Water cooled R9 290s CF or Water cooled 770s in SLI?

[Jioker]

Hey,

As the title says, I have a hard time to decide on which video card I'm going to buy. The idea was that I would have two graphics cards in a new rig with an NZXT H440 and both cards (processor included) are going to be to be water cooled by a 360 radiator and another 240 so cooling isn't going to be a problem (even though the AMD cards tend to get a bit warmer compared to Nvidia cards). Given that the R9 290 has fallen in price lately and costs as much as a 770 by now, so my question is which would be the best?

It seems that the 290 has better performance than the 770, but it gives off more heat and consume more power, vice versa for 770, But will that really be a problem if they are going to be water cooled?

I also feel that the 770 has more "features" such ass Shadowplay, geforce experience, physx and so on while the R9 290 doesn't. Though I'm aware of that AMD is working on a similar program but it seems to take a while. Article

For 770 rig, I'd probably only need a 800 watt power supply but in the 290 I would need about 1,000 watts, (PSU Req. Link)

PSU for 290 rig will be a Corsair RM 1000W

The R9 290 is a 4GB card I know, but I'm going to by a 4GB 770 card, so that's not an issue (or is it?).

I'm planning on using the cards for some time before switching so I want to assure that they will work well with upcoming titles for at least 2 years. So I'll wait and see what the 800-series of Nvidia GPUs will have to offer.

I'll be overclocking both cards and the processor fyi.

Water block and such is already fixed, no needs to worry.

Tell me if there is anything I forgot to add and such and thanks in advance!

 

[manofthem]

Having read your post, it seems that you're leaning toward 770 sli. If that's what you're happy with, then it'll work fine.

However, based on my own personal experience, I voted for R9 290 cfx since they have treated me well. Performance is great and drivers have been solid, including cfx.

Also, I doubt you'll need a 1000w psu. Mine have never pulled more than ~600 with a mild OC and an OC'd 4770k, as well as everything else.

 

[64K]

I agree with you about waiting to see what the GTX 880 brings and hopefully some discounts on card prices. It should be only a few weeks now. If you are going to be driving a 1440p or 4K monitor on the new rig then 4GB VRAM is a good idea.

 

[springs113]

Hey,

As the title says, I have a hard time to decide on which video card I'm going to buy. The idea was that I would have two graphics cards in a new rig with an NZXT H440 and both cards (processor included) are going to be to be water cooled by a 360 radiator and another 240 so cooling isn't going to be a problem (even though the AMD cards tend to get a bit warmer compared to Nvidia cards). Given that the R9 290 has fallen in price lately and costs as much as a 770 by now, so my question is which would be the best?

It seems that the 290 has better performance than the 770, but it gives off more heat and consume more power, vice versa for 770, But will that really be a problem if they are going to be water cooled?

I also feel that the 770 has more "features" such ass Shadowplay, geforce experience, physx and so on while the R9 290 doesn't. Though I'm aware of that AMD is working on a similar program but it seems to take a while. Article

For 770 rig, I'd probably only need a 800 watt power supply but in the 290 I would need about 1,000 watts, (PSU Req. Link)

PSU for 290 rig will be a Corsair RM 1000W

The R9 290 is a 4GB card I know, but I'm going to by a 4GB 770 card, so that's not an issue (or is it?).

I'm planning on using the cards for some time before switching so I want to assure that they will work well with upcoming titles for at least 2 years. So I'll wait and see what the 800-series of Nvidia GPUs will have to offer.

I'll be overclocking both cards and the processor fyi.

Water block and such is already fixed, no needs to worry.

Tell me if there is anything I forgot to add and such and thanks in advance!

