Hi guys, I've currently got a XFX R9 290 4GB in my system which uses the reference cooler. I'm really out of the hardware loop these days and I don't really game anymore so I'm not looking to upgrade, but do still need a bit of raw power for my endless football manager addiction. I use a Corsair Obsidian 250D mini-itx so the card does get quite toasty, although the rest of the system runs nice and cool. I'm after a quiter GFX card at a similar performance level - any suggestions? Thanks!
Should imagine a 570 would suit you fine if you wanted to stay on the red team. If happy to go green, a 1060 would be my recommendation. 3GB or 6GB if you're at 1080p.
Notably, AMD cards are out of stock almost anywhere due to the recent bitcoin surge - this is a bit of a pain if you want to use a FreeSync monitor! Might be worth waiting for Vega if you're in that situation, which is about 2 months away.
GTX 1050 Ti Honestly, I haven't been so impressed with a GPU in years. My Strix card is happy to boost at 1900Mhz all day long without breaking 50*C (so the fans don't even start up!), the RAM went all the way up to 8Ghz and on the F1 2016 built in benchmark, with everything set to high and TSAA enabled, I get 70 minimum, 81 average and 93 max FPS @ 1920x1080... That's insane performance for a £120-140 graphics card that practically runs passive and, depending on model, doesn't even require more than PCI-E slot power. But yeah, RX-series card availability is shocking right now...
What is the warranty situation on your 290? Reason I ask is if you reapply the thermal paste, and maybe have a crack at undervolting, you could shave off several degrees and as a result fan noise without having to spend anything. Just a thought, if not I would say a RX470 or RX570 would be a good upgrade but currently not worth it with the stock and inflated price issues, you have Ethereum to thank for that!
I'm looking at a similar purchase - I had a 390 so ideally would want similar performance as I'm finally using my 1440p monitor. The 1050TI is tempting but doesn't seem to match the performance of a 290/390 from looking at the benchmarks. A 3GB 1060 seems closer. Failing that a second hand 970 would be good but they're suddenly in short supply!
https://www.scan.co.uk/products/nzx...c-thermaltake-zalman-cpu-coolers-on-nvida-amd https://www.scan.co.uk/products/corsair-h55-factory-refurbished-hydro-series-cpu-cooler
This looks tempting, looks like a small step down in performance but given I hardly game I probably wouldn't notice. I'd be a little aggrieved at losing money though for it, not sure what my 290 fetches now?
