 Feb 2014
Posts
277
Currently have an fx8350, 8gb corsair 1600mhz, 600 watt corsair cx600m and getting an asus M5A99X EVO R2.0.

I need help on getting a graphics card. I'm torn between the 290 or 290x (I've heard they're very similar. ) if I could have some advice on what to get (even nvidia) I'd appreciate it. Thanks a lot
 
290 if its between those two. Depending ont he game you play, you will be heavily bottlenecked.

I have a few 8350 chips and a 290x. I seem to be lucky by getting decent clockers, so have tried a few benchmarks and such and found the 290x to not be worth the premium for gamers. For bench markers, going 290 over 290x is a harder decisions but in game, i doubt you can see the difference.

If you dont play a game that could utalise the full power of the GPU with your CPU, you might be just as well off by getting something like a good 280x and putting the cash aside for a future upgrade.

What games do you play?

Between the 290 and 290x, i would get 290 unless you are into your benching. Between them the aftermarket coolers, the tri-x is my personal favorite as it has one of the best 290 coolers and Hynix memory. The MSI gaming is quieter and if you don't plan on overclocking, it is the better choice as it is cheaper of the two. If you don't touch the clocks, the type of memory you have and how great the cooler is, doesnt really matter.
 
ternity said:
Budget 40 ish I guess.
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AMD 290 or Nvidia 780 basically.

ternity said:
Is the 290x a big improvement over the 290 or are they practically the same? Don't mind going up a bit.
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The 290X is about 5-7% difference in performance give or take. Upto you if its worth the extra £100, most people would argue not but if you have the money and are happy to part with 5-7% extra performance for the extra £100 then go for it. You can achieve that performance increase with an easy overclock on a 290 btw! Also with a 290 you have a small chance to unlock it to a 290x but its a very small chance!
 
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It's just for high end games not benchmarking. I was planning on getting the wind force gigabyte. Why would it bottleneck btw ? I am somewhat of a novice at this.
 
ternity said:
It's just for high end games not bench marking. I was planning on getting the wind force gigabyte. Why would it bottleneck btw ? I am somewhat of a novice at this.
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For games which do not utalise your CPU's extra cores and which are particularly CPU intensive, you will find that you will get decreased performance compare to other people with more suited CPU's. Wouldnt worry too much, as though it depends very much on the game, the 8350 will still deliver enough performance in some of the games which badly utalise it, to make it playable at even high settings.

I was mentioning the bottleneck in case all you play are MMO's and emulators, which would see little significant improvement by getting a290/780 over a 280x.
 
Nope. I know what you mean though, tried rift which isn't multi thread and was getting 40 fps on medium. Which 290 would you recommend? I hear they have heat issues etc. Also is my psu good to stay?
 
None of the newer ones have heat issues. The PSU is cutting it close, as the CX series have cheap internals and my 8350 + 290x was triggering my overcurrent protection on my new-ish OCZ 750 Fatal1ty PSU, which has more amps on the 12v rail (though they were overclocked).

If you dont overclock at all, you will be fine but it simply is not worth it. Overclocking the CPU will show some decent gains in most games, and the GPU's clock pretty easily too if you arnt terribly unlucky.

MSI gaming 290 if you don't overclock

Sapphire Tri-x 290 if you do overclock.

This PSU if you are replacing it:
YOUR BASKET
1 x EVGA SuperNova NEX 650W '80 Plus Gold' Modular Power Supply £79.99
Total : £89.59 (includes shipping : £8.00).



Currently on offer. It is modular, has great internals and is by EVGA! Gold rated modular PSU's of this quality usually cost far more, especially since the mining trend.
 
Sapphire is slightly louder but the cooler is much better, albeit really long. The Sapphire is meant to have generally higher clocking memory too. Chip wise, there is no difference and at the same clocks, will perform the same.

The MSI card is slightly quieter and runs a little warmer (still quite cool). It is also a bit smaller, so easier to fit in some cases.

Both cards also feature a warranty that allows cooler removal, however there is no waterblock available for the MSI card, where the Sapphire can use reference block, if you ever decide to go into watercooling.
 
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Okay. That's amazing help Thank you so much. I do plan on overclocking as I also purchased a corsair h80i but sadly cannot afford that psu aswell. Do you think mine will work okay as long as I don't overclock til I get a new psu?
 
290 or 780 for your budget which you choose is purely a personal choice, imo there both great cards and either is as capable, Except if you want to mine then its 290 all the way
 
i have a similiar spec and moved up to a 290 from a 7950 and there is a big improvement
the 600w will be fine, even with a slight overclock,
im running 1100 core 1400 memory
 
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