Have 3x 4k Monitors & 1 R9 290X. Will adding a second 290x in Crossfire be sufficient?

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Umar M

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As the title says, I have 3 4K monitors on my secondary machine and an R9 290x. Thinking of making this my primary gaming machine.

Simply will adding a second 290x in crossfire be sufficient to play games? I'm not looking to have AA, shadows, etc etc all at max obviously but with dialed back settings can I game at full resolution (obviously AA wouldnt even be needed at 4k)? or would I have to turn the resolution down?

I saw a video of someone on youtube gaming with just one gtx 980 and it seemed fine, and the xfired 290x performs better (yes with more heat, power consumption but i really dont care about that)

edit: Excuse me I forgot to add that I wouldnt be gaming with all three monitors that would be insane, Im just looking at gaming on the primary monitor 90% of the time (unless its an older game).
 
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cst1992
Dual 290X's themselves will use up 580W, so I doubt you'll have enough juice with a 750W power supply. Wait, I KNOW you'll not have enough juice with a 750W power supply. Better get a bigger one, a 1000W would be good, just to be safe.
If you have a small tower(a midtower?) I'd say it'll be too small for dual 290X's, airflow wise, but actual results do vary.

You could always wait a month for the 390X/980Ti to arrive and sell this 290x for one of those. That's also a viable option. I'd recommend that instead of the dual 290X setup.
'How old is this system, and when will you upgrade to a new rig? You could then go for a Intel-based new rig, as AMD processors are currently lagging behind in performance. If you'll recently upgrade to a new...
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Umar M

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I'm not really sure thats very true. Even a single 280x can power a 4k monitor.
http://www.eteknix.com/4k-gaming-showdown-amd-r9-290x-r9-280x-vs-nvidia-gtx-titan-gtx-780/6/

and three 980's are more than sufficient to power triple 4K.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jt5oE0gpnnk

suppose I almost answered my own question, first time seeing that eteknix site: looks like crossfired 290x's are sufficient.
http://www.eteknix.com/4k-gaming-showdown-amd-r9-290x-crossfire-vs-nvidia-gtx-780-ti-sli/6/
 
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davidarad02

davidarad02

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as for the 280x, that the vaporX version overclocked like mad, so it should perform like it is.

as for the 980's, I don't know if you heard in the video, but its choppy like hell, and low FPS.
watch this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tAa0qbAYK4
 
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Umar M

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I edited in above not sure if you saw that when im gaming I will only be using one of the monitors (only will be using all three for work).

Still a crossfired 290x is over twice as powerful than a single 280x at 4k, and since I will only be using one monitor when I game I won't have to worry about the choppiness he is experiencing as he's using all 3. And if you watch the whole video its not "Choppy as hell" maybe when playing Anno, but some of the other games even ran around 50-60 fps.

Just wondering before I found that website if anyone has any experience with crossfired 290x with gaming or if there is anything I need to watch out for?
 
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Umar M

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I was looking at those, but as i have one 290x already, and the price of the 295x2 is actually more expensive than just buying 2 290x's it makes more sense for me to buy 1 more 290x.

Question though, can you quad crossfire with two 290x's and one 295x2?
 
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cst1992

cst1992

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I'm not sure, but you probably cannot, and you shouldn't, because it'll scale poorly and give you issues.
I was saying 295X2, as it's in all respects, including power consumption, equivalent to a 290X CF setup, and if you do get a second card, what kind of frames you'd be looking at. I never actually said buy a 295X2.
You could do with getting a second 290x, as the benchmarks for a 295x2 are pretty good, even compared to a single Titan X. But without the watercooling, you could have heat issues, so make sure your case has good airflow, or install a watercooling loop if you have the know-how.
 
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Umar M

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Ah, sorry I misread your previous post. I didn't realize that the benchmarks of the 295x2 were so close to the 290x crossfire. Thats perfect! Gives me some more benchmarks to look at.

I was worried about the airflow, I currently have 3x120mm intake, and 3x120mm blowing out & 1 120mm on a hyper 212. Was hoping that would be good enough in a small tower case.

I currently only have a 750w power supply, will I need to up this to an 850+? I mean If i can run on the 750 that would be great. I only use ssd's and my cpu is a mildly overclocked fx-8350.

Thanks for giving me some more insight.
 
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cst1992

cst1992

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Dual 290X's themselves will use up 580W, so I doubt you'll have enough juice with a 750W power supply. Wait, I KNOW you'll not have enough juice with a 750W power supply. Better get a bigger one, a 1000W would be good, just to be safe.
If you have a small tower(a midtower?) I'd say it'll be too small for dual 290X's, airflow wise, but actual results do vary.

You could always wait a month for the 390X/980Ti to arrive and sell this 290x for one of those. That's also a viable option. I'd recommend that instead of the dual 290X setup.
'How old is this system, and when will you upgrade to a new rig? You could then go for a Intel-based new rig, as AMD processors are currently lagging behind in performance. If you'll recently upgrade to a new rig, a graphics upgrade now will not make any sense.
 
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Umar M

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Yes I would say its a midtower, I've seen xfire/sli setups in much smaller cases so I think I'm good there, as you say results may vary. I have plenty of room for a few additional fans in case heat is an issue.

Wow 1000w, I'll look in the 9-1000w range then and get a new one, thanks.

I don't really see any point waiting for the 390x's. The new 380x will be the equivalent of a current 290x and it will undoubtedly be more expensive. Here in the UK I can pick up a 390x for VERY cheap as it seems they are all being cleared out (Asus/Sapphire Tri-X ones) and if 290x xfire (295x2) is as the benchmarks really say then that would make me more than happy. It seems after looking at the 295x2 benchmarks as suggested that its more than capable.

I have wanted to go for an intel rig but the performance increase isn't worth the expense of buying a new motherboard and cpu. Yes I know the fx8350 isn't as good as an i5/i7 but it still holds its own and I do believe that it will be ok for a few more years. I'm not benchmarking etc... just doing work that takes advantage of the multiple cores and gaming.
I think upgrading is a very slippery slope, as you pointed out once you think about upgrading one part...it just goes on and on until you have 2 systems at home :) So in short I won't be upgrading to a new rig so GPU is my best bet right now.

Appreciate the help.

So after the above would you still suggest to go for a second 290x? or am i just building more of a headache for myself?
 
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cst1992

cst1992

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If you're getting it for cheap, you could go for it.
Otherwise, you could sell your 290X, and get a R9 295X2. It is also cheap these days, I saw one on Amazon for $619. You'd get watercooling benefit out of it, and need not worry about noise and temperatures. Plus, the 295X2 consumes 500W of power versus 580W, so you could do with a 850W PSU instead of a 1000W.
 
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