Best for the money (and does more memory really make a huge difference)?

Best for the money?

  • Sapphire Radeon R9 280x Toxic

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • MSI Geforce GTX 770 Lightning

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Galaxy Geforce GTX 770 HOF

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Total voters
    1

Ghost Lightning

Distinguished
May 11, 2013
14
0
18,510
So AMD just released the new R9 line up right as I'm getting ready to put the finishing touches into my gaming build. I wanted a GTX 770, but as the price was $100 more, I thought AMD was the way to go. Weeeeeell, Nvidia just price dropped the entire 700 series line up, bringing the prices of the three aftermarket cards (Two 770's and an R9 280x) I was debating between right in line with each other price-wise.

As well, Nvidia currently has a 3 game bundle in which you get AC4, Batman, and Splinter Cell if you buy a 770. Seems like a no-brainer to go with the Nvidia card, but the problem is I'd either be buying the MSI Lightning edition or the Galaxy HOF edition, which both only feature 2gb of V-ram on a 256 bit bus, where as the 280x features 3gb on a 384 bit bus. I've heard a lot of people say running Skyrim heavily modded at 1080p takes ram usage beyond 2gb, and while the 770's ram is clocked higher, it does have less of it.

I would be gaming on a 1920x1200 display via display port, in case that's important. here are the three specific cards I'm debating between:

Sapphire Radeon R9 280x Toxic: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202044

MSI Geforce GTX 770 Lightning: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127742

Galaxy Geforce GTX 770 HOF: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814162137

Any help is appreciated, but please avoid suggesting the 4gb 770s as while it seems like the logical alternative, I'm pretty dead set on one of these three. Thank you.
 

olafgarten

Distinguished
Dec 16, 2011
301
0
18,860
i doubt any games will need more than 2gb unless you install 50+ mods on it, and if you do it's just because you think the game is rubbish so you shouldn't be playing it. Just get the 770, it also has better potential for upgrading (SLI>Crossfire).