Have the upgrade itch so want to replace my 7970 but I'm really stuck on what to get, Gaming on 24" 1920x1200 res (might go for higher res later on in the year) I've narrowed it down to: 1. 2 x R9 290 2. 2 x R9 290x 3. 2 x 780 So what should I go for, which combination will give me best bang for my buck?
I had exactly the same debate recently and I went for 2 x 780 because (a) the AMD cards are just too hot for my liking - I'm just not prepared to put something in my rig that's designed to run at 95 degrees - though as you're WC'ing you may well not have such a worry about them and (b) 2 x 780ti was just too rich for my tastes... Now the bit that you won't like to hear (although I know just how itchy the upgrade bug gets) - they'll all be overkill at 1920x1200... 2560x1440 etc - now that's a different story
At that res you're better off just choosing any of those cards in a single configuration. Unless you plan on adding another monitor or upgrading to a 1440, you're just throwing money away. If you are going to get 2 just get whatever is cheaper as they will all perform within a few percent of one-another and likely at framerates way over 60 anyway.
Cheers for the quick feedback guys. Was looking at the MSI 780 gaming edition which comes at £369 each from ebuyer and then I can add the water blocks at a later stage. I know it's going to be just overkill but the upgrade itch is killing me and it will push me to buy a higher resolution monitor
For what its worth, I cannot fault my recently purchased R290 of the MSI variety. Runs underload at 70 deg tops in single config - can see it getting a bit warmer in cross fire though Get 2 and upgrade to 1440p Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk
Ebuyer are doing KFA cards for £320 just now. Not the prettiest but nice and cheap. http://www.ebuyer.com/620192-kfa2-g...playport-pci-e-graphics-card-78xnh5dn8mst-oem I vote 780s too. I replaced my 7970 with a single 780 classified and was very impressed with the performance improvement. I game at 2560x1600 by the way.
I had a look at the KFA card and it's Fugly I would rather spend the extra and get the reference design or the msi and ill also be able to get a water block for the reference design Edit: Will my PSU have enough grunt to power 2 of the above gpus? It's a Corsair AX850
Your PSU will be fine! Did a sideways upgrade from GTX670 SLI to a single GTX780 Ti and am very impressed. Frames are much smoother with fewer dips in FPS during intense scenes. Have BF4 with all options maxed at a resolution of 2560 by 1440 and get a solid 60FPS with VSync on. Not bad for a single card!
I agree with you about the looks but I think it could be a reference card with a non reference cooler. Look at the nvidia badge above the PCI-E connector.
I'd grab a couple of R9 290 from Seb in the marketplace. At least then you have alot of performance for very little outlay. Then you can save the rest of the money to buy a GTX 880.
I've found the 780 to be an absolutely stonking card - for that reason I recommend it. Two will see you through most games at 4K (the only exceptions I can think of are Crysis 3 and the Metro series). Don't forget the 20%+ performance boost you'll get from overclocking as well .
As a triple 290 owner I'd buy a 780Ti add another in the future as people move on and your new screen appears.
Often hear complaints that Crossfire is the poor relation in comparison to SLI. I believe Sandy misses SLI because it appeared smoother. Never experienced Crossfire myself but I've had two SLI configurations with GTX 460 and GTX 670 and never felt let down by the performance.
I'm guessing he has heat issues with the 3 cards sat closed to each other?... AMD have realised the problem with their drivers in the past, and have sorted those issues out. As for GPU scaling, AMD & Nvidia pretty much scale the same. As you are going to watercool, I would go for 2 R9 290's as they overclock like crazy!
In which case the 780 is a no-brainer as the reference cooler is a bloody masterpiece of cooling technology.
Right what about these: 2 x Asus R9 290 2 of these work out @ £610 Or 2 x MSI 780 gaming 2 of these work out @ £740 If I get the 290s then I will have to get water blocks for them, which is an extra £150