R9 280X Vs R9 290

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Azndude263

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My current setup is

CPU: FX-8350 (stock clock) (Seidon 120m Liquid Cooler)
Mobo: Asrock 970 Extreme 4
GPU: Sapphire 7870 Overlocked Edition
Ram: 16gb 1600

I was thinking about upgrading my GPU to a R9 280X (used on ebay for around $180). The ones on ebay are the overclocked editions (2 fans) so they should be faster and cooler than the reference. The R9 290 on ebay used for around $270 (about $100 more than 280x) for a reference (1 fan).

Do you guys think I should go with the 280X and save the $100 or go with the reference 290? I'm just worried that the reference is too hot (noise is not a concern for me). Games that I play are most of the modern ones like Guild Wars 2, Starcraft 2, Battlefield 4, Crysis 3, GTA, Arma, Metro, Bioshock, etc...

Also, I understand that for gaming, intel CPU like the i5 would be ideal but I was just wondering if my FX-8350 along with either the 280X or 290 is enough to play the demanding games on max settings

Any help would be appreciated
 
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Gaidax
Honestly, you should just keep what you have.

As people have said 280X is actually a rebranded 7970 - I mean literally, AMD took their supply of leftover 7970s and put a "280X" label on them. If you want to see what kind of performance you will get from going to it instead of your current 7870 you can always go and read some 2 years old reviews of 7970/7870.

Long story short - you will not enjoy this "upgrade" since 7970 is like 15-20% better than 7870 and honestly it's not enough to justify tossing $200-300 at it, especially since you are paying for a rebranded 2.5 years old tech. You will just feel as if you have wasted your money.

As for 290 - the reference version is crap - don't buy it. One of my RL friends has it and he is...
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Fightclub2014

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You shouldn't buy used amd cards. They have most likely have been used extensively for mining and that could led to many problems in the future. I personally love amd but dont buy there used gpu's.
 
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bgunner

bgunner

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the 280X is actually a HD 7970 just rebadged. not much above what you have now. Yes more powerful but not much above what you have now. The 290 is a whole new GPU tech that came out after the 7900 series. I would go with the 290 but this is your decision to make.

Yes teh 8350 is powerfull enough for the new games to be played on almost max setting in those games. Crysis 3 takes 2 280x's to max it out. the rest you will be at max or right near it.
 
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ak47jar3d

ak47jar3d

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Mar 3, 2014
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Fx 8350 is fine unless you going for some extreme sli or cf (like 2x 290x or 780ti). 280x is most cases will be a better fit. Most people are running 1080p at 60 frames and the r9 290 is a bit of an overkill for it. I don't recommend the reference 290 because it runs really hot and sounds like a jet engine. But I highly recommend a non reference 290 for pushing the 1080p to 1440p or 1600p. Other than metro, should be able to max out all those games at 1080p with either card. Hope this helps!
 
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Azndude263

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I don't plan on doing any sli or xfire. Just simply want to max out all the current newer games at 1080P. So no on used 280x for $180 guys? I guess I could buy a new gpu but that would max out my budget

Asus GTX 770 - $300 (After Rebate)
http://www.amazon.com/GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5-GeForce-256-bit-PCI-Express-OC-selected/dp/B00D3F7CFK/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1406001335&sr=8-3&keywords=Gtx+770

Asus 280x - $290 (After Rebate)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FT2S4BG/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00FT2S4BG&linkCode=as2&tag=item0b5-20&linkId=4XB43HHS4SZBJHTI

MSI 290 - $360 (After Rebate)
http://www.amazon.com/MSI-Computer-Corp-290-GAMING/dp/B00HPS4AFG/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1406001203&sr=8-4&keywords=R9+290

Buying used saves me $120 :(. But it seems like a bad idea even if they have their warranty for another 2 years?
 
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Azndude263

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You guys think a 280X is enough for me to play the demanding games on ultra settings with decent frame rate?

The MSI 290 is roughly about $70 more than the 280X. Is it worth it? Or is it overkill for just gaming at 1080P?
 
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Azndude263

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With the GTX 770 only being about $10 more, should I go with that or the 770 and 280X essentially have the same performance and go with the cheaper option.

Also, is there a brand of amd that I should for?
 
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Gaidax

Gaidax

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Sep 27, 2013
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Honestly, you should just keep what you have.

As people have said 280X is actually a rebranded 7970 - I mean literally, AMD took their supply of leftover 7970s and put a "280X" label on them. If you want to see what kind of performance you will get from going to it instead of your current 7870 you can always go and read some 2 years old reviews of 7970/7870.

Long story short - you will not enjoy this "upgrade" since 7970 is like 15-20% better than 7870 and honestly it's not enough to justify tossing $200-300 at it, especially since you are paying for a rebranded 2.5 years old tech. You will just feel as if you have wasted your money.

As for 290 - the reference version is crap - don't buy it. One of my RL friends has it and he is cursing the day he bought that dustblower heater. Custom is more expensive and good, but really in half a year we will have new GPUs and what you have now is really OK anyway. So you won't be playing games on OMGH Ultra for half a year, big deal. Just wait and in half a year you will either be king with new generation of GPUs or simply will be able to buy custom 290X equivalent for the price you would pay for 280X today.

Besides, from my experience with 290X - you won't be having everything on Ultra at 60FPS on 1080p anyway (in like 10% of the cases you will dip below 60 FPS) without reducing AA to lower values or disabling some dubious ingame settings for some games, more reason to wait for next generation really.
 
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