GTX 780 vs Crossfired 7970's Vs Radeon 9950

[MrAcd]

Is it safe to crossfire now with the new AMD drivers, this is a new build that will be doing a triple monitor display for gaming, its purely for gaming. I want to run maxed on all 3 screens at 1080p. I Don't need the build until January, so I can wait for the Hawaii 9xxx Series from AMD, The 9970 would be out of my price range so I would get the 9950. I want the GTX 780 but its way overpriced at the moment but when the 9xxx series come out I know it will go down so keep that in consideration. The crossfired 7970's sound nice and seem better than the 780, correct me if im wrong, but I want to know if it is safe to crossfire now with AMD's new drivers that fix microshuttering, and its cheaper than the 780 by like 50$, so that's my concern with the CF set up, or should I wait and get 9950 or wait till then and get the lower priced 780 or like I said wait till the 9xxx series and the 7970's will be dirt cheap, what is the best option, and is there a better option?
Specs already are...

i5 4670k
Asrock Z87 Extreme 3 motherboard
8 gigs of Gskill ram
Corsair HX750

the 7970's
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008

GTX 780
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814130918

Radeon 9950
wish there was a link but this is THE 9970 Specs to give a idea http://www.game-debate.com/hardware/index.php?gid=1702&graphics=Radeon HD 9970

 

[kirilmatthew]

I think the best option, if you can afford it all at once, is to get the HD 7990. It just got massive discount and with CF drivers fixed mostly for single display you should be good. The reason to pick this over the CF 7970s is that you get 8 free games, its amazing value!

 

[cookybiscuit]

No point with Crossfire since you have 3 monitors, the drivers haven't fixed Eyefinity, as above, just single monitor.

 

[kirilmatthew]

No point with Crossfire since you have 3 monitors, the drivers haven't fixed Eyefinity, as above, just single monitor.

Oops I missed that! Go Nvidia or wait for AMD to fix their drivers for Eyefinity. Frame pacing issues are serious and I wouldn't take a GPU and have to wait for drivers.

 

[MrAcd]

WOW that 7990 with 8 games that's an amazing deal but my budget is
650$ if it comes down to that I think I might be able to squeeze in a extra 50$ to get it, I know AMD stopped making them and are about to discontinue, its only 50$ more if it still available in January I will probably get that, so do you think that drivers for multiple monitors fix will come soon?

 

[MrAcd]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

 

[determinologyz]

WOW that 7990 with 8 games that's an amazing deal but my budget is
650$ if it comes down to that I think I might be able to squeeze in a extra 50$ to get it, I know AMD stopped making them and are about to discontinue, its only 50$ more if it still available in January I will probably get that, so do you think that drivers for multiple monitors fix will come soon?

Has people learned about the 7990? At the op dont go for it its better off if you gotten a 780. From what im seeing crossfire doesnt translate to well you should have a read at this and people should stop recommending the 7990

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1770481/radeon-7990-gtx-780.html

 

[kirilmatthew]

WOW that 7990 with 8 games that's an amazing deal but my budget is
650$ if it comes down to that I think I might be able to squeeze in a extra 50$ to get it, I know AMD stopped making them and are about to discontinue, its only 50$ more if it still available in January I will probably get that, so do you think that drivers for multiple monitors fix will come soon?

Has people learned about the 7990? At the op dont go for it its better off if you gotten a 780. From what im seeing crossfire doesnt translate to well you should have a read at this and people should stop recommending the 7990

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1770481/radeon-7990-gtx-780.html

Reviews are conflicting but this is a newer, positive one. And this was before the driver update: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/amd-radeon-hd-7990-1154993/review
I think the 7990 has a place. I cannot, however, recommend the 780 when two 760s in SLI outperform it.

 

[kirilmatthew]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

Hmm, I'd say AMDs update will be out by then so I think its a choice between the 7990( more powerful) and Nvidia. Nvidia has better drivers so far for SLI, but the 7990 has better hardware and value(free games). Its up to you. Another option is getting a 7970 and waiting for another one, but you'll get less free games.

