GTX 780 Lightning/Classified VS R9-290X VS GTX 780Ti

[icenote]

So, I'm kind of in the market for a new GPU and I'm definitely interested in one of these.

GTX 780 Classified/Lightning. CHEAPER now. Superior cooling. Better performance than reference 290X(?)

290X - More VRAM (Say what you will, but more = better), Mantle potentially being a game changer. Not digging the heat though

780Ti - more cores? Better than Titan?

How will a non reference 780 like a classy or lightning compare against an 290x? I know in most benchmarks, the ref slightly beats a ref 780 but not by a noticeable amount.

Also, how much faster are we looking at for the 780Ti. If the performance is going to be supremely better, I coooould get that, but that being said, I am disappointed that Nvidia bragged about this being the most powerful GPU, yet keeping "only" 3GB of VRAM.

 

[LAN_deRf_HA]

Based on the Ti spec even a 780 could match it easily with a clock boost, but naturally that gap would open up again when both are overclocked. From my understanding overclocking the 290X doesn't quite work without serious cooling. You'll just be limited by the throttling which is I'm assuming why it's performance gain from overclocking is so low in the tpu review. I'd want an ACX3 on it to be sure there was good headroom, but that's another $80. All things considered a mature aftermarket 780 design seems pretty appealing. Easier to cool, less noise, and great overclocking gains. The Ti is more of the same at a higher price. I'm curious if it will launch with custom designs or if it will be locked down like the Titan.

 

[hotdun]

My guess is that the Ti will be limited on overclocking headroom and similar to the performance of an overclocked classy.

 

[terroralpha]

small disclaimer:
before i say anything, i would like to point out that I am a computer hardware enthusiast. not an nvidia/amd/intel/hp/ etc enthusiast. i try out whatever looks promising. i've owned many cards, like 2x gtx 470, 2x gtx 570, 2x gtx 680, 3x HD6970, 2x HD 5870, and many many others before that. my first fancy graphic card was an AOpen 6800GT. and AOpen stopped making graphic cards like 7 years ago. so i've been at this a while.


now the actual post:
i OWN both cards. i was able to snag an MSI 290x on release day from newegg and picked up a dirt cheap GTX 780 two days later. i like both cards. but the 290x makes me nervous. sometimes i can hear the fan through my headphones. and not only does the 290 heat up to nearly 100*c, it heats everything around it as well, including my $2000 SAS controller card. i had the SAS controller fail on me due to over heating yesterday.

so lets say you find a better way to cool this card, and i wouldn't recommend anything short of water cooling on this sucker, you should still worry about power draw. it pulls 60 watts more than an overclocked GTX 780 when playing games. when watching videos it pulls nearly 100 watts more than the same GTX 780.

driver updates may or may not fix this, but don't hold your breath and pray for a miracle. i don't think it will get much better than this. i've never seen dramatic power/heat reduction with matured drivers in the past. it's usually very modest.

the performance difference between the two is marginal at best. no tangible difference.

now for the 780 Ti... you can count on nVidia to price this thing at $750. or maybe even higher. i wouldn't bother with it, especially since nvidia is giving out all kinds of crazy coupons with their GTX 780.

in conclusion, if i were you i would do one of two things:
1) find a cheap (sub $500) GTX 780 and buy it.
or
2) wait until non reference 290x appear and buy that instead. by then prices will soften up a bit and rebates will become abundant.

the reference 290x feels more like a BETA product than anything else.
for those who are skeptical of whether or not i actually own these cards, i attached screen shots of my newegg invoices (with private info censored of course). that's the best i can do for you

 

[Jack1n]

290x + ARCTIC COOLING ACCEL-X3 Fluid Dynamic VGA Cooler -...

 

[terroralpha]

290x + ARCTIC COOLING ACCEL-X3 Fluid Dynamic VGA Cooler -...

it could work. i don't own one of these but the reviews suggest that this cooler takes up nearly 3.5 expansion slots. that means it will make your 290x nearly twice as thick. for those of us with other expansion cards in place, this isn't a good solution. for anyone who ever is considering CF in the future, this wont work either.

 

[icenote]

Bump now that the card is actually released

I am REALLY looking at a regular 780 Classified/Lightning but also looking at the Ti model.

I'd really like you guys opinion if the extra performance is worth the 150+ that the Ti has over the Classy. Most benchmarks seem to cover the reference 780 to a Ti and I would like to know how a Classy compares.

Thanks!

 

[radrok]

You'll need a good overclock to reach a 780 ti, especially if overclocked.

The overclocking range of 780s ti vary from 1160 MHz up to 1250 MHz and even more for good parts.

For a 780 classy to reach a 780 ti at those clocks it would need something in the neighborhood of 1350-1450 MHz.

This is talking 780 ti on stock voltage. I'm fairly sure the unlocked voltage mod will come out soon for the 780 ti and reference will take 1.3v safely (with good cooling), what 1.3v will bring? I can clock my 2688 GK110s at 1400-1450 MHz and there's no 780 classy that can stay behind it without going LN2.

 

[EarthDog]

Classy is a few % faster is all. If you want best potential on stock bios, use the galaxy HOF as it has thehighest % power limit. Youn will need that. The lightning, sadly would be the last card I get of the three 780s. Now modded bios, lightning or classy.

 

[kvist1992]

The GTX780Ti is a very powerfull card, but the price is set pretty high, compared to the R290X. If you use watercooling, a R9 290X would be great!