Switching from NVIDIA to AMD..some questions.

[marsha11]

So im thinking of Swapping my 970s for a pair of 290x 8gb advertised here.

Ive always bought Nvidia. If anyone could confirm a few things that would be most helpful. I game at 1440p and have an overclocked monitor of 110hz.


- The 290x's will run hotter and louder? My MSI 970s even a full load are very quiet and maintain low temps.

- AMD's driver updates and driver's in general arent as good as NVIDIA's?

- I will need to upgrade my XFX GOLD Black edition 750w PSU for say a 1050 PSU? My CPU is overclocked at 4.5g.

- Some games in SLI produced micro stutter, is this any worse or better in general with Crossfire?

- Finally im hoping that Crossfire 290x's will perform as well as if not better than the 970's in SLI.

Thanks

 

[marsha11]

Im already knocking at the 4gb vram door in some titles at this res. Plus im aiming for very high frames. This is why the 8gb is callling me.

 

[marsha11]

This would be a straight swap (a few quid extra). The only thing with my current setup is my 750w psu. From what ive read is just a shade under power.

I wouldnt be bothered if it was a single card or i gamed at 1080. But im at 1440p and im a stickler for everything maxed (within reason) and as near to my refresh rate as pos of 110hz.

 

[marsha11]

And now it seems new AMD 300 series cards are on the horizon and maybe Nvidia too. My head tells me too get a store credit and wait..... but how long. Dont think i can last 3-4 months.

 

[marsha11]

My 750w psu is an XFX Gold black edition for crossfire 290x's. Plus a 4.5g i5 3570 k. Will this do?

 

[marsha11]

1) Reference Vs reference card AMD isn't as good but reference design 290's are hard to come by and 3rd party designs like the one from XFX are very quiet even at at 100% load.

2) It's 2015 not 2002 both set of drivers from both companies are very capable.

3) A 750 watt PSU is pushing it but you should be ok.

4) Microstutter is always a problem with multiple card setups regardless of who's cards you use but they do tend to get fixed in driver updates and it's a lot better then it has been historically.

5) You should see a performance improvement. As you have already stated your 970's are already hitting 4Gb in some games which is an issue for the GTX970 in particular. You may have seen news articles that the only has 3.5Gb of ram that runs at the advertised speeds the remaining 0.5Gb runs a lot slower which could potentially impact performance you don't get that BS on a 290.

Thanks mate.

I know this ones very difficult to answer but whats the likley hood of the new 300 series single card giving more than the 8gb 290x's in crossfire?

 

[marsha11]

Little to none I would say. Likely they won't be 8gb on release either. That said even if it is 75-80% the performance of crossfire 290X, it would be the better choice in my humble opinion.

In your position I would get only one 8gb 290X and in 6 months time or so sell it and use the extra money saved to go to a 380X or 390X if that is around by then.

Otherwise I say go 8gb 290X Crossfire now. Just use them on stock though, if you want to oc, I would get a beefier power supply.

What happens if my powersupply isnt upto it and struggles with the 290's. Does it have a saftey cut off or something? Again Xfx gold black edition.

Should i go Sapphire model with ref cooler or either the MSI twin frozer or Powercolor. X fire.