 

[determinologyz]

WOW that 7990 with 8 games that's an amazing deal but my budget is
650$ if it comes down to that I think I might be able to squeeze in a extra 50$ to get it, I know AMD stopped making them and are about to discontinue, its only 50$ more if it still available in January I will probably get that, so do you think that drivers for multiple monitors fix will come soon?

Has people learned about the 7990? At the op dont go for it its better off if you gotten a 780. From what im seeing crossfire doesnt translate to well you should have a read at this and people should stop recommending the 7990

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1770481/radeon-7990-gtx-780.html

And 2 760s performans a bit better then a tian when 1x gtx 780 superclocked ACX performs better then a stock titan with the option to SLI later on down then road when the 780 gets cheaper and beats a 690. I kinda like my idea better

Reviews are conflicting but this is a newer, positive one. And this was before the driver update: http://www.techradar.com/reviews/pc-mac/pc-components/graphics-cards/amd-radeon-hd-7990-1154993/review
I think the 7990 has a place. I cannot, however, recommend the 780 when two 760s in SLI outperform it.

 

[kirilmatthew]

WOW that 7990 with 8 games that's an amazing deal but my budget is
650$ if it comes down to that I think I might be able to squeeze in a extra 50$ to get it, I know AMD stopped making them and are about to discontinue, its only 50$ more if it still available in January I will probably get that, so do you think that drivers for multiple monitors fix will come soon?

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

It might sell out by then, I don't know if its discontinued yet though. I think that was just a rumor but I'm not sure.

 

[determinologyz]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

Hmm, I'd say AMDs update will be out by then so I think its a choice between the 7990( more powerful) and Nvidia. Nvidia has better drivers so far for SLI, but the 7990 has better hardware and value(free games). Its up to you. Another option is getting a 7970 and waiting for another one, but you'll get less free games.

I rather have better drivers/SLI optimization more so then amd iffy coil whine and its somewhat half done crossfire config..The 8 free games isnt worth the problems and its been mentioned over and over about the 7990 in plenty of threads not a good call

 

[kirilmatthew]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

Hmm, I'd say AMDs update will be out by then so I think its a choice between the 7990( more powerful) and Nvidia. Nvidia has better drivers so far for SLI, but the 7990 has better hardware and value(free games). Its up to you. Another option is getting a 7970 and waiting for another one, but you'll get less free games.

I rather have better drivers/SLI optimization more so then amd iffy coil whine and its somewhat half done crossfire config..The 8 free games isnt worth the problems and its been mentioned over and over about the 7990 in plenty of threads not a good call

The problems are mentioned, but they are not confirmed by everyone.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6915/amd-radeon-hd-7990-review-7990-gets-official/16
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7990_review,10.html

I have only ever seen one review wth the coil whine problem and many without, including these which praise its noise levels.

 

[determinologyz]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

Hmm, I'd say AMDs update will be out by then so I think its a choice between the 7990( more powerful) and Nvidia. Nvidia has better drivers so far for SLI, but the 7990 has better hardware and value(free games). Its up to you. Another option is getting a 7970 and waiting for another one, but you'll get less free games.

I rather have better drivers/SLI optimization more so then amd iffy coil whine and its somewhat half done crossfire config..The 8 free games isnt worth the problems and its been mentioned over and over about the 7990 in plenty of threads not a good call

The problems are mentioned, but they are not confirmed by everyone.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6915/amd-radeon-hd-7990-review-7990-gets-official/16
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7990_review,10.html

I have only ever seen one review wth the coil whine problem and many without, including these which praise its noise levels.

