Hypothetical question.

[humbug]

So many games these days seem to ship in an unfinished state.

Yeah, BF4 still isn't finished.

 

[IC3]

I would say yes, because:
- GTX680's will cover the cost
- Less trouble with SLI/CF and Drivers(?)
- Mantle and DX12
- More VRAM and Better bandwidth
- Newer tech usually gets better support
- TrueAudio (For better gaming experience )
- Less heat and lower power consumption
- You know, you want an upgrade
- If you ever CF, there will be no tweaking (Correct me LtMatt, if I'm wrong)
- AMD is better value (fanboy talk )
- Future-proof (I hate this word, but still...)

 

[stulid]

Out of curiosity Stulid are your 680's 2gb versions ?

Yes they are.

 

[humbug]

Yes they are.

i think the 4GB on the 290 would serve you better in the long run.

 

[IC3]

Yeah, BF4 still isn't finished.

BF4 should have been an update to BF3, I know they've to make money but the newer the game is, the more ripped off I feel

i think the 4GB on the 290 would serve you better in the long run.

+1,

 

[pgi947]

True, afaik Titanfall has (or had, haven't updated drivers in a while) the same multicard issues on Nvidia too, 1 card = 60fps, 2 cards = 40fps, its like skyrims launch all over again

Anyhow on topic, as I said above, if the 1080 screen is 120+hz I'd keep the 680's as vram should be fine, 256bit shouldn't be that much of a constraint and will give you the high FPS you'd be after, otherwise a 290 would be better suited with crossfire in the pipeline at a later date

 

[Five.Stars]

If I had a 1080p monitor, no. At 1440p then yeah the extra vram would be useful. The narrow bus of the 680's really hurts at the bigger res I believe. Would have to research it further to be certain though.

 

[IC3]

If I had a 1080p monitor, no. At 1440p then yeah the extra vram would be useful. The narrow bus of the 680's really hurts at the bigger res I believe. Would have to research it further to be certain though.

Yep, 7950 has beaten 680 in higher res.

Rusty's CF 7950's vs SLI 680's benchmarks

Edit

Only just realized the res the test was carried out on, but still AMD is better for higher res

 

[stulid]

Thanks guys.

I think the guy has made his mind up and seems keen to do this.

I'm also keen to sell my 280X's for a 290/290X after playing with one. Can't see a reason why you need anything more.

 

[arc@css]

Would you sell them for a single R9 290 with effectively zero cost to yourself, would you do it?

Yes, but only if I wasn't happy with heat, noise and mulit-gpu consistency. If things were mainly trouble free, I'd keep both cards.

 

[Kaapstad]

Thanks guys.

I think the guy has made his mind up and seems keen to do this.

I'm also keen to sell my 280X's for a 290/290X after playing with one. Can't see a reason why you need anything more.

Non ref 290P definately

The GTX 680s are still a quick setup but they are old tech.

Grabing a 290P opens doors and gives you the option to add a second later, if you want more performance from the GTX 680s you would have to go 3 or 4 way sli which can turn into quite an expensive exercise.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

Still not totally sure what everyone has against the reference 290P/X cards?
Yes they can be a bit hot and/or noisy, but they're also cheap.
If you have or are planning a custom water loop I'd be tempted just to get the reference cards and put blocks on those rather than the custom cards. Memory clocking seems like the only thing that might be improved on custom cards (at this point anyway).

 

[spankingtexan]

Right now I'd hang on to the 680's but only because of 3D vision and PhysX, if that sort of thing isn't his thing then I'd be tempted to get a 290, my preference though would be to get a used 780 and look at adding in another a little later.

 

[triss]

I'd swap for the 290 better long term imo. would have been a bit harder choice if they were 4GB 680's

 

[whyscotty]

1080 - Stick
1440 - Swap - Xfire later if needed

 

[LtMatt]

Still not totally sure what everyone has against the reference 290P/X cards?
Yes they can be a bit hot and/or noisy, but they're also cheap.
If you have or are planning a custom water loop I'd be tempted just to get the reference cards and put blocks on those rather than the custom cards. Memory clocking seems like the only thing that might be improved on custom cards (at this point anyway).

Agreed. My 290's (in crossfire) now run at 80c-84c max at a fan speed of 50-54% overclocked. They get a bad rep but i bet its similar temps to what a reference 780/titan/780TI runs at. This is with the cards overclocked (1000/1250 5+% overclock from typical 290 speed) and vsync off in bf4, so worst case scenario with silly high fps.