GPU Upgrade

[Gorion]

This looks a great deal: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-208-OK&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1402

£250 for a new  GTX 780Ti

It's not a great deal at all mate.

For the same price, you get an R9 290x 4GB Vram.  3GB doesn't cut it anymore, so what's the point.

And, the difference is fps between the two is negligible, and to top it off the R9 goes on top with Dx11 games.

Link1 Forget their "winner", just look at the stats.  Yeah, it's slightly louder, and consumes more power.  If you have at least a 500 watt psu, who gives a damn.  Want more performance out of the R9, change the cooler, and OC it.
Link2

[Whitey]

I think it's a great deal for that card (show me a better price) :narnar:

For gaming at 1080p I would pick the GTX 780Ti over the R9 290X. if your doing 4k then yes the 3GB aint enough.

[Gorion]

I think it's a great deal for that card (show me a better price) :narnar:

For gaming at 1080p I would pick the GTX 780Ti over the R9 290X. if your doing 4k then yes the 3GB aint enough.

It's not just about it's original vs discounted price..  Even at the same price point, going 780ti is gimping yourself, and who does that?

4GB vram will be minimum specs soon, so why waste the money?  The vram isn't just for 4k you know.. ultra textures also require vram.

Nvidia mentioned that Pascal will have upto 32GB vram.  The more vram your current card has, the longer its lifetime.  While I take PR with a pinch of salt, the reality right now still applies.  Vram gives you wings.

[lionheart]

If you're gaming at 4k, 4GB aint enough either, nor is one card really (Titan x excepted) but for BF4 and the like the 290 is better, and with the non reference coolers now available the early probs of heat and noise are a non-issue.

[lionheart]

And on a somewhat related note: This

[Gunda]

for current day gaming, i'd pick that 780Ti over a 290x any day, since they are the same price.  If you are wanting to overclock the 290x you must buy an after market cooling solution so you are pushing the price up.

Regardless we are getting away from what Jewelz asked for which was a SUB £200 card.

http://www.ebuyer.com/704631-gigabyte-gtx-960-oc-4gb-gddr5-dual-link-dvi-hdmi-displayport-pci-e-gv-n960wf2oc-4gd

GTX960 with 4Gb vram for £187 is what i would recommend at that price point.

[lionheart]

"  If you are wanting to overclock the 290x you must buy an after market cooling solution so you are pushing the price up."   Errr what?  Have you looked at R290s recently? They have the best cooling solutions available on any GPU as standard.

[ReddFour]

Stuttering is proven.   A quick google reveals huge issues which is why refunds have been offered.

I wouldn't say that shows its proven. Many of those links have people replying saying they have the same problem with different cards. It doesn't sound conclusive to me but then I'm certainly no expert.

I'm after a new card too and think I'm still swaying towards the 970 mainly for the low power and silent desktop use.

As for the 960, I was told that 4gb on these cards is pointless due to the 128 bit bus. Is this true?

[Gorion]

Guys, for crying out loud, the wattage issue was outdated ages ago.  It doesn't make any difference anymore as 500ish watt PSUs are the standard now.  It was an issue when we had 150-250watt PSUs over ten years ago.

Unless you have a laptop you're planning to do serious gaming on, its total BS.  Don't fall for fanboy excuses.


As for the DB issue, again its hogwash.  An R9 290x has around the same decibel output as a GTX 690.  Since I have owned my 690, I can only recall a couple of times I heard the damned things fan..  And that's in a system where an H100 closed loop cooler is the primary noise producer.

I've always been an Nvidia guy since the 256, apart from an all-in-wonder 9800 pro radeon series ages ago.  I'm biased towards Nvidia, but you simply can't ignore the fact that the R9 290x puts the GTX 780ti in the bin.  It's cheaper (when the 780 isn't on sale), it's better, and it has more vram.  You need vram to run games on ultra, and that's what Jewelz also asked for.


Now let's be real, do you think that stores would be cutting 100 pounds from the 780 Ti price if it's still the card to go for?  They want to get rid of the old stock, which isn't worth a damn anymore.


As for the R9 290x price.  If it's considered too much, there's the similarly specced R9 290 at 221 quid.


