Upgrade from GTX670 to 2x R9 290 or R9 290X worth it?

shovenose · Dec 1, 2013

So, I have a MicroATX case and mobo and I'd need to buy a new PSU but I think I could make it work.

Right now I have a Sparkle Calibre nVidia GeForce GTX 670 2GB.

What do you think my best option would be:
-keep the GTX670 if I would not notice a huge improvement in either upgrade
-2x CrossFire R9 290
-1x R9 290X

I'll wait for aftermarket coolers but would the upgrade be worth it?
I use three 23" monitors I usually just game on one but if AMD Eyefinity worked better than nVidia Surround I'd do it across all three.

All the best,
shovenose

Edit: Heck, I'd probably be better off with a new non-small case and motherboard as well, if I went the CF R9 290 route. But really, is it worth it?

mstenholm · Dec 1, 2013

With the information given about what you want from a upgrade I would say
a: You will toast the rest off your small box if you run two off these room heaters in it
b: daaa

Edit: you will of course wait for an after marked cooling solution and get a at least 2*140 mm fans in your NEW case.

BarbaricSoul · Dec 1, 2013

I was just in the same situation, but got impatient in waiting for the custom-cooler 290x cards and decided the get a EVGA ACX cooled GTX 780ti. And I do mean I was just in your position. I ordered the 780ti Thanksgiving day. It hasn't even arrived yet.

For crossfired R9 290 cards, I'd definitely go ATX. With 290 cards having very close to the same performance as the 290X, the 290 cards will definitely be faster. But even with better coolers, they will still produce a lot of heat, it'll just be dissipated faster. Also meaning the heat is being put in the surrounding air faster. I would imagine a single custom cooler 290X would be ok in a micro-ATX case, so long as you have plenty of ventilation. My previous 7970 OC'ed to 1100/1400 would handle just about any game at 1600p, so I would imagine a custom-cooled 290X would have no problem with any game at all.

Kursah · Dec 1, 2013

Well I'm not a huge fan of dual-card setups so I'd say wait for the aftermarket designed 290X's to come out and see what works for you. I'm sure it'll handle the triple monitors better than your 670. If your case has good exhaust that would be critical to keeping everything stable imho. More GPU power = more heat in the case....as always but even moreso with the 290's. I'm sure it's performance would be well worth it though!

Kaynar · Dec 1, 2013

Not worth to crossfire new AMD cards, too much heat from both cards in ur case will throttle them after few minutes of gaming.... You need watercooling for those.

radrok · Dec 1, 2013

Get a single custom 290x and forget CFX/SLI, both of those technologies are a brilliant gamble and a single 290x is plentifully faster than your current setup.

Custom 290x shouldn't be that far away, just today some info on the 290x Lightning has leaked.

the54thvoid · Dec 1, 2013

radrok said:
Get a single custom 290x and forget CFX/SLI, both of those technologies are a brilliant gamble and a single 290x is plentifully faster than your current setup.

Custom 290x shouldn't be that far away, just today some info on the 290x Lightning has leaked.

Link please! :clap:

EDIT: Found it on Videocardz....

purecain · Dec 3, 2013

with a single 290x IN batman Arkham origins I get fps, 98 - 170 ingame fps.... runs silky smooth on ultra settings...8xAA@1920x1200... :toast:

System Name	Sierra ~ Server
Processor	Core i5-11600K ~ Core i3-12100
Motherboard	Asus Prime B560M-A AC ~ MSI PRO B760M-P
Cooling	CM 212 Black RGB Edition ~ Intel Stock Cooler
Memory	64GB (2x 32GB) DDR4-3600 ~ 32GB (4x 8GB) DDR4-3200
Video Card(s)	XFX Radeon RX 6950 XT ~ EVGA GeForce GTX 970
Storage	4TB Samsung 990 Pro with Heatsink NVMe SSD ~ 2TB Kingston NV1 NVMe SSD + 500GB WD Blue SATA SSD
Display(s)	2x Dell S2721QS 4K 60Hz ~ N/A
Case	Asus Prime AP201 - Open Frame Chassis
Power Supply	Thermaltake GF1 850W ~ Thermaltake Smart 500W
Software	Windows 11 Pro ~ Proxmox VE
Benchmark Scores	Laptops: Dell Latitude E7270, Dell Latitude 14 Rugged 5420.

System Name	The work PC /2700x/5950x
Processor	3900X stock/ 2700x stock/ 5950x 4200 MHz fixed @ 1,056-1,08V
Motherboard	Gigabyte AORUS Master X570/2xMSI X470 M7 AC
Cooling	Custom WC XSPC RX480, Laing DDC, XSPC Laing DDC Top V3 and EK Velocity/NH15/NH-U12S SE
Memory	32 GB Viper 3600/14 /16 GB Trident Z F4-4000C18D-16GTZSW 3600 /32 GB G Skill Flare CL14 3400
Video Card(s)	2070 Super X MSI/GTX 970 MSI/ GTX 970 MSI
Storage	1 TB SSD+500 GB NVMe / 500 GB SSD/ 500 GB SSD
Display(s)	Dell UltraSharp U2518D/2408WFP
Case	Corsair 800D / Lian test bench/NZXT 500
Power Supply	AX 850 Titanium/AX 860i/AX 760
Software	Dual boot/Win 7 & 10 / Linux / Win 10

