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Started by fnmeo | | 17 answers
970 vs 290x
I am trying to decide right now between the XFX r9 290x because it is $350 and the MSI gaming 970 also for $350. Please respond with your personal preference of the card I should get.

XFX 290x -http://pcpartpicker.com/part/xfx-video-card-r9290xedfd

MSI GAMING 970- http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-gtx970gamin...
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October 17, 2014 2:02:30 PM

Its not that, its more of the water block price + rad + fittings.
a b 4 Gaming
October 17, 2014 10:28:18 AM

JamesRausch22 said:
okay thanks my only concern is when upgrading it will be more expensive to crossfire it.


290x have dropped heavily in price since the release of the 970/980, so you might be able to find a good deal for another if you look around.
October 17, 2014 7:20:29 AM

okay thanks my only concern is when upgrading it will be more expensive to crossfire it.
a b 4 Gaming
October 17, 2014 7:19:03 AM

^ no they have similar performance
October 17, 2014 6:54:59 AM

I have a water-cooled 290x is it worth the upgrade to a 970?
October 12, 2014 1:52:51 AM

MeteorsRaining said:
I'll be very unbiased here,
290X is a factory OCed 290, 290W TDP, and competes with GTX 970 which's 150W TDP, 290X is beastly, can max out any games, runs a bit hot, 970 can max out any game, runs very cool, 290X is a good OCer, 970 is an awesome OCer, 970 also has some newer features which 290X doesn't have, and I couldn't find a feature exclusive to 290X.
I don't seem to find any good in going with a 300W card for the same performance as a 150W one, with lots of more heat buildup.

Simply enough, one vote for GTX 970.


I agree in general, though a few corrections to your 'unbiased' analysis :p  :
TDP != Power draw. Tomshardware's tests have shown a 60W difference in power consumption between 290X and GTX 970. Although that's not a small difference, it's much smaller than what the TDP might suggest.

290X exclusive features that you simply couldn't find:
3 DSPs dedicated to TrueAudio.
Freesync.

In terms of OCability, the GTX 970 and 290X have around the same performance when OCed, so both are equally great OCed. (oc data from bit-tech and guru3d reviews).

Overall, again I would recommend the GTX 970, though at the same price it doesn't win by a lot.
October 10, 2014 7:52:58 AM

fnmeo said:
Well If I get either of the cards I will overclock them.
I will also most likely be using Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor with them.


The 970 wins when it comes to overclocking, hands down.

The 290X runs very hot, which limits overclocking potential on air. The 970 runs very cool and quiet. Both the MSI 970 Gaming and Gigabyte G1 look to be two of the best cards for overclocking.

My MSI 970 will hit about 1554MHz core (boost; stock boost is 1354MHz) and do around +200 (haven't tested higher yet) on the memory before it hits the power limit. Once we can flash a custom BIOS, these cards should do really well.

a b 4 Gaming
October 10, 2014 7:51:05 AM

I'd highly recommend a GTX 970 then, it OCes like a beast, have seen boost clocks upto 1.5Ghz on some models (MSI and G1 specifically), while being cool and not eating up too much power too.
October 10, 2014 7:48:13 AM

Well If I get either of the cards I will overclock them.
I will also most likely be using Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor with them.
a b 4 Gaming
October 10, 2014 7:14:45 AM

RobCrezz said:

Sorry, quick correction needed:

1) the 290X is not a factory overclocked 290, it actually has 2816 stream processors, compared to the 290 which has 2560.


The rest I agree with, the 970 is preferable.




Oops, good catch there, didn't remember it correctly off-hand, you're correct.

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