Hi,
*I end up recommending either the Asus GTX770, or Asus GTX780 but here's a LONG discussion of why:
I think the GTX780Ti is ridiculous for most high-end gamers. For most I recommend the Asus GTX770 at $320 USD, but think for some the GTX780 (EVGA/Asus/Gigabyte) can be justified.
I'll also address the R9-290.
*Let's start by looking at a SUMMARY BENCHMARK for the Asus GTX770:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/GeForce_GTX_770_Direct_Cu_II_OC/27.html
Accoring to this average, the stock GTX780 is only 15% faster than a stock GTX770 (1080p res; rounded up). Hmm.. I thought the GTX780 was better than that so I'll try another site:
OK, this is at 2560x1440 but my experience tells me it shouldn't be much different from 1920x1080 on average so I'll use these numbers. They will be stock vs stock, then Superclock vs stock 770:
1) TWS2 17.3%, 34.2%
2) HA 23.75%, 33%
3) SD 11.6%, 25.8%
4) BF3 20.3%, 35.6%
5) BI 20.6%, 27.9%
**OK, so now I know what's going on... the stock GTX780 runs slower than optimal. Bring in the good coolers and the performance jumps up. The GTX770 also improves but the difference isn't as much so.
I believe a 25% difference is what it ends up being on average if you use comparable coolers like the Asus GTX780 vs Asus GTX770. Unfortunately I didn't have all this data on the same benchmarks.
I had been recommending the EVGA GTX780 967MHz model ($510) but I've switched and now recommend the Asus:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx780dc2oc3gd5 ($520)
The Asus GTX770 is currently $320 USD:
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/asus-video-card-gtx770dc2oc2gd5
Thus the price difference is $520/$320 or 62.5% more for the GTX780 for roughly 25% more performance. The extra VRAM in general isn't needed so only YOU can decide if that's worth the money or if you can make better use of that $200 elsewhere. It turns out to be pretty useful for Batman Origins as my 770 keeps dropping below 60FPS unless I turn off a few settings, and VSYNC OFF has lots of screen tearing (I'd still disable the highest PhysX even with a single GTX780 though).
On the other hand, the GTX770 plays most games at full quality. Some games are really demanding like Metro 2033/LL but even these look and run great if you very carefully tweak the quality (nor does the GTX780 make it look much different).
Don't get me wrong, I'd buy the Asus 780 if I was due for an upgrade, but I'm having a hard time recommending it to others.
***Now the R9-290:
This review is for the R9-290X but I couldn't find a better summary and it's the relative numbers we want:
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_290X_Direct_Cu_II_OC/24.html
Basically the R9-290 is slightly faster than the GTX780 however I don't believe that holds up under load. Let's just call them roughly EQUAL.
GTX780 vs R9-290:
Having established them as roughly equal (similar cooler like Asus vs Asus) it comes down to pricing and features (I'm ignoring the 4GB vs 3GB since I think that's mostly irrelevent). The Asus R9-290 is $480USD, and the Asus GTX780 is $520USD. Thus, this GTX780 is about 8% more expensive.
FEATURES:
AMD-> Mantle
*There aren't a lot of games that support Mantle, and with DX12 coming and supposedly more efficient I don't know how much value to assign to AMD cards for this. Not much, but some.
NVidia->
- PhysX
- Shadowplay (game recording with minimal performance loss)
- G-Sync (for new G-Sync monitors)
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/64586-week-nvidias-g-sync-monitor.html
In my opinion NVidia wins here. I know a lot about NVidia's G-Sync and it's really awesome. It's a non-issue if you absolutely won't be buying a G-Sync monitor in the lifetime of your card though.
SUMMARY:
Based on today's pricing, and attempting to compare fairly, I really have to recommend primarily the Asus GTX770 for most, and the Asus GTX780 for those who can afford it. One option would be to take the $200 difference and put that towards a G-Sync monitor if a new monitor was on your wish list in the next year.
The GTX780Ti I consider overkill, and the R9-290 (with good cooler) is a valid option, and arguably cheaper, however I think the NVidia features justify its price tag.
So my recommendation comes down to one of two cards:
Asus GTX770, or
Asus GTX780