For 1080p, should I get a 290x or 780, or is it a waste?

[mas5acre]

Hi, I consider myself kinda nuts anymore when it comes to computers. I'm building a new haswell rig and will be hooking it to my tv. I'm torn between the 290x, 290, and GTX 780.

I honestly want a 290 or 290x and try installing an (unsupported) acclero hybrid cooler. I want to see what kind of performance I can get. Am I nuts? I don't upgrade all the time. I really don't want last generation's gpu aka the rebranding of the GTX 680 to the 770 or the 7970 to the R9 280x. I want Keplar or Hawaii. I definately want 3gb of ram.

Is this not a good decision? Am I wasting money for 1080p?

Love 3rd person action games especially like Tomb Raider, Dead Rising, Assassins Creed, Batman.

I do want to get the Witcher 2 and I do have Crysis one and three. I do play alot of first person shooters as well.

Really like a minimum fps of 60 which I consider more important than an average fps of 60 with settings cranked sky high.

 

[Darknecron]

Both of those cards will do what you ask. Personally, I would grab the 780...the 290x's 4GB of VRAM is complete overkill for 1080p.

HOWEVER, I would wait for some third-party comparison benchmarks to pull the trigger.

 

[manu2b]

I don't think it's wasting money.

If you have the cash go for it.

Heck, some titles need this kind of raw power to run maxed out@1080p (Crysis 3, BF4, FarCry 3), and I am sure they will be much more to come earlier than we think.

My choice would be a 290x though. Faster than a 780 + mantle support. And as you plan on "aftermarket cool it", this would be a beast.

 

[Pepi93]

Well here's what I think.

280x or 7970 or 770 will do the job and cost roughly $300 each or less, the 770 costing slightly more since the discount.

If you can find a crazy deal for a 7950 like I did (for $150) it would also do the job and save you lots of money.

I personally don't think you need a 290x or 780 but if you want to spend $500+ go for it...

I opted out for the 7950 bc now I can use it for a year and then grab a 780 or 290x for who knows...maybe $300? or less...we'll see.

I get 60fps on my 1080p 27 inch LED on all games and most if not all settings are on ultra in bioshock infinite...haven't tried crysis 3 as I don't have it but for sure I can't go ultra on all in that game.

Good Luck.

 

[Mjolnir]

I'd grab a 780 or r9 290. Forget the x Haha. The r9 290 is the sweet spot for price at the moment though.

They might not necessarily fully stretch their legs at the moment at 1080p but if you don't upgrade yearly like a lot of us do. Then I think it might be a worthy investment. The only reason I'd grab the 780 over the 290 is for noise and heat Etc. The MSI gaming and Asus dcuii models for the 780 are equally as quiet as each other and run very cool. If you don't want to upgrade for a couple years, it's not a bad investment.

 

[manu2b]

^ACtually, I meant 290 "non-x". My finger ripped, lol!

 

[EarthDog]

I'd grab a 780 or r9 290. Forget the x Haha. The r9 290 is the sweet spot for price at the moment though.

They might not necessarily fully stretch their legs at the moment at 1080p but if you don't upgrade yearly like a lot of us do. Then I think it might be a worthy investment. The only reason I'd grab the 780 over the 290 is for noise and heat Etc. The MSI gaming and Asus dcuii models for the 780 are equally as quiet as each other and run very cool. If you don't want to upgrade for a couple years, it's not a bad investment.

+1

 

[castroman]

My finger ripped, lol!

I would recommend going to the hospital

 

[manu2b]

I would recommend going to the hospital

meant slipped.

But well, I still might need to go to the hosptal

 

[cyberfish]

Why not upgrade more often and spend less every time?

That way you will have a pretty good card all the time instead of having awesome->crap->awesome->crap cycles, and spend about as much after all.

I find going for $200-$300 cards and upgrading 2 years (which is about the same $$-wise as a top end card every 4 years) works pretty well for me. And a $200-$300 card from 2 years ago is definitely much faster than a top end card 4 years ago.

For example, the $200-$300 card from 2 years ago is ~Radeon HD 6950 or GTX 560 Ti. (https://web.archive.org/web/2011110...&N=100007709 4018&IsNodeId=1&name=$200 - $300)

The top end card from 4 years ago is GTX 285. (https://web.archive.org/web/2009120...Category=48&name=Desktop-Graphics-Video-Cards)

GTX 560 Ti is a fair bit faster than GTX 285 (hard to find benchmark comparing the 2 due to the 2 generations gap).

 

[cyberfish]

Actually, if you sell the old card, for say $100, you'll have a budget of $300-$400 for the second card, which will be even faster.