Own R9 290, have opportunity to buy a GTX 980 for cheap, should I?

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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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Mar 31, 2006
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Hi,

I currently have a Sapphire R9 290 (it's called a Tri-X, but is not the R9 290X version) http:// and is overclocked out of the box to be faster than a standard R9 290X

I have the option to buy my friends GTX 980 (I will get the make and model ASAP and post here). For now lets assume it is just a bog standard non-overclocked card.

He is selling it for £150.

Will I notice much of a bump up in FPS in games such as ARMA 3, IL2-Sturmovik Battle over Stalingrad, Middle-Earth Shadow over Mordor, and about 200 other modern games?. Currently have a 1920x1200 monitor and am happy with V-sync enabled (60fps).

My main dilemma is that I'm considering buying a Freesync monitor which should make for smoother gameplay on my current set-up when FPS dips below 60fps. My price range is £280-£350.

If I get the GTX 980 on the cheap, it means I will have to buy a G-Sync monitor instead and so not only will I have the £150 initial outlay for the 2nd hand card but I will also have to spend about £100+ extra on a propriety G-Sync monitor.

Finally with the AMD R9 390 cards due out very soon I wonder if I should just wait, then sell my current card and just buy a new R9 390, that way I can use my current monitor and hopefully the extra grunt will maintain a steady and constant 60fps with V-Sync which would be great.

What are your thoughts and suggestions?

-edit-

I can't just buy the GTX 980 and then sell it as my friend is doing me a favour and if he realises I'm just selling it he will think I'm being a dick and not offer me anything at a massive discount in the future.
 
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Lannister in the North

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I wouldn't go for it, the only thing the 980 truly holds over the 290 is power efficiency.
The increase in FPS won't be worth it.

A few points to consider though:
*freesync only works over displayport. (afaik)
* DirectX 12 is coming, it is rumored that it will have advanced GPU resource management, enabling cross-brand multi GPU support. (RUMORED!)
 
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spigias

spigias

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and heat my friend i own an r9 290. an yes i know heat. +plus catalyst suck big time

 
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Lannister in the North

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AMD cards produce more heat, true. But nothing that can't be handled with good ventilation.

As for catalyst, i own both flagship AMD and NVIDIA cards, and in my personal experience there isn't much difference between catalyst and geforce when it comes to features and stability.
 
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anti-duck

anti-duck

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£150 for a second hand GTX 980 is cheap as shit! If you're positive that there's nothing wrong with it, I would go for that and sell your 290. It won't be a significant boost, but you could recoup £150 by selling your 290.

The R9 390 is just going to be a rebranded 290 by the way, so you should be able to Crossfire it with your current 290 if you did go that route (not that I'm recommending it). Just don't think of an R9 390 as an upgrade with extra horsepower over your current card.
 
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MarkW

MarkW

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AMD recently showed off FreeSync over HDMI. Its not yet part of the HDMI standard, but AMD is working on getting it there.

So DisplayPort is the only protocol right now that has added AMD FreeSync to its standard. It was added to DP 1.2a.

The reason they went to DP first is that DP 1.2 was the only protocol that could handle 4K data streams. Now that HDMI 2.0 is starting to become available, which can also do 4K, AMD wants HDMI 2.0 to support FreeSync as well. Between DP and HDMI, they seem to have the 4K monitor/TV connectivity locked up.
 
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spigias

spigias

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i own r9 290 winforce and msi 970gtx. my r9 gives me random blackscreens, sometimes catalysts need to be removed before update,in some AAA titles amd sucks, F**** you Nvidia for that,FAN NOISE!, last the room i have the pc in becomes an inferno in summer..

nvidia just works, silent,cool,comptatible with all new tiltles.better drivers(in my opinion) plus witcher free!!!!

 
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Lannister in the North

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I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience with AMD, i was talking on my own experience, had an Xfire setup of 7970's that worked pretty much hassle free, in spite of Xfire being known for its quirkyness.
 
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spigias

spigias

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i agree if this done right the cost will be minimal, just make sure that gtx is working flawlessly
 
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Jak_Sparra

Jak_Sparra

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Thank you for all of the replies. With that info and everything I have looked at I have decided to purchase the 980. I have an old skeleton of a PC left over since my new build that just needs a PSU and GPU, so I'm gonna put the 980 in my current rig, then stick my R9 290 into the old i7 920@3.6Ghz, 18GB RAM, ASUS Extreme Rampage 2.
 
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