Watercool HD 7950 or upgrade to GTX 770/780/R9 290

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DEMDEAD

DEMDEAD

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Hello i currently have a XFX DD HD Radeon 7950 and i just cannot stand the sound of the fans when it is under load. On top all of that the temps don't make me any more happy, IDLE 37C-45C load around 60C-75C. i know this isn't all that bad It makes me more or less uncomfortable. SOOO For this summer i was planning on water-cooling it to keep the temps down and probably OC it also to get a bit more performance out of it. Keep in mind this would be a custom loop, which i would replace my H100 cooler and cool both the GPU and CPU with the loop. Upon calculating the price of a custom loop i realized that it would be a minimum of $450 it do it correctly and neatly in the way i want. So i started watching some reviews and videos on Graphics cards and noticed i like the look of the GTX 780 & 770. I also noticed that they are noticeably quieter and faster than my current 7950 (mostly the GTX 780). So it made me wonder if its worth spending $450 to cool it. But then doing more research I noticed that the R9 290 and GTX 780 are close to each other both excelling in its individual category with the R9 290 being cheaper around the price of GTX 770. So now my reason for making this thread is because i am not sure on which Configuration is best Water cooling the HD 7950 now, Buying one of those 3 cards GTX 770/780 specifically the OEM model or R9 290 and then at a later day water cooling them. And another concern i have is if i bought the GTX 780 would it be too much for my system.

Many thanks in advance and i am really looking forward to many comments so i can make a decision.

P.S. I'm contemplating upgrading my processor to AMD FX-8350 or an Intel chip, i would be upgrading my mobo at a later date also. I'm just going to do a complete remodel at some pint when i have money.

My Current Specs:
Mobo: MSI 970A G-43
CPU: AMD FX-6300
CPU Cooler: Corsair H100
RAM: 8 GB Corsair Vengeance Pro
HDD: Western Digital 1 TB
SSD: Sandisk 64GB only my OS and a few games
CD/DVD drive
PSU: EVGA SuperNOVA 850
Case: Phanteks Enthoo Primo




 
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nikoli707
out the box performance 290 vs 780, the 290 does indeed beat the 780 by a small margin in most games. but the 780, aftermarket cooled versions, have a much higher overclocking headroom than the 290. the 290 is just thermally limited and once it is pushed to 1200mhz on the core with more voltage, it simply will be right back at 90c plus core temps with a lot of noise. most aftermarket cooled 780s have no problem getting to 1200mhz and do this at well under 75c and quietly. like i said, if noise and temps are an issue, and especially if you want to overclock, the 780 is a very nice option but you will pay more $ for it. currently the gigabyte windforce r9-290 is only $380 and that is a very good bang for your buck and offers extreme...
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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you should know that most of the r9-290s, tri-x, twin frozr, windforce, dc2, all still run at around 79-85c and are likely to have fan noise levels very close to your current 7950. you will be getting a huge performance increase, but if fan noise and overall temps are your main concern, equivalent 780s are quieter and run cooler, evga, msi, gigabyte, asus.
 
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DEMDEAD

DEMDEAD

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So i am concered about fan noise and temps but also performance to justify paying for that 780. so in short is the $500 price tag for the GTX 780 worth it!
 
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DEMDEAD

DEMDEAD

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its shows you have a GTX 780 is it the OEM design that looks like the titan and if so how does it perform.
Performance
Noise
Temp
 
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djcm9819

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No it is not. It roughly gets the same (slightly worse) performance than a 290. If you are going to get a 290 get one that has an non reference cooler and you will get a quiet and cool card.
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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mine is the evga classified 780 and is the best model of the 780s you can get. im also overclocked pretty high with a custom skynet bios running the stock limited 1.212v core, 1300mhz on the core and memory at 1700mhz. the card will run right about 79-80c at these speeds and you can hear the fans. though i can go up to 1.35v on the core, but i would need a full custom loop and a block to do that. performance at 1.3ghz is past stock 780ti levels and matches many 760sli/7950cfx numbers in real world synthetics like 3dmark firestrike or unigine valley/heaven.

otherwise, with my custom bios disabling gpu boost and locking in 1111mhz core with stock 1.16v, the card sits about about 69c and is barely audible.

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/63051-evga-gtx-780-classified-review-9.html

if you have no interest in ever waterblocking or overclocking to the moon, you may want to skip the classified and save a few bucks as it is purely designed to be pushed to the limits which are much higher than any air cooling can ever supply
 
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nikoli707

nikoli707

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Jan 4, 2012
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out the box performance 290 vs 780, the 290 does indeed beat the 780 by a small margin in most games. but the 780, aftermarket cooled versions, have a much higher overclocking headroom than the 290. the 290 is just thermally limited and once it is pushed to 1200mhz on the core with more voltage, it simply will be right back at 90c plus core temps with a lot of noise. most aftermarket cooled 780s have no problem getting to 1200mhz and do this at well under 75c and quietly. like i said, if noise and temps are an issue, and especially if you want to overclock, the 780 is a very nice option but you will pay more $ for it. currently the gigabyte windforce r9-290 is only $380 and that is a very good bang for your buck and offers extreme performance. if you are ok with out the box performance, or a small overclock, it would totally recommend it. its really a personal choice. i would look for reviews.
 
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