Shadowplay is awesome in my opinion but I don't think it's a necessary selling feature. I have a 780 hydro copper and if I didn't purchase that card at the time that I did, I would be the owner of 2 290s/xs. Generally speaking, being that these cards are fresh I would think the driver support will be there for at least another 3-5 years. Amd cards are a little warmer in the temp department but being that you're water cooling I wouldn't worry about temp too much. You may be able to put 2 360 rads in that case too.
I would take the Cooler Master V1000 over that PSU you suggested. If you are going to OC your system I would suggest a 1000w PSU anyways.
What cards are you looking @?
What is your total overall system?
What is your monitor/resolution?
Use for the PC?

 

[GhostRyder]

Hey,

As the title says, I have a hard time to decide on which video card I'm going to buy. The idea was that I would have two graphics cards in a new rig with an NZXT H440 and both cards (processor included) are going to be to be water cooled by a 360 radiator and another 240 so cooling isn't going to be a problem (even though the AMD cards tend to get a bit warmer compared to Nvidia cards). Given that the R9 290 has fallen in price lately and costs as much as a 770 by now, so my question is which would be the best?

It seems that the 290 has better performance than the 770, but it gives off more heat and consume more power, vice versa for 770, But will that really be a problem if they are going to be water cooled?

I also feel that the 770 has more "features" such ass Shadowplay, geforce experience, physx and so on while the R9 290 doesn't. Though I'm aware of that AMD is working on a similar program but it seems to take a while. Article

For 770 rig, I'd probably only need a 800 watt power supply but in the 290 I would need about 1,000 watts, (PSU Req. Link)

PSU for 290 rig will be a Corsair RM 1000W

The R9 290 is a 4GB card I know, but I'm going to by a 4GB 770 card, so that's not an issue (or is it?).

I'm planning on using the cards for some time before switching so I want to assure that they will work well with upcoming titles for at least 2 years. So I'll wait and see what the 800-series of Nvidia GPUs will have to offer.

I'll be overclocking both cards and the processor fyi.

Water block and such is already fixed, no needs to worry.

Tell me if there is anything I forgot to add and such and thanks in advance!

Well my first thing to say is I would definitely of the 2 choices get the 290 CFX because its a large sum more powerful than GTX 770's.

To add to your notes, an 850 watt PSU would still be more than enough for a R9 290 setup. An R9 290 including its fan normally averages around 250 Watts depending on the cooler and the overclocks. Allowing for margin of error ill say 275 and putting that times 2 makes 550 watts for the GPU's alone under peak load. Even adding in an overclocked CPU you should not exceed another 300 watts even with a custom liquid system (Plus the cards use a little less with the fans removed).

As far as 4gb vs 2gb I would say it all is relative to the resolution your gaming at. At 1080p, I would say 3gb would be more safe for future proofing now after seeing some of the recent games and their consumption of ram. But if you grabbed 2gb GTX 770's in CFX I doubt you would run into any problems if you compared the performance to the 4gb models.

My advice would be to get an 850 watt PSU and the 290s are you will benefit much more from having the stronger GPU's in the long run.

 

[springs113]

Well my first thing to say is I would definitely of the 2 choices get the 290 CFX because its a large sum more powerful than GTX 770's.

To add to your notes, an 850 watt PSU would still be more than enough for a R9 290 setup. An R9 290 including its fan normally averages around 250 Watts depending on the cooler and the overclocks. Allowing for margin of error ill say 275 and putting that times 2 makes 550 watts for the GPU's alone under peak load. Even adding in an overclocked CPU you should not exceed another 300 watts even with a custom liquid system (Plus the cards use a little less with the fans removed).

As far as 4gb vs 2gb I would say it all is relative to the resolution your gaming at. at 1080p, I would say 3gb would be more safe for future proofing now after seeing some of the recent games and their consumption of ram. But if you grabbed 2gb GTX 770's in CFX I doubt you would run into any problems if you compared the performance to the 4gb models.

My advice would be to get an 850 watt PSU and the 290s are you will benefit much more from having the stronger GPU's in the long run.

To add to what you're saying though, I would advise getting a high quality 850w PSU. I still would recommend the V1000 from Cooler Master, I got mine for a low price of $129 from Newegg so I say hold out for a little bit for a deal.