System Name	Barb's Domain
Processor	i9 10850k 5.1GHz all cores
Motherboard	MSI MPG Z490 GAMING EDGE WIFI
Cooling	Deep Cool Assassin III
Memory	2*16gig Corsair LPX DDR4 3200
Video Card(s)	RTX 4080 FE
Storage	500gb Samsung 980 Pro M2 SSD, 500GB WD Blue SATA SSD, 2TB Seagate Hybrid SSHD
Display(s)	Dell - S3222DGM 32" 2k Curved/ASUS VP28UQG 28" 4K (ran at 2k), Sanyo 75" 4k TV
Case	SilverStone Fortress FT04
Audio Device(s)	Bose Companion II speakers, Corsair - HS70 PRO headphones
Power Supply	Corsair RM850x (2021)
Mouse	Logitech G502
Keyboard	Logitech Orion Spectrum G910
VR HMD	Oculus Quest 2
Software	Windows 10 Pro 64 bit
Benchmark Scores	https://www.3dmark.com/spy/34962882

System Name	Kursah's Gaming Rig 2018 (2022 Upgrade) - Ryzen+ Edition \| Gaming Laptop (Lenovo Legion 5i Pro 2022)
Processor	R7 5800X @ Stock \| i7 12700H @ Stock
Motherboard	Asus ROG Strix X370-F Gaming BIOS 6203\| Legion 5i Pro NM-E231
Cooling	Noctua NH-U14S Push-Pull + NT-H1 \| Stock Cooling
Memory	TEAMGROUP T-Force Vulcan Z 32GB (2x16) DDR4 4000 @ 3600 18-20-20-42 1.35v \| 32GB DDR5 4800 (2x16)
Video Card(s)	Palit GeForce RTX 4070 JetStream 12GB \| CPU-based Intel Iris XE + RTX 3070 8GB 150W
Storage	4TB SP UD90 NVME, 960GB SATA SSD, 2TB HDD \| 1TB Samsung OEM NVME SSD + 4TB Crucial P3 Plus NVME SSD
Display(s)	Acer 28" 4K VG280K x2 \| 16" 2560x1600 built-in
Case	Corsair 600C - Stock Fans on Low \| Stock Metal/Plastic
Audio Device(s)	Aune T1 mk1 > AKG K553 Pro + JVC HA-RX 700 (Equalizer APO + PeaceUI) \| Bluetooth Earbuds (BX29)
Power Supply	EVGA 750G2 Modular + APC Back-UPS Pro 1500 \| 300W OEM (heavy use) or Lenovo Legion C135W GAN (light)
Mouse	Logitech G502 \| Logitech M330
Keyboard	HyperX Alloy Core RGB \| Built in Keyboard (Lenovo laptop KB FTW)
Software	Windows 11 Pro x64 \| Windows 11 Home x64

System Name	My PC
Processor	i7 4790k @4.4ghz
Motherboard	Gigabyte z97m-d3h
Cooling	Corsair H105
Memory	4x4GB Corsair Dominator Platinum 2133-9-11-11-31-1T
Video Card(s)	GTX970 Stric oc
Storage	Samsung 840Pro 512GB
Display(s)	Asus ROG SWIFT
Case	Lian Li 359
Audio Device(s)	Denon DA-300USB / Denon AH-D5000
Power Supply	Corsair AX860
Mouse	Roccat Kone Pure Optical
Keyboard	Corsair K70
Software	Win10 64-bit home

Upgrade from GTX670 to 2x R9 290 or R9 290X worth it?

shovenose

mstenholm

BarbaricSoul

Kursah

Super Moderator

Kaynar

radrok

the54thvoid

Intoxicated Moderator

purecain

Processor	8700k Intel
Motherboard	z370 MSI Godlike Gaming
Cooling	Triple Aquacomputer AMS Copper 840 with D5
Memory	TridentZ RGB G.Skill C16 3600MHz
Video Card(s)	GTX 1080 Ti
Storage	Crucial MX SSDs
Display(s)	Dell U3011 2560x1600 + Dell 2408WFP 1200x1920 (Portrait)
Case	Core P5 Thermaltake
Audio Device(s)	Essence STX
Power Supply	AX 1500i
Mouse	Logitech
Keyboard	Corsair
Software	Win10

Processor	Ryzen 7800X3D
Motherboard	MSI MAG Mortar B650 (wifi)
Cooling	be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 4
Memory	32GB Kingston Fury
Video Card(s)	Gainward RTX4070ti
Storage	Seagate FireCuda 530 M.2 1TB / Samsumg 960 Pro M.2 512Gb
Display(s)	LG 32" 165Hz 1440p GSYNC
Case	Asus Prime AP201
Audio Device(s)	On Board
Power Supply	be quiet! Pure POwer M12 850w Gold (ATX3.0)
Software	W10

System Name	ROG 7900X3d By purecain
Processor	AMD Ryzen 7 7900X3D
Motherboard	ASUS Crosshair X670E Hero
Cooling	Noctua NH U12A
Memory	64Gb G.Skill Trident Z5 neo RGB 6400@6000mhz@1.41v
Video Card(s)	Aorus RTX4090 Extreme Waterforce
Storage	990Pro2Tb-1TbSamsung Evo M.2/ 2TbSamsung QVO/ 1TbSamsung Evo780/ 120gbKingston Now
Display(s)	LG 65UN85006LA 65" Smart 4K Ultra HD HDR LED TV
Case	Thermaltake CoreX71 Limited Edition Etched Tempered Glass Door
Audio Device(s)	On board/NIcomplete audio 6
Power Supply	Seasonic FOCUS 1000w 80+
Mouse	M65 RGB Elite
Keyboard	K95 RGB Platinum
Software	Windows11pro
Benchmark Scores	[url=https://valid.x86.fr/gtle1y][img]https://valid.x86.fr/cache/banner/gtle1y-6.png[/img][/url]