GTX 780 PNY vs R9 290 GIGABYTE

Popa Serban

Honorable
Jan 15, 2014
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i am planning to buy one of these , i'm not sure what card is the better option because i've seen mixed results from benchmarks , i will be using one monitor at 1920x1080.
also the R9 290 is a bit more expensive , is it worth the extra cash?
in the future i plan to crossfire or sli , depending on the card i get , and i'm not sure if a corsair cs750M 750watt psu 80+ gold will be enough.
 
Solution
Here is my canned rant on planning for dual cards:
-----------------------------Start of rant----------------------------------------------------
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX650/ti or 7770 can give you good performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX660 or 7850 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single gtx690,7990, GTX780ti or R9-290X is about as good as it gets for a single card.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, or a 4k monitor, might sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards and stronger single...
That PSU is plenty to run SLI GTX 780's... Get a GTX 780 with aftermarket cooling. The r9 290's run hot on the reference cards and causes it to throttle - lowering performance, but the after market cooler cards for the r9 290's cost about $80 more. The GTX 780 after market cooler cards cost either the same or $10-$30 more than the reference cards.
 
Here is my canned rant on planning for dual cards:
-----------------------------Start of rant----------------------------------------------------
Dual graphics cards vs. a good single card.

a) How good do you really need to be?
A single GTX650/ti or 7770 can give you good performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.

A single GTX660 or 7850 will give you excellent performance at 1920 x 1200 in most games.
Even 2560 x 1600 will be good with lowered detail.
A single gtx690,7990, GTX780ti or R9-290X is about as good as it gets for a single card.

Only if you are looking at triple monitor gaming, or a 4k monitor, might sli/cf will be needed.
Even that is now changing with triple monitor support on top end cards and stronger single card solutions.

b) The costs for a single card are lower.
You require a less expensive motherboard; no need for sli/cf or multiple pci-e slots.
Even a ITX motherboard will do.

Your psu costs are less.
A GTX660 needs a 430w psu, even a GTX780 only needs a 575w psu.
When you add another card to the mix, plan on adding 200w to your psu requirements.

Even the most power hungry GTX690 only needs 620w, or a 7990 needs 700w.

Case cooling becomes more of an issue with dual cards.
That means a more expensive case with more and stronger fans.
You will also look at more noise.

c) Dual gpu's do not always render their half of the display in sync, causing microstuttering. It is an annoying effect.
The benefit of higher benchmark fps can be offset, particularly with lower tier cards.
Read this: http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-stutter-crossfire,2995.html

d) dual gpu support is dependent on the driver. Not all games can benefit from dual cards.

e) dual cards up front reduces your option to get another card for an upgrade. Not that I suggest you plan for that.
It will often be the case that replacing your current card with a newer gen card will offer a better upgrade path.
The Maxwell and amd 8000 or 9000 series are due next year.
-------------------------------End of rant-----------------------------------------------------------

Performance between the two cards can be determined by synthetic benchmarks.
The difference will be minimal to you.
Different games slightly alter the balance.

This chart would indicate that a 750w psu may not be sufficient for dual cards:
http://www.realhardtechx.com/index_archivos/Page362.htm

 
Solution