270x crossfire, 280x, 290? ORRRR Nvidia equivalent

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TheAterix

TheAterix

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basically i have 310+ maybe a bit extra if my dad will give me it, aslong as its nothing major to spend on a new gpu(s) and i had a reference sapphire r9 290 and had to rma it with ebuyer as it kept overheating so im getting a refund and i want to know what i should buy...

I was looking at the 270x crossfire or just getting a sapphire toxic 290 or the highest end 280x and like a stick of ram, bigger ssd, new monitor or something along those lines.

I game, i play BF4, crysis 3 cod etc

I want highest settings on the highest fps possbile, i would also like ABOUT 100 left over for a monitor or ssd if thats the option, i have corsair venegance ram so thats about £58 for another stick (ocd on things matching lol)

Please only post ebuyer links as thats all i can use

I would also consider a 760 SLI, 770 or 780 if the price is right

Just give me some ideas

Here are my current specs:
AMD 8320 watercooled by a corsair H100
ASROCK extreme3 990Fx (supports SLI and crossfireX)
Corsair Venegance 8gb 1600mhz RAM
Corsair CX750M PSU
Sandisk 120gb ssd
1x 1tb hdd 1x 500gb hdd (unsure on brands think 1tb is samsung and 500 is WD forgot as its been a while since ive looked at them)

Please give me suggestions as im completely open to any

Thanks :)
 
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Stoneskinsnake

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I really wouldn't bother going with a crossfire set-up. It's difficult to keep cool, and the gains arent as great considering you could get a R290X with a upgraded aftermarket cooler. Honestly, I think that's your safest bet, but it's going to cost a bit more, and you won't really have any other cash to play with.

Trust me, if you move up to a 290X you're not going to regret it, and with an aftermarket cooler it won't run too terribly hot. There's a whole host of them you can get, but it comes at a price premium. I would say save your money, or ask your dad for a loan so you can get what you want, and just pay him back. That's how I used to work with my dad.
 
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TheAterix

TheAterix

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Yeah he will probably just be like there you go lol, he knows i wont pay him back as i dont get enough money unless its birthday or christmas which is a while away lol but you never know with him...

 
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Stoneskinsnake

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Well, I can say if you're looking for performance gains, getting a second SSD (The same type as the one you already have) and setting up a Raid 0 array can be very beneficial. Really the whole thing with the graphics cards is what picture quality you're happy with?

The only thing to be weary about with Raid 0 is that if one fo the drives goes out, then all the data written on both the drives is inaccessable, but if you're just looking for raw performance it really does give one hell of a boost. I have mine set up with two M.2 SSD's in raid 0 with a 1TB HDD for pictures and stuff like that. All my games go on the SSD's and run SUPER quick, I mean we're talking load times that are in seconds, when with my single SSD it would take atleast a minute.

Cheers man. If you have any other questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
 
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TheAterix

TheAterix

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i like you, you give me bad ideas, i like it ;) and i was thinking of going raid 0 but i wasnt 100% on it, because as you said, if it fails i lose it all... also, btw can i use a bigger version of the same ssd? and also do you think a r9 280 (non x) in crossfire would be good? i may watercool btw

 
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Stoneskinsnake

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I try to avoid crossfire/SLI in general because the drivers are typically unstable. That's just my conventional wisdom, and by no means do you have to listen. And for a raid array to work properly, you have to use two of the same brand, make, and model SSDs. Samsung Evo SSDs are the cream of the crop for raid arrays, and even come with warrantees on them. Watercooling is nice, but only if you build a custom watercooling loop. Typically it is easier and cheaper to cool with air (using aftermarket parts). I've been looking into watercooling myself, and opted against it after reading some relevant threads here on toms.

By no means am I saying "not" to run dual 280's, but I mean if you're going to do that, you may as well just get the 290X. It's way better lol... Not only is the clock rate higher, it's cooler and less noisy. There are even versions of the card you can get with badass air cooling already installed. Single cards win outright in my mind just due to that fact alone. Plus you could get one for around 500ish?

What is it you're trying to accomplish? Ultra graphics settings or performance gains? You kinda have to figure out where you want your money to go. Going with the 280 and getting a SSD seems to be the happy medium for you.
 
