NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970 - 4 GB - MSI or AMD Radeon R9 290 TRI X OC - 4 GB

MSI Gaming - http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/09/19/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-review/14 - best of the 970s

and http://www.tomshardware.de/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-gtx-980-roundup-vergleichstest,testberichte-241658-18.html

Betters 290Xs. Kills 290s

U gentlemens didnt really read his actual question did you?


If you read, please read everything before/if starting to argue!!
I just upgraded yesterday to Sapphire Tri-x 290 "oc" from HD 6870. And i did some research if Sapphire 290 Tri-x "oc" or Gtx 970 is best. Most people say that Gtx 970 is best, which i dont actually belive. And from what i see; if you have a good PSU and dont really care about the noise, then you should pick the Tri-x. Its alot cheaper, and on my computer it runs Battlefield 4 and Far cry 4 on ultra with minimum 45 FPS (i dont have the best cpu and ram, so i am suprised it could even go to 45 FPS xD). The 290 Tri-x should also be just as good (if not better) as a single R9 290x. Here are my proofs that the normal R9 290 (the not overclocked Tri-x) is better than GTX 970:

Memory Bandwidth of the normal R9 290: 320000 MB/sec which is alot better than the GTX 970 which runs 224000 MB/sec. (43% difference)
So in that way the normal Radeon R9 290 (keep in mind this is not the Tri-x i'm talking about) should theoretically perform much faster than the GeForce GTX 970 overall.

Texel rate of the normal R9 290: 128000 Mtexels/sec, again it beats the GTX 970 which runs 109200 Mtexels/sec. (17% difference)
The Radeon R9 290 will be a little bit faster with regards to anisotropic filtering than the GeForce GTX 970

GTX 970 beats the R9 290's pixel rate though. With 67200 Mpixels/sec it beats the 290 which only have 51200 Mpixels/sec by about 31%. So if you are running with a high screen resolution, the GTX 970 is something for you. (I would still choose Tri-x R9 290)

(other facts):

Bus width and type:
GTX 970: 256-bit GDDR5.
R9 290: 512-bit GDDR5
the bit rate determines how fast the memory and the GPU can talk to each other, basically; a higher bit interface, the faster they can talk. (R9 290 wins by far)

Unified Shaders;
GTX 970: 1664
R9 290: 2560
(Doesn't have to be better because of how many unified shaders, it has something to do with how it's scheduled and i'm not sure which scheduler is better on the graphic cards)

Texture Mapping Units;
GTX 970: 104 (109200 texture file rate)
R9 290: 160 (128000 texture file rate)
Texture units (aka TMUs or texture mapping units) map textures onto 3D geometry.
Bonus: The texture file rate is calculated by multiplying texture mapping units and core clock of graphic card.

So... Even the GTX 970 have a higher core/memory clock speed than the R9 290, i would still very much prefer the R9 290 card. AND especially the Tri-x as that one is overclocked, and have much better cooling.

Fast look on Sapphire Tri-x:

Core clock speed;
GTX 970: 1050 MHz
Tri-x: 1000 Mhz (Normal R9 290 only have 800 Mhz)

Memory speed;
GTX 970: 7000 Mhz effective
Tri-x: 5200 Mhz effective

Texture fill rate;
GTX 970 as said: 109200
Tri-x: 160000

OK. Done. in my opinion, you should choose the Sapphire Tri-x and not the GTX 970 nor the normal R9 290. I think it's waste of moneys if you buy GTX 970 instead of Tri-x. And btw. Tri-x is not really loud - well i dont think it is. Thank you for reading why i think the (gotta say the name one last time so people get which card i mean) Sapphire R9 290 Tri-x "oc" is better
Ps: I'm not a pro at this sh*t, and i used Google alot to find my Intel. AND i am not an AMD or Nvidia fan. If i am anything then it's both Nvidia and AMD fan. I have a GTX card on one of my computers and R9 card on the other. So i'm not trying to defend AMD, i'm just saying my opinion

On http://www.tomshardware.de/nvidia-geforce-gtx-970-gtx-980-roundup-vergleichstest,testberichte-241658-18.html on Heaven, Ultra at 1080p,

290 TriX 74 fps

290x TriX 76.8fps


worst 970 (Galax) 78.9fps

best 290x (HIS) 82fps

best 970 (Zotac) 83.6

Yes. But you will get more for the moneys if you buy 290 Tri-x, in that way it's better. And, the 290 Tri-x beats GTX 970 in some games.

What games? What gtx970?

A GTX970 is a bit better buy than a R9 290X. It's a much better buy than a R9 290.