Should I stay with 290s?

Champ · Sep 27, 2014

So I've really been thinking. I have 2 290s that I haven't yet used and planned to get one more for 4K. Then maxwell dropped and I was gonna sell the 290s for a loss and get 970s. Since I already have these cards and can cheaply buy a third, is it worth it to sell them for 970s? They are reference now, but I want to get them on a dedicated loop, but I figured I would have spun as much as getting 3 970s after everything is done. I'm guessing the performance is roughly the same of better if I can cool them?

ChristTheGreat · Sep 27, 2014

That is a hard choice.. 90s consume less power and a a little more powerful, for 380$.. You already have 2 290, but you could run 3 970s, for the wattage of 2 R9 290..

since you want a dedicated loop, I would first wait for the 970 waterblock. By selling the R9 290, since they are reference, I don't think you could get more than 250$ each...

2 970 in SLI, no need fr a waterblock I guess

Aquinus · Sep 27, 2014

Wait for the dust to settle before investing in 4K hardware. We're not talking a rock-solid experience yet here and it's a lot of money to drop down when you could potentially run into a litany of issues.

eidairaman1 · Sep 27, 2014

Stick to the 290s, wait another year before making a gc upgrade

RealNeil · Sep 27, 2014

Try the two 290s out and see if you like them. If they're good for what you're doing now, keep them and add another one later on.

I have two 280s in Crossfire and they've slayed everything I've thrown at them with ease,............................

GhostRyder · Sep 27, 2014

I would say wait before upgrading as the difference would not be night and day. It would be lower power and give you a little better performance but you would take a loss of money for not enough of a performance jump in my book to justify it.

I would say wait because you could pick up a third card easily and do some decent 4k. That is what I do with 3 290X cards and its a pretty good experience.

RejZoR · Sep 27, 2014

Oh god not the stupid power consumption thing again. Stick those two 290's in the system and enjoy.

veiledcascade · Sep 30, 2014

Is power consumption really an issue? I mean really. Ghostryder pretty much summed it up, the performance increase isn't exactly massive and may be pretty negligible depending on your own system. Unless of course you are running the same system they are in the benchmarking sites....

RealNeil · Oct 1, 2014

If you already have the pair of 290s on hand, why not try them out before you decide on something else?

Nordic · Oct 1, 2014

No point in upgrading unless you value power consumption a lot.

Champ · Oct 1, 2014

I also see they are still trying to increase performance with driver updates. I think I'll keep them for now.

RealNeil · Oct 1, 2014

Good call

Champ · Oct 1, 2014

In all honest they are getting some improvement in 4k, which is what I need. I had to haggle to get them, but just to let them go. I can't.

RealNeil · Oct 1, 2014

I hope that they work out for you. I would love to have a pair of R9-290s

claylomax · Oct 1, 2014

Keep the 290's.

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Should I stay with 290s?

Champ

ChristTheGreat

Aquinus

Resident Wat-man

eidairaman1

The Exiled Airman

RealNeil

GhostRyder

RejZoR

veiledcascade

RealNeil

Nordic

Champ

RealNeil

Champ

RealNeil

claylomax

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