GTX 970 SLI vs R9 290x CFX

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Mr Lol

Mr Lol

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Hi, I'm looking for a graphics solution for my build, and I want the best gaming performance I can get. I know that the GTX 970 is 350 dollars and 2 of them = 700 dollars, but I am wondering which would give me the best performance in gaming and the best overclock(I plan to water-cool the two, so I don't care too much about heat output going with the 2 R9 290x's.). I also plan to use these cards in a surround 1440p setup. Thanks!
 
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jimmysmitty
http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/compare,3665.html?prod%5B7396%5D=on&prod%5B7275%5D=on

That is a comparison of GTX970s in SLI vs a R9 295x2 (basically 2 R9 290x in CFX). Overall it seems the GTX 970s win by a bit however one downside to the GTX 970s is that the 4GB of VRAM is setup differently. It isn't actually a solid 4GB it is 3.5GB + 512MB and that has been affecting some games that need more than 3.5GB of VRAM.

As for overclocking:

GTX 970

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/16

R9 290X

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/5

These are air overclocking results as well so they wont apply fully to your situation as you...
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jimmysmitty

jimmysmitty

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Oct 5, 2007
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http://www.tomshardware.com/charts/2015-vga-charts/compare,3665.html?prod%5B7396%5D=on&prod%5B7275%5D=on

That is a comparison of GTX970s in SLI vs a R9 295x2 (basically 2 R9 290x in CFX). Overall it seems the GTX 970s win by a bit however one downside to the GTX 970s is that the 4GB of VRAM is setup differently. It isn't actually a solid 4GB it is 3.5GB + 512MB and that has been affecting some games that need more than 3.5GB of VRAM.

As for overclocking:

GTX 970

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/16

R9 290X

http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/5

These are air overclocking results as well so they wont apply fully to your situation as you plan to water cool them.
 
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Mr Lol

Mr Lol

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Feb 3, 2015
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Thanks. Will the 3.5gb problem be an issue while playing games such as Shadow of Mordor with the ultra texture pack, Battlefield 4, and GTA V with the 1440p surround setup? I think I'm planning to go for GTX 970s in SLI over R9 290Xs if the issue is not too large. In addition to this, if it is a problem, I can just switch to a single 4k monitor, the 970s seem to get really good frame rates on games at that resolution.
 
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jimmysmitty

jimmysmitty

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http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/05/04/grand_theft_auto_v_multigpu_performance_review_part_2/2#.VVS58el0yUk

That is a great piece on GTA V performance with SLI and CFX.

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Graphics-Cards/Middle-earth-Shadow-Mordor-Performance-Testing/Shadow-Mordor-2560x1440

That is not SLI and CFX however it shows that Shadow of Mordor doesn't really need SLI/CFX to play at ultra settings happily.

As for the 3.5GB making a difference, it depends on how much VRAM the game will use. From what I have seen, GTA V uses the most VRAM right now and if max settings runs fin on SLI GTX970s at 1440p than that should be the best choice.

It is up to you to decide though using the information I provided. I personally would probably go with a R9 295X2 as it eliminates a lot of issues that CFX can present but that is just me. I admit that the GTX 970 doe seem to be a tad better in some cases than a R9 290X.
 
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