[Build Help] Which build should I get? Two R9 280X or One R9 290X

[DJ777]

This is my first time making a build and after a long amount of deliberation and planning, I have settled upon the following two builds. I'm glad that I checked this site before starting to purchase it yesterday, because I read about the new GPU releases from NVIDIA and consequently the possible price drop which I will be waiting for.

Until then, I'm going to order the components, get it up and running and rely on the integrated graphics. Hopefully there will be some significant savings for having waited for two weeks!

[Build 1](

https://imgur.com/rPEAxSO

)

[Build 2](

https://imgur.com/h4p6SrQ

)

Since my expertise is clearly lacking, here are some questions I have:

1) Is the differences in the motherboard (between the Gigabyte and MSI) going to be vast? I compared the two via comparison sites and the MSI seems better but if it won't be noticeable then I'd rather go for the cheaper

2) Will having two R9 280X make a significant change to the visible graphics and my ability to run games at the highest possible setting in comparison to the one R9 290X? Also which one will become obsolete quicker?

3) Will the tower be able to house all of my components?

4) Ignoring the differences in the two builds, are they both compatible? Do you see any issues regarding either of them?

5) Which would you recommend? Personally, if the difference between the two is minimal, I'd rather go for the cheaper option which will save me ~£80.

Thank you very much in advance!

EDIT: Replace the HyperX 16GB RAM for Two (2x4GB) G-Skill Ripjaw 2133 MHz which will save £10 on Build 2

 

[Daleon]

1. Gigabyte is generally a better board than MSI.

2. Clearly yes a 290X is better than a 280X and will be able to play games at the highest settings longer. Thing is depending on the game you will just be getting lots of extra fps you don't need. Does it really matter when your getting 85 fps with a 280X and 115 with a 290X?

3. Are you using any applications that will use 8 cores and 16GB of ram? Gaming at this point won't and your better off putting that money into GPU but if you do any photo or video editing and encoding it could be worthwhile. Is there a reason you picked this monitor? Do you already have them or getting them cheap? It is an older model, 12ms, and flicker. The newer HS model is a little better but still nothing special. There are a lot of good gaming monitor choices these days better than these.

4. No issues

5. There a particular online vendor you are ordering from? Pretty sure we could put together a better overall list.

 

[ATMINSIDE]

I would build the following:
- 4790K
- Noctua NH-D14
- Z97 Extreme6
- 2x4GB G.SKILL Ares 2133MHz CL9
- R9 290, R9 290X, GTX 780, or GTX 780Ti - As you say, waiting for NVidia releases though.
- Samsung 840 EVO 250GB or Crucial MX100 256GB.
- EVGA SuperNova G2 750W

I see no need for an ODD unless you watch movies from disc a lot.
All installs/drivers can be done from USB.

Look at the Corsair Obsidian 450D instead of the Fractal, the airflow is better in the Corsair, with similar aesthetics/pricing.