I do understand what your saying though but still for 600$ + for the amount of people talking about coil whine/crossfire issues its not worth it. Yes the 7990 comes with 8 free games and yes its faster i agree it looks better then the 780 but i dont think its worth it if its having that much trouble. The op would come back to us saying "dang i wish i would of gotten the 780" if he runs into the issue and we trying to advoid that

 

[kirilmatthew]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

Hmm, I'd say AMDs update will be out by then so I think its a choice between the 7990( more powerful) and Nvidia. Nvidia has better drivers so far for SLI, but the 7990 has better hardware and value(free games). Its up to you. Another option is getting a 7970 and waiting for another one, but you'll get less free games.

I rather have better drivers/SLI optimization more so then amd iffy coil whine and its somewhat half done crossfire config..The 8 free games isnt worth the problems and its been mentioned over and over about the 7990 in plenty of threads not a good call

The problems are mentioned, but they are not confirmed by everyone.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6915/amd-radeon-hd-7990-review-7990-gets-official/16
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7990_review,10.html

I have only ever seen one review wth the coil whine problem and many without, including these which praise its noise levels.

Bro stop trying to convince the 7990 has issues you a fanboy or something lol but all and all its still issues with crossfire and its not 100% from what im not hearing and the drivers need to mature more. More so why would i spend 600$ on something that has issues. Thats a luck of the draw if you might/might not get coil whine and it seems more people getting the issue then not so i dont agree with you on this. Yea you give good info yes the 7990 is about a bit faster but its not worth the issues it has sorry man

Yes, I'm a true fanboy that owns a Nvidia 650 Ti Boost. CF is fixed for 1 monitor and the drivers are coming for multimonitor. If the OP had multi-monitor right now, then I wouldn't recommend it. Since only one review complains about coil whine and everyone else praises it, I'm assuming there could have been other factors, such as a bad card. Where are you getting your info that most cards do?

 

[determinologyz]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

Hmm, I'd say AMDs update will be out by then so I think its a choice between the 7990( more powerful) and Nvidia. Nvidia has better drivers so far for SLI, but the 7990 has better hardware and value(free games). Its up to you. Another option is getting a 7970 and waiting for another one, but you'll get less free games.

I rather have better drivers/SLI optimization more so then amd iffy coil whine and its somewhat half done crossfire config..The 8 free games isnt worth the problems and its been mentioned over and over about the 7990 in plenty of threads not a good call

The problems are mentioned, but they are not confirmed by everyone.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6915/amd-radeon-hd-7990-review-7990-gets-official/16
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7990_review,10.html

I have only ever seen one review wth the coil whine problem and many without, including these which praise its noise levels.

Bro stop trying to convince the 7990 has issues you a fanboy or something lol but all and all its still issues with crossfire and its not 100% from what im not hearing and the drivers need to mature more. More so why would i spend 600$ on something that has issues. Thats a luck of the draw if you might/might not get coil whine and it seems more people getting the issue then not so i dont agree with you on this. Yea you give good info yes the 7990 is about a bit faster but its not worth the issues it has sorry man

Yes, I'm a true fanboy that owns a Nvidia 650 Ti Boost. CF is fixed for 1 monitor and the drivers are coming for multimonitor. If the OP had multi-monitor right now, then I wouldn't recommend it. Since only one review complains about coil whine and everyone else praises it, I'm assuming there could have been other factors, such as a bad card. Where are you getting your info that most cards do?

Its not just one review alot of people talk about it its a known issue and CF is being worked on but not 100% from my understanding i mean maybe those is bad cards but still we already have issues of cards being doa i dont wanna be stuck with another thought of a card having coil whine on top of that u know? And where am i getting my info just look around people do talk about it more then just once

 

[kirilmatthew]

And im not getting multiple monitors with the build it will be in the future maybe june or july of next year before I get all 3

Hmm, I'd say AMDs update will be out by then so I think its a choice between the 7990( more powerful) and Nvidia. Nvidia has better drivers so far for SLI, but the 7990 has better hardware and value(free games). Its up to you. Another option is getting a 7970 and waiting for another one, but you'll get less free games.

