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Whats better Crossfire HD 7850s 2GB OC or R9 290??

Tags:
  • AMD
  • Crossfire
  • HD
  • Graphics
Last response: in Graphics & Displays
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December 2, 2013 6:13:37 AM

Please don't call me a dumbass but I'm seriously considering upgrading to the R9 290 in January and would like to know. Will I see much of a difference in BF4 if I upgrade. Currently Low Settings, No AA, Custom user.cfg, 100-120 FPS (Operation Locker)

More about : whats crossfire 7850s 2gb 290

a c 192 À AMD
December 2, 2013 6:19:29 AM

well, with amd cards, it's always better to take single strong gpu rather than crossfiring 2 cards or more..

microstutter, etc etc etc and any crossfire issue will make you uncomfortable..

and yes, r290 is much faster than 7850x2..
this card is almost as fast $1000 titan and r290x..

but if you want to buy reference card, don't forget stretch your budget to buy 3rd party cooling, like artic cooling accelero III, because this card is really hot, literraly..:D 
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December 2, 2013 6:21:33 AM

Quaddro said:
well, with amd cards, it's always better to take single strong gpu rather than crossfiring 2 cards or more..

microstutter, etc etc etc and any crossfire issue will make you uncomfortable..

and yes, r290 is much faster than 7850x2..
this card is almost as fast $1000 titan and r290x..

but if you want to buy reference card, don't forget stretch your budget to buy 3rd party cooling, like artic cooling accelero III, because this card is really hot, literraly..:D 


Thanks for the quick reply .. gunna wait to see what happens with this mantel update ...
then maybe upgrade in new year to ASUS non ref or Sapphire R9 290
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a b À AMD
December 2, 2013 6:25:55 AM

Yes you have time to wait for the non reference cards. Even if Mantel flops (I doubt it will) you still can't deny the cards' performance as they are now.
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Best solution

December 2, 2013 6:29:05 AM

I never recommend crossfire or SLI before the facts. I haven't seen any comparison charts for HD 7850s in crossfire versus the R9 290, but I can safely say that you will be much better off waiting until the R9 290 non-reference coolers come out to better cool the card.

Why? Crossfire and SLI are only good when you want to make a value-oriented upgrade. For pure performance, you're better off just buying a single-card upgrade. What do I mean? Say, for example, you already have an HD 7850 and you want to buy another one. That's a good point for crossfire, as the price of a 7850 is fairly low and will give you remarkable performance that exceeds even a single card.

I see your rig already uses dual HD 7850s. To tell you the truth, an upgrade might not be all that necessary, although once better coolers come along for the R9 290, I can safely recommend it if you really want the extra performance.

Crossfire configurations add heat output, power consumption, performance inconsistency, driver incompatibility, and microstuttering. If those are issues you feel you can deal with, then by all means, crossfire is right for you. But if you absolutely cannot deal with things like that, the R9 290 is a great upgrade - once, again, OEMs are allowed to put on their own coolers (seriously, that reference cooler is absolute jank).

Notice that nowhere in this post, did I suggest what you should pick. You will easily see a performance upgrade, and you'll probably see the non-reference cooled R9 290s out by January, so the upgrade will be a welcome one. If you're happy with your performance, there is no reason to shell out the money for it. For 1080p, an R9 290 might not even be all that necessary unless you want above 60 FPS (and have a monitor that can display above that). I always recommend a stronger single-card solution over a crossfire/SLI configuration if you don't already have a video card you planned to buy in that setup to begin with.

tl;dr: Yes, you will. But wait until that terrible AMD cooler is replaced.
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December 2, 2013 6:30:50 AM

huilun02 said:
Yes you have time to wait for the non reference cards. Even if Mantel flops (I doubt it will) you still can't deny the cards' performance as they are now.