As for the 790 stuttering, do you think that a company as greedy as Nvidia would be issuing refunds if the issue doesn't exist?  No business would do that.  Just go watch reviews about the thing and see for yourself.

[ReddFour]

I'm not a fanboy. To start with I'm far too old to be called that
I've got no bias at all. However at present I'm leaning towards nvidia due to wattage. You can say it doesn't matter but less heat means my system runs cooler overall so system fans are quieter. The lower wattage also means my psu runs quieter. I know that because I used to have an AMD card in it. As my pc is permanently in the living room, a silent pc is required.

It's just a personal preference right now. I may even hang on and see what the new R300 series has to offer.

[Obsydian]

I have alternated over the years between ATi and nVidia, mainly due to them hopping over each other performance-wise and me simply choosing the best card that I could for my budget at the time.

The one thing I have always liked about the AMD cards is that you can use EyeFinity to game across 2 screens, whereas the nVidia Surround requires at least 3 screens to work.

I bought a 290x for my daughter's new PC (she does graphics design) last year and had nothing but problems with it. It was (is) noisy under load and has been returned to AMD twice (once for overheating issues, and once for memory issues) and they repaired and sent back the same card each time when I was hoping for a replacement.  The card is running ok now, but my daughter still complains about it being noisy at times.

By contrast, I've just bought a GTX 970 for my own gaming rig (for Star Citizen and Elite) and it's absolutely fantastic. Quieter than the case fans, even under load, and I get a steady 45-50 FPS when in the hangar in SC and a rock solid 60 FPS when in Arena Commander. No stuttering..none.

for me, if it's a direct choice between the 290x or the 970, I'd choose the 970 (well, actually, I already did!)

[Jewelz^]

Thanks for the replies all. After shopping around a bit it would seem the Radeon R9 290 is best value for money at the moment at £220ish. This is currently benchmarked at 6571. My question to you guys is, would I get better performance from 2x GTX 660? £180, combined benchmark of around 9000. Does it not work like that?

[TeaLeaf]

Tbh the 290 is probably the better deal, but it is quite close.  The reasons I'd go for the 290 rather than 660 SLI are:

-it's not SLI, it is simpler and will run into less problems with games/drivers
-you can go SLI/Crossfire later as funds allow and 2 x 290 will definitely outperform 2x660 SLI
-the 290 has slightly more memory so seems to be slightly more competent with higher screen resolutions
-it's simpler in my case and draws less power and produces less heat

If you're gaming at 1920x1080 then there's a gnat's whisker in it and the sheer convenience would mean a win for the single card option.

If you're gaming at 2560x1440 then the 290 wins by a bigger margin, but still not by loads.

:2cents:

http://www.game-debate.com/gpu/index.php?gid=1859&gid2=1745&compare=radeon-r9-290-vs-geforce-gtx-660-sli

[ReddFour]

I considered starting a new thread but then this one hasn't been posted in for a week so made the assumption it would okay to hijack this one a little.

I am looking to change my gfx card. I currently have a GTX 760 2Gb. I am more interested in the memory upgrade to 4Gb VRAM than the actual speed increase. However, the faster the better. I was considering the 970 but with the possible issues with going over 3.5Gb use and the fact that I also want a new pair of headphones (so the budget is tight), I was considering just getting a 960 4Gb. I know performance wise it's not a big leap but I seem to be having some issues with Arma wanting more than 2Gb VRAM.

I only have a 1080p monitor and there is no chance of that being upgraded any time soon so would the 960 be a good option or should I save the extra pennies for a 970? My concern with the 970 is that although the 3.5Gb issue doesn't seem to be a big deal at the moment, I wonder if games like GTA V possibly wanting as much VRAM as possible may start to show the issue up.

I'm also not that interested in waiting for the new AMD cards as I prefer cards with low TDP which is why I moved away from AMD in the first place. I can't see their new cards being any different. That's just personal preference so don't shoot me down

[TeaLeaf]

With 1080p you don't get any benefit from the 4MB vram.  Afaiaa it is only when you start gaming at higher resolutions such as 2560x1440+ that the extra vram shows any benefit.  So choose a card but don't be hooked up on 4MB!

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