I rather have better drivers/SLI optimization more so then amd iffy coil whine and its somewhat half done crossfire config..The 8 free games isnt worth the problems and its been mentioned over and over about the 7990 in plenty of threads not a good call

The problems are mentioned, but they are not confirmed by everyone.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6915/amd-radeon-hd-7990-review-7990-gets-official/16
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7990_review,10.html

I have only ever seen one review wth the coil whine problem and many without, including these which praise its noise levels.

Bro stop trying to convince the 7990 has issues you a fanboy or something lol but all and all its still issues with crossfire and its not 100% from what im not hearing and the drivers need to mature more. More so why would i spend 600$ on something that has issues. Thats a luck of the draw if you might/might not get coil whine and it seems more people getting the issue then not so i dont agree with you on this. Yea you give good info yes the 7990 is about a bit faster but its not worth the issues it has sorry man

Yes, I'm a true fanboy that owns a Nvidia 650 Ti Boost. CF is fixed for 1 monitor and the drivers are coming for multimonitor. If the OP had multi-monitor right now, then I wouldn't recommend it. Since only one review complains about coil whine and everyone else praises it, I'm assuming there could have been other factors, such as a bad card. Where are you getting your info that most cards do?

Its not just one review alot of people talk about it its a known issue and CF is being worked on but not 100% from my understanding i mean maybe those is bad cards but still we already have issues of cards being doa i dont wanna be stuck with another thought of a card having coil whine on top of that u know? And where am i getting my info just look around people do talk about it more then just once

If you have more links please share them. Because every review I've read, besides that one showed that it was a very quiet card. CF works very well with the updated drivers. Please, explain why it doesn't work to 100%? Because you're saying things without backing it up. Sometimes cards don't work well. You can send them back and they send you a new one. It happens to all cards, including nvidia. That review was the odd one out, considering other review said the complete opposite about the noise of the card.

 

[MrAcd]

Ok so after understanding all that, I hope I did understand it all really. Some people are saying that 7990 is having issues, but I do agree with the person that says it is just a luck game, you may get a good card may not.
Another person said that 2 gtx 760's preform better than the 680, well if that's right an im looking at them 2 760's is cheaper than the 780, and I know their SLI surround is all fine, no problems, so is it true two 760's are better than the 780?

 

[17seconds]

Tom's Hardware:

"When it launched, a generous eight-game bundle had me on the fence about the 7990’s prospects. But after spending time evaluating its thermals and acoustics (to say nothing about its crashes and performance hiccups in CrossFire, which could become a story unto itself), I can’t think of one reason to recommend 7990 to a friend. And, at the end of the day, that’s what this job is all about." - Chris Angelini, Editor in Chief
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-crossfire-overheat,3539-3.html

A recording of the 7990 coil whine on Tom's Hardware, which should be all you need to hear to drop the 7990 off your list:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-review-benchmark,3486-15.html

"we want to concentrate on the parasitic noise that dominates throughout the recording."
"the high-pitched whine is noticeable enough to illicit raised eyebrows from observers correctly ascertaining that a graphics card shouldn’t be making those noises."

Apparently the noise is not an isolated hit or miss thing, it affects all 7990's:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7990/31.html
"What is a major issue, though, is the extremely annoying coil whine the card emits as soon as it runs a 3D application. The whine is generated by resonating power circuitry coils and is a problem that can be resolved; it's just an engineering challenge. NVIDIA did so for the GTX 690 and GTX Titan; both cards don't have such coil whine issues. On the HD 7990, however, it is very apparent, and I don't understand how AMD missed such a glaring problem. I talked to five other reviewers and they all confirm it, so it's not an isolated issue. What makes the whine even more apparent is that it is constantly changing pitch and volume, drawing your attention to it by effectively overpowering the fans' "whoosh" sound."

But if you spend some time doing honest research, then you start to realize that the 7990 was discontinued after a couple months for a variety of reasons, including the coil whine and the frame pacing problems. But one problem that has not been fixed and continues to plague Crossfire setups in general is simply the fact that AMD does not do a very good job of providing updated game profiles.