 

[Jioker]

Shadowplay is awesome in my opinion but I don't think it's a necessary selling feature. I have a 780 hydro copper and if I didn't purchase that card at the time that I did, I would be the owner of 2 290s/xs. Generally speaking, being that these cards are fresh I would think the driver support will be there for at least another 3-5 years. Amd cards are a little warmer in the temp department but being that you're water cooling I wouldn't worry about temp too much. You may be able to put 2 360 rads in that case too.
I would take the Cooler Master V1000 over that PSU you suggested. If you are going to OC your system I would suggest a 1000w PSU anyways.
What cards are you looking @?
What is your total overall system?
What is your monitor/resolution?
Use for the PC?

Yeah here it is: http://pcpartpicker.com/p/2RJZXL without PSU, graphics cards. It will be custome water cooled as I said.

Right now im just playing at 1080p but probably 1440p in the near future. I'll be using it for all around work but also heavy gaming and "hard work".

 

[Jioker]

Having read your post, it seems that you're leaning toward 770 sli. If that's what you're happy with, then it'll work fine.

However, based on my own personal experience, I voted for R9 290 cfx since they have treated me well. Performance is treat and drivers have been solid, including cfx.

Also, I doubt you'll need a 1000w psu. Mine have never pulled more than ~600 with a a mild OC and an OC'd 4770k, as well as everything else.

Okay well thank you for the asnwer!

 

[Jioker]

Well my first thing to say is I would definitely of the 2 choices get the 290 CFX because its a large sum more powerful than GTX 770's.

To add to your notes, an 850 watt PSU would still be more than enough for a R9 290 setup. An R9 290 including its fan normally averages around 250 Watts depending on the cooler and the overclocks. Allowing for margin of error ill say 275 and putting that times 2 makes 550 watts for the GPU's alone under peak load. Even adding in an overclocked CPU you should not exceed another 300 watts even with a custom liquid system (Plus the cards use a little less with the fans removed).

As far as 4gb vs 2gb I would say it all is relative to the resolution your gaming at. At 1080p, I would say 3gb would be more safe for future proofing now after seeing some of the recent games and their consumption of ram. But if you grabbed 2gb GTX 770's in CFX I doubt you would run into any problems if you compared the performance to the 4gb models.

My advice would be to get an 850 watt PSU and the 290s are you will benefit much more from having the stronger GPU's in the long run.

Very well thanks for the well written answer.

 

[RCoon]

Very well thanks for the well written answer.

There is an edit button just below, you may want to learn how to use it before a mod gets irritated about merging your posts!

For what it's worth, here's a handy PSU calculator:
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

 

[manofthem]

To add to what you're saying though, I would advise getting a high quality 850w PSU. I still would recommend the V1000 from Cooler Master, I got mine for a low price of $129 from Newegg so I say hold out for a little bit for a deal.

It's never a bad idea to get a little bigger of a psu (my own is much larger than I need), but it's imperative to purchase a quality psu. As you said

 

[springs113]

Do you have a Microcenter near you?

 

[Jioker]

Do you have a Microcenter near you?

I live in Sweden so no I don't think so. But please enlighten me

 

[springs113]

I live in Sweden so no I don't think so. But please enlighten me

Its of no use to if you cant physically go in a store...their mobo/cpu combos are the best pricing wise,

 

[X71200]

I'd suggest a HXi unit for the PSU. As for the setup, it's clear that 290's will offer more frames than 770's.

 

[RazrLeaf]

Given your setup, there should only be 2 reasons for going with GTX 770 SLI.

1. You use/intend to use Gamestream.
2. You use/intend to use G-Sync.

If those don't apply to you, R9 290s are my recommendation.
With regards to PSU, an 850W would be enough for both, but a 1000W would let you take advantage of higher efficiency offered by being in the "sweet spot" of the power efficiency curve. Honestly, you could drive a 4k display respectably well with R9 290 CFX. Just a thought for your next upgrade XD