I doubt it will either and i just discovered I spelled it wrong .. its mantle* not mantel lmao

The single core gpu is awesome i have read so much about it and a friend has one .. and its good just he gets these rare black screen .. i think the latest drivers fixed that for him

I have the money set aside for one just I want to wait and see what happens to my 7850s with the update and also wait for the non ref cards from asus and sapphire .. but you guys reckon 1 is enough? I was going to crossfire the r9 290 lol .. im not wise
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a b À AMD
December 2, 2013 6:44:42 AM

I don't see why you would need two of it. Get one first and if it's not good enough get another. If you get two cards with customs coolers however, they're going to blow so much hot air around the case it makes a neat oven.

Anyway for your current setup, you might want to crank up the details. I think it's pretty pointless having over 100fps with meh graphics when your monitor can't display over 60fps anyway. Unless you have a 120Hz monitor and want cutting edge speed for competitive multiplayer.
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December 2, 2013 6:55:24 AM

huilun02 said:
I don't see why you would need two of it. Get one first and if it's not good enough get another. If you get two cards with customs coolers however, they're going to blow so much hot air around the case it makes a neat oven.

Anyway for your current setup, you might want to crank up the details. I think it's pretty pointless having over 100fps with meh graphics when your monitor can't display over 60fps anyway. Unless you have a 120Hz monitor and want cutting edge speed for competitive multiplayer.


Thanks for the responses guys .. great feedback .. I have two displays my main display is the Asus 24inch 75hz but when gaming its only 60hz 1920x1080p .. I have low settings, 100-120 fps on Op Locker .. it does vary and sometimes go as low as 55 on shanghai .. what BF4 settings would you have? for now
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December 2, 2013 6:58:11 AM

out of interest .. I have 8GB Ram if I increase that to say oh 16GB KAPOW! would that have any effect on my game?
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a c 192 À AMD
December 2, 2013 6:59:50 AM

bassybekx said:
out of interest .. I have 8GB Ram if I increase that to say oh 16GB KAPOW! would that have any effect on my game?


Unfortunately, no..
8gb memory is more than enough for any game..
16gb won't give you any fps improvement..
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a b À AMD
December 2, 2013 7:00:14 AM

bassybekx said:
out of interest .. I have 8GB Ram if I increase that to say oh 16GB KAPOW! would that have any effect on my game?


Sadly, no. No game will use that much ram.
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a c 192 À AMD
December 2, 2013 7:00:50 AM

Sorry, double post..:D 
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December 2, 2013 7:08:23 AM

Quaddro said:
Sorry, double post..:D 


ok so where would 16gb ram be useful then? for like having a million things open at once?

Thanks for all the help guys .. I'm going to wait on non-ref cards of the r9 290 from asus and sapphire

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a b À AMD
December 2, 2013 7:12:01 AM

That much ram would be useful for having a lot of applications open at once, and for working on very large image/model files.

With luck you won't have to wait for long at all. Sapphire will release their custom R9 290 soon.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/sapphire-bios-r9-290-a...
(last paragraph)
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a c 192 À AMD
December 2, 2013 7:15:55 AM

bassybekx said:
Quaddro said:
Sorry, double post..:D 


ok so where would 16gb ram be useful then? for like having a million things open at once?

Thanks for all the help guys .. I'm going to wait on non-ref cards of the r9 290 from asus and sapphire



yeah..
it's works if you're really in heavy work..
open 10 AutoCAD 3D model windows + 15 photoshop windows etc etc etc..
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December 2, 2013 7:29:59 AM

Quaddro said:
bassybekx said:
Quaddro said:
Sorry, double post..:D 


ok so where would 16gb ram be useful then? for like having a million things open at once?

Thanks for all the help guys .. I'm going to wait on non-ref cards of the r9 290 from asus and sapphire



yeah..
it's works if you're really in heavy work..
open 10 AutoCAD 3D model windows + 15 photoshop windows etc etc etc..


yeah not quite there yet .. maybe the odd couple of dreamweaver and Visual Studio Projects or Sony Vegas but they all get closed before gaming :D 
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