2x USED R9 290x vs. new GTX 980

[Oterspiser]

one of my ole faithful HD 6990 died in my arms today and I'm taking that as a sign that an upgrade is in order.
I looked up my options and I'm wondering:

2 used AMD R9 290x for approx 700$
2 new Nvidia GTX 780 for 750$
or
Nvidias new succubus of a card: the GTX 980 for about 700$

As far as CPU goes I think my I7-3770K will do for a while, but I'm wondering if a bump to 16Gb Ram would be worth it.

 

[Oterspiser]

Oh, forgot to mention.
I intend to run a landscape Eyefinity setup 5750x1080.

 

[Arjai]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_980/28.html

 

[Durvelle27]

2x 970s yelds better price/performance and is more efficient

2x 970s roughly $650

 

[Oterspiser]

Cheapest GTX 970 I could find would cost me about 400$ a piece

 

[GhostRyder]

If your not able to get GTX 970s then my suggestion is for the 290X pair as they are darn good at eyefinity compared to the other options.

 

[Durvelle27]

Cheapest GTX 970 I could find would cost me about 400$ a piece

Are you in the USA

 

[Oterspiser]

Are you in the USA

No, Norway

 

[eidairaman1]

290s hands down. A lil easier to implement since you had a 6990 already

 

[arbiter]

290s hands down. A lil easier to implement since you had a 6990 already

Likely 290's would be easier but if you want to save $ on power 970's use about half the power of 290x's. looking around 300-350watts under real use vs 600watts (290x CF)

 

[eidairaman1]

Likely 290's would be easier but if you want to save $ on power 970's use about half the power of 290x's. looking around 300-350watts under real use vs 600watts (290x CF)

power savings are minimal at best

 

[yogurt_21]

idk the 780's aren't too far behind the 290x and 50$ more nets you new? I'd go 2x 780 if it were me. fastest performance that includes a full warranty and getting to be the first to touch the cards since factory. The 290X's will be the fastest solution overall but no warranty and you have to worry about what the last guy did to them. The 980 will also work if you don't want the headaches of multicard solutions.

 

[Frick]

power savings are minimal at best

A few hundred watts is not minimal in this day and age.

 

[newconroer]

First, why buy the 290x and not regular 290s?
Second, at that extreme resolution, you want 4GB products.
Third, I noticed you said 780, not 780ti. If not the ti, then the AMD vs NVidia comparison here is heavily in AMD's favor.
Fourth, any combination of the two cards you've listed will beat a single 980.

Two used r9 290 for the win!

 

[Nordic]

If you care about your power bill I would go 970 sli. If not, 290x crossfire is an easy choice. It is a significant amount more power used though, and would be hot and loud. It would have the performance you want though.

 

[newconroer]

If you care about your power bill I would go 970 sli. If not, 290x crossfire is an easy choice. It is a significant amount more power used though, and would be hot and loud. It would have the performance you want though.

The power will be less with the 970s. However the heat and noise will be about the same, if not more depending on the cooler and sink setup(particularly in contrast to non X 290 models).
Additionally, we don't know yet how well the new Nvidia cards undervolt, while we do know that the R290 undervolt exceptionally well.

If someone is hell bent on Nvidia with budget in mind, then the smart play here is to give it a month or two until the 780ti come down in price, and get two of those.

The new GTX cards are just architecture refreshers, to wipe out existing Kepler products from the market, so that Maxwell can take their place and then rightfully be superseded by Pascal.

 

[Nordic]

The power will be less with the 970s. However the heat and noise will be about the same, if not more depending on the cooler and sink setup(particularly in contrast to non X 290 models).
Additionally, we don't know yet how well the new Nvidia cards undervolt, while we do know that the R290 undervolt exceptionally well.

Noise does depend upon cooling setup, but you must admit a 970 will run cooler at load compared to a 290 or 290x. It is easier to cool and will more likely be significantly quieter.

I am a fan of undervolted as opposed to overclocking in many circumstances. Saying this, undervolting ability I don't think it is a valid reason to purchase. You can not undervolt a 290 or 290x to match a 970.

It really comes down to if this buyer values. In fact he seems to not want to pay the extra to get 970's so out of his options a 290x crossfire would be his ideal option.[/QUOTE]

 

[arbiter]

power savings are minimal at best

A few hundred watts is not minimal in this day and age.

power savings minimal at best? A 290x, 1 card alone draw's ~300watts, 1 gtx970 is rated around 150watts, even with boost clock 2 of them probably only 300-350watts. So you are saving 300watts power electric and HEAT. If it was under 100watts it would be minimal but its almost 3x that.

 

[EarthDog]

Their power rating includes the boost clock...overclocking beyond that point is of course, not.

There is significant savings between the two clearly though as as was mentioned its a 2 300W cards vs 2 150W cards. While its only a couple of bucks a month in typical gaming usage, that is a big difference.

I don't understand why it would be 'easier to implement' 2 290's either... that makes no sense because its the same level of effort as drivers have to be reinstalled anyway.

 

[arbiter]

I don't understand why it would be 'easier to implement' 2 290's either... that makes no sense because its the same level of effort as drivers have to be reinstalled anyway.

Reason is he had a Radeon HD 6990. which is a dual gpu card in CF so he already has the experience with that hence the easier part.

 

[EarthDog]

Oh enabling it. Ok. seems worthy to say its easier... (?).

 

[Naito]

Out of what you have listed, the 290X would give you the most performance, but the downsides are that they are used (thus no warranty?) and will use more power. The GTX 780s aren't that far behind and have the benefit of being new, giving you the cover of warranty. However, mimicking what most others have said here, I'd go a set of GTX 970s in SLI, for that little bit more. Use less power, cooler, etc.

 

[Cybrnook2002]

2 x 290X's, easy. That is the most raw power for your use. Forget the small power savings of a single card. Oooh, extra few dollars a month. (Plus you mention you want to run "eyefinity". that is only AMD. Nvidia has "surround".)

 

[tajoh111]

The problem with used 290x's, particularly the well priced ones is that they went through the mining ringer. At that point, you don't want to touch the cards.

Mining cards are left on 24 hour a day and the workloads they went through typically cause them to run full tilt. While mining, a single 290x can consume 350watts or more. Significantly more than a gaming load.

Running a card full tilt 24 hours a day for 6 months for example is the equivalent someone gaming 3 hours a day for 4 years. It could be even more aged than this considering the card went through worse workloads than a typical gaming situation and it didn't get a breather.

In addition, your in Norway. From the charts I see, Norway has some of the highest electricity costs in europe at around 0.20 euros per kWh. This is about 2.5 times what you see in USA. So 300watts of power of additional usage is not small small chunk of change in the long run.

I repeat what every one else is saying. Go for gtx 970s SLI, even if you have to save a little longer. It will save you money in the long run and the risk of your cards dying without a warranty is averted.

 

[RCoon]

970 is an obvious choice, if you're really desperate for bleeding edge frames, then get the 980 instead. Every other GPU at this point is entirely irrelevant, both performance and pricewise, until somebody brings something better to the table.