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TheAterix

TheAterix

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last one was a reply for you, but ill have to check ssd model later obviously before i order
 
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RobCrezz

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I would really recommend the single 290 at this stage, the 280/280x are old gen chips (basically 7950 and 7970), which doesnt make them bad, but the 290 is much newer, and if you crossfire this in the future you will get a LOT more performance than crossfired 280/280x.
 
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oxiide

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The catch-22 here is that you'd only need the R9 290 if you're gaming at 1440p or 1080p/120 Hz+, which I assume means you'd need a new monitor too. The R9 280X is a perfect recommendation for 1080p/60 FPS gaming.

I completely disagree that the "age" of the chip is a factor at all. Being newer doesn't make the R9 290 any more appropriate to gaming when you're just going to cut it off at 60 FPS anyway. The only relatively "new" graphics processors around today are Nvidia's GK110 and AMD's Hawaii, and both of which are pointlessly overpowered for mainstream gamers.
 
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RobCrezz

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How do you know he will remain with 1080p 60hz? he could end up going to 1440p or 1600p, or 1080p 144hz. He was asking about 280 crossfire or 290, so assume he wants the addtional power.

Either way, the 280x cannot play ultra settings plus high AA at 1080p in all games at 60fps, so maybe he wants that?

The fact is, the 290 is considerably more powerful than the older flagship 7970 (280x).
 
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oxiide

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I don't know that he will remain at 1080p and 60 Hz, no one bothered to ask about his monitor in this thread and he didn't volunteer the information. That's why there were a lot of "ifs" in my post. I also don't know what his intentions are regarding settings; I'm fairly sure if one is willing to "settle" for only 4x MSAA or equivalent you'd be fine with a 280X in the majority of games.

People on this forum always forget to discuss monitors and routinely assume they need vastly more GPU power than they actually do, so I'm not going to assume he needs a 290 just because that's what we're talking about.
 
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Stoneskinsnake

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OP, Like I said before you kinda have to figure out what it is that you want exactly. The compromise between the 280X and getting a SSD to do RAID 0 with is probably going to be your best bet for performance gains, (BTW moving to a higher resolution is going to me oneday trading out ANY of the cards you'd come across these days including a 290X, 4k gaming is going to require atleast two 290X's, for most people I truly believe they aren't going to need this much processing power. 4k gaming compared to 1080P isn't that much of a difference to me personally, although I am going to eventually upgrade to a 4k gaming platform when the price comes down.) As far as the graphics go, Oxidde said it best. Just because it is an old or last gen graphics card doesn't mean it's trash. if the price is right, and it offers good performance, then it's worth it in my book. I mean think about it... Even the Nvidia 880 (A card being announced next month) is going to be outdated sometime, but it's slated to be one hell of a graphics card. If you're not willing to go all out and spend a hell of alot of cash, then stick with the 280X/SSD Raid combo. It's alot of performance for the price, and honestly all the stuff that's current gen right now is overpriced. I mean come on... 1.5k for a 295X is rediculous, and the 3k for the 2xTitan Blacks is even more rediuclous. Just wait until the prices go down for those.
 
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TheAterix

TheAterix

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Yeah, sorry btw oxiide, im not a noob with pcs or anything, i just forgot to include that, out of everything, its a old dell 22 inch 1680x1050 panel as i got it like 4 years ago and i didnt game until chirstmas just gone as i got my gaming rig then...

I will probably no doubt get the sapphire toxic 290 OC model as its on sale for £298 and get a silent fan as mine are all super loud or wait with the last £12 and hold it until i get some more more ££ for another SSD, BTW i want to play max settings on 60fps, thats my aim lol so super dooper cooling on the card is neccessary as i will be overclocking the card ALSO does anyone have any like fan recommendations for quite ones

 
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TheAterix

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Cool thanks, so do you think its pointless getting the 290 for my resolution? because there is like a £150 difference between the 280x and the 290 and just want to know if its worth the gap

 
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RobCrezz

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If you intend on staying at that resolution, it probably is overkill. If you plan on upgrading to 1080p or higher (1440p or the new wide 2560x1080 screens) then the extra power would be welcome. It will also give you more longevity before having to upgrade again, but you obviously have to pay more.
 
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oxiide

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If you're gaming at 1680x1050 and don't intend to go any higher than that, you could easily get by with even a single R9 270X. An R9 290 is vastly overpowered for that resolution. This is why I ask these things. :p

My vote is for the R9 280X and a new 1080p display.
 
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