"However, we've also seen many games that do not scale well, and they make up a significant portion of our tests. Out of eighteen titles, five did not scale, or worse, showed negative scaling. These are not small titles, but big AAA games: Assassin's Creed 3, Batman: Arkham City, F1 2012, StarCraft II, Skyrim, and World of Warcraft. What really surprises me is that this long list is the same as the one we had with our reviews of HD 7990 "New Zealand" implementations by board partners, like the ASUS ROG ARES II and PowerColor Devil 13. So either AMD does not care or can't fix CrossFire support with these games millions of people play."
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7990/31.html

 

[kirilmatthew]

Ok so after understanding all that, I hope I did understand it all really. Some people are saying that 7990 is having issues, but I do agree with the person that says it is just a luck game, you may get a good card may not.
Another person said that 2 gtx 760's preform better than the 680, well if that's right an im looking at them 2 760's is cheaper than the 780, and I know their SLI surround is all fine, no problems, so is it true two 760's are better than the 780?

I think the one reviewer got a bad card, because everyone else says noise is great. As for the 2 760s vs the 780, that is correct. Hope this helps.

 

[cookybiscuit]

Two 760's will be faster, but you have the certainty of more heat, more noise, more power and the requirement of an SLI motherboard. Plus, there will be the very rare occasion of a game not working with SLI and the chance you can perceive microstutter.

 

[17seconds]

Ok so after understanding all that, I hope I did understand it all really. Some people are saying that 7990 is having issues, but I do agree with the person that says it is just a luck game, you may get a good card may not.
Another person said that 2 gtx 760's preform better than the 680, well if that's right an im looking at them 2 760's is cheaper than the 780, and I know their SLI surround is all fine, no problems, so is it true two 760's are better than the 780?

Guru3D:

Final Words & Conclusion - GTX 760 SLI
As always it is nice to see what kind of number a SLI combo manages to out in terms of framerates. Interesting is that two of these cards are priced roughly 40% lower then say a GeForce GTX Titan, yet you'll hover at roughly the same performance. Fact remains though that SLI is not for everybody. Even yours truly rather would have the fastest single GPU based graphics card over a SLI solution. But fair enough, over time NVIDIA has done a great job, micro-stuttering is a thing of the past and there are hardly any driver issues. And with triple A game titles, NVIDIA will have a driver for you at launch day ensuring your multi-GPU solution is supported.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/geforce_gtx_760_sli_review,19.html

 

[17seconds]

I think the one reviewer got a bad card, because everyone else says noise is great. As for the 2 760s vs the 780, that is correct. Hope this helps.

Apparently, the review Press cards are cherry-picked versions that are significantly better than the Retail cards available for to the consumer.

The Retail cards run hotter:

Produce more ambient heat inside the case:

And are significantly noisier:

 

[MrAcd]

17Seconds just swung my vote haha, I was leaning toward the 7990 then all that stuff got me, especially when you mentioned that you wonder why It was discounted,... all the problems. so that one GPU off the list, I have a good feeling that AMD will fix crossfire on multiple monitors by January, still leaving these cards to pick from
GTX 780
Radeon 9950
GTX 760's SLI
7970's Crossfired hoping to fix drivers by January

 

[kirilmatthew]

17Seconds just swung my vote haha, I was leaning toward the 7990 then all that stuff got me, especially when you mentioned that you wonder why It was discounted,... all the problems. so that one GPU off the list, I have a good feeling that AMD will fix crossfire on multiple monitors by January, still leaving these cards to pick from
GTX 780
Radeon 9950
GTX 760's SLI
7970's Crossfired hoping to fix drivers by January

Yeah, I'm happy I learned that too. First time someone's actually givin me quotes and not just their feelings! Anyways, the most powerful is the 7970 CF, but the drivers are iffy. The 9950 will replace the 7970, so wouldn't you want to CF them? The 9970 will rival the 780 but is rumored to be a good bit cheaper. The 760s SLI is a very good value and will outperform the 780, which I would also cross off my list!