Should I get a single GTX 780 or Crossfire R9 280X's?

[xtobymc]

I'm going to making an upgrade to my PC at Christmas, but I am still unsure as to what new GPU setup to have. My budget is around £400-£500 and I want to be able to play most games at max settings. At first I was looking at the GTX 780, as the price for it has dropped recently due to the R9 series coming out, and the 780 offers very good performance for the money. However, I also read an article which mentioned using the new R9 280X's in a crossfire setup. The GTX 780 costs around £400, but two 280X's cost around £450, offering much greater performance than the 780 when combined together. Looking at benchmarks for Battlefield 3 in 1920x1080 on ultra, the GTX 780 had an average of 91fps, compared to the R9 280X crossfire, which had 147fps.

The decision may seem somewhat obvious here, but my only concern is temperature. Let's just say I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to temperatures, and although the idea of crossfire seems great, I can't help but fear the temperatures will get very high with two GPU's running adjacent inside my case (a Fractal Design Define R4). I already have liquid cooling on my CPU, and an additional 6 fans cooling the system, but even with my RHD 7950 now I can reach 80 degrees after long hours of gaming.

Any suggestions? I'm no expert with crossfire setups and GPU cooling, so I thought I'd ask

 

[jose56wonton]

If I was you I would probably buy another 7950, put them in crossfire, and do either whole system water cooling or just 2 h80s. Otherwise I would get the dual 280s: 44% better performance for for only 13% price increase.

 

[Blaise170]

The 780 will be better. The 280X do not have aftermarket coolers yet, and a single GPU is better not only for upgradeability but also for compatibility.