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Quick upgrade for 6870?

wildest_jjk said:
Thanks again,

In terms of technology etc are the 290's and 290X's pretty similar?

I'm guessing it's just slight tweaks in specs?

Thanks :)
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They are essentially the same hardware, but the 290 has slightly fewer stream processors than the 290x. When both 290 and 290x are at the same clock speed, the 290 would probably be only around 5% slower than the 290X, so the 290 is better bang for bucks, considering it has 95% of 290x's performance at 75-80% of its price.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
They are essentially the same hardware, but the 290 has slightly fewer stream processors than the 290x. When both 290 and 290x are at the same clock speed, the 290 would probably be only around 5% slower than the 290X, so the 290 is better bang for bucks, considering it has 95% of 290x's performance at 75-80% of its price.
Click to expand...

This ^^^^

The only difference is the 290 has 2560 Stream Processors to the 290X 2816.

Other than that its the same 64 ROP, 512Bit Bus, 8 ACE Unit GPU.
 
Thanks again for the responses.

I think I am going to go with the R9 290 for various reasons. I think for future proofing it does seem to be the better option compared to the 280X, although it's more than I wanted to spend.

So before I finally decide which one would you guys suggest based on performance, sound levels, cooling, warranty etc? These are the four I have been looking at:

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-334-AS&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-133-GI&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-341-SP&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-166-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=1752

If there are any further suggestions please feel free.

Thanks again!
 
They are all good choices in equal measure, but to pick one it would be the Sapphire, its the best looking one. IMO :)
 
Marine-RX179 said:
Would best avoid MSI for now since there's still a quite common problem around with the fans leaking oil etc.
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Thats a Sapphire card in his link, want to borrow my specs? :p

Agreed with MSI Cards, probably best still avoided now that i think about it.
 
wildest_jjk said:
Haha thanks again guys, although the price keeps going up lol.

I think its out of:

Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC WindForce

Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC

Powercolor Radeon R9 290 PCS+ OC

Is it better to look at the core clock speed? If so then the Gigabyte and Powercooler are surely better? The Asus which I have just discounted is only 1000Mhz.

Thanks again :)
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Clock speed is irrelevant if you'll be overclocking the card yourself (those factory overclock are very modest amount that pretty much any 290 can do).

You should consider price and warranty/rma service instead.
 
Marine-RX179 said:
Clock speed is irrelevant if you'll be overclocking the card yourself (those factory overclock are very modest amount that pretty much any 290 can do).

You should consider price and warranty/rma service instead.
Click to expand...

Thanks again.

So should I look at the standard 290's then? At the moment I am thinking the Sapphire 290 Tri-X OC. How would I overclock this, especially if I get the standard version?
 
Somit like a 670 2nd hand for about 80 quid would do ya at 1080p for awhile yet.

If you want somit better i duno probs a 270 or 280 probably or 776-770 maybe?

Tho if u wana save some money like i said should be somit like a 670 going for 90 quid on members market which u should have access too or a whatever takes ur fancy. Especially if your only at 1080p res monitors and dont plan to upgrade to a higher res for quite awhile. If you do then get somit a bit better than a 670 maybe 3gb min or so i dunno. Wouldnt get a 290 unless ur serious and have the monitor and cpu for it.

Edit - just seen in MM a 7950 for £114 id snap that up tbh.
 
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SkeeterUK said:
Somit like a 670 2nd hand for about 80 quid would do ya at 1080p for awhile yet.

If you want somit better i duno probs a 270 or 280 probably or 776-770 maybe?

Tho if u wana save some money like i said should be somit like a 670 going for 90 quid on members market which u should have access too or a whatever takes ur fancy. Especially if your only at 1080p res monitors and dont plan to upgrade to a higher res for quite awhile. If you do then get somit a bit better than a 670 maybe 3gb min or so i dunno. Wouldnt get a 290 unless ur serious and have the monitor and cpu for it.

Edit - just seen in MM a 7950 for £114 id snap that up tbh.
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Thanks for the response. I do see your point and it was how I was originally thinking. However I don't really want to go down the second hand route. For future proofing I think an R9 290 would be good. Especially when it comes to purchasing new components and extra monitors (all of which are quite likely).

If anyone else does agree with perhaps a 780 again then I'm willing to rethink though. Anyway I want to order today and have just been looking at the video card benchmark here:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html#value

When I look at the price performance the GTX780/770 seem to be better. They are also higher on the list. Is this website testing something more specifically that the Nvidias are better at?

I'm still concerned I should be going with Nvidia. If not then it's likely I will be ordering a Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X OC. Any help appreciated again.

Thanks everyone :)
 
A 780 is faster in some games a 290 is faster in others. Both are great cards and roughly equal overall and either will serve your purpose.
290's are cheaper than 780 normally so unless your after a feature/s of Nvidia then that tri-x should be good for you
 
triss said:
A 780 is faster in some games a 290 is faster in others. Both are great cards and roughly equal overall and either will serve your purpose.
290's are cheaper than 780 normally so unless your after a feature/s of Nvidia then that tri-x should be good for you
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Thanks, I don't think I'm after any particular features. Although it is always annoying have to disable things like vsync, though I don't know what benefit it gives.

The Gigabyte Radeon R9 290 OC WindForce has a slightly higher core speed and a longer warranty than the Sapphire Radeon R9 290 Tri-X OC. Does anyone have either of these cards?
 
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