R9 290 Vapor-X vs GTX 970 WF ~ Build 1 or 2

EzTec

Distinguished
Hey everyone so there are two builds that I am pulling my hair out trying to see if it's worth dishing out the extra bucks on or not.... I really wanted to stay around the $900.00 range so this is that build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($52.85 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Vapor-X Video Card ($301.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($76.18 @ Newegg)
Total: $921.71
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 13:50 EST-0500

Then some people were mentioning that the GTX 970 Windforce is a better card than the R9 290... so that's what lead to this build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4690K 3.5GHz Quad-Core Processor ($219.99 @ SuperBiiz)
CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO 82.9 CFM Sleeve Bearing CPU Cooler ($28.75 @ OutletPC)
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-Z97MX-Gaming 5 Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($124.98 @ OutletPC)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws X Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-2133 Memory ($76.98 @ Newegg)
Storage: Intel 520 Series Cherryville 120GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($67.99 @ Amazon)
Video Card: Gigabyte GeForce GTX 970 4GB WINDFORCE Video Card ($359.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: XFX XTR 650W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply ($89.49 @ Newegg)
Total: $1008.16
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 13:51 EST-0500

Which build do you think is better?

I also saw this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAahjdwfbRw from Jay's 2 cents on youtube basically talking about the GTX 970, and in some of his benchmarks in the video shows comparisons with a R9 290 card, and their not much different so I have yet to discover the 970 to be the better card.

Would love to hear some feedback, thanks guys
 
Solution
From those two options, i would take the one with the GTX 970. It's the fastest.

Actually, the PSUs should be switched. The biggest with the R9 290 and the smallest with the GTX 970.

Andrew_T

Reputable
Dec 23, 2014
19
0
4,520
For that price I wouldnt be very interested in the 290 at this point in time. The 970 price is just meh as well.

I myself am looking for a GPU upgrade and its my opinion that waiting a few more months until the release of the AMD 300 series release will help me snag a good price. Whether you have the patience for it is up to you.
 

Brunostako

Honorable
Can i suggest this build:

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 3.2GHz Quad-Core Processor ($179.99 @ SuperBiiz)
Motherboard: ASRock H97M Anniversary Micro ATX LGA1150 Motherboard ($71.98 @ Newegg)
Memory: G.Skill Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory ($62.99 @ Newegg)
Storage: PNY XLR8 240GB 2.5" Solid State Drive ($89.99 @ Micro Center)
Storage: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive ($49.88 @ OutletPC)
Video Card: EVGA GeForce GTX 970 4GB Superclocked ACX 2.0 Video Card ($339.99 @ Amazon)
Case: Cooler Master N200 MicroATX Mid Tower Case ($39.99 @ NCIX US)
Power Supply: EVGA 600B 600W 80+ Bronze Certified ATX Power Supply ($44.99 @ Micro Center)
Optical Drive: Lite-On iHAS124-14 DVD/CD Writer ($12.99 @ Newegg)
Total: $892.79
Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available
Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-01-06 16:59 EST-0500