Hey guys, I received an extra 290. Should I sell both cards and upgrade or just crossfire?

unident77

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Dec 12, 2015
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I bought one reference 290 but got an extra card somehow. The company is pretty shady business wise so I don't want to do the honest thing and return it.

I recently learned that Dota 2 doesn't utilize crossfire[1]. This is unfortunate for me because all I play is Dota 2, and a little Starcraft 2. The only thing I could buy outright if I sold both cards, assuming I got $200 each, would be a 390x. A B-stock 980 is another option, or used cards possibly.

It might be worth noting that my mobo is dual 3.0 x8 or single x16. Though IIRC that doesn't matter as much as people think.

What should I do?

1. http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2895610/hey-guys-return-4690k-fan-bizarre-behavior-load.html#17115793
 

Hideous Elf

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Oct 14, 2015
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Well, I obviously don't know what resolution your playing at, but even a single 290 will crush both of those games at 1080p, and a 390x/980 would absolutely destroy both of those titles at any resolution, but honestly unless you'r playing at at least 4k, the 390x or 980 would be absolutely overkill. Generally though a single high end card is better or requires more hassle than 2 less powerful cards.

PS. (could you maybe hook me up with this company) ;P
 

unident77

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Ah right, my bad. I'm wanting to play Dota 2 maxed out at 100+ fps @ 1440p. Right now I'm getting ~75fps with drops to ~50 in team fights. Mind you I'm using a stock 4690k (cooler gets here tomorrow). If I take down some settings I can get ~100 with drops to ~70.
 

Hideous Elf

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Well obviously what I said early still stands, that the 390x and 980 will both give you the results you'r looking for no problem, and between those 2 I would personally go for the 390x It's cheaper and pushes out a bit more frames in most games than the 980.
 

wh3resmycar

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hmm that's quite odd. i'm using a gtx960 @ 1080p and even 5v5 team fights my fps don't dip below 60fps. not sure why a 290 would struggle to keep 60fps+ on an old source engine game even @ 1440p. i even remembered my gtx970 (i downgraded) @ 4k DSR managing to hold 60fps on dota2.
 

Hideous Elf

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In every benchmark I've seen the 390x and 980 are neck and neck
 

RobCrezz

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Yeah exactly. The 290 is already a high end card, might aswell go to the top level if you want to upgrade from there.