2 Sapphire Radeon R9 290X vs. 3 EVGA GeForce GTX 780

U

Undercover_Man

[H]ard Surgeon
Joined
Jan 17, 2010
Messages
1,314
Putting together a build for when I get enough money for a new PC
Two Sapphire Radeon R9 290X
-or-
Three EVGA GeForce GTX 780
I will most likely start with ONE card and add more a month or so later
HUGE difference between cost
About $1000 more for the three GeForce
Is there a big enough difference in quality/performance to justify the extra money?
 
you will want to consider a portion of your budget for cooling.. the 290x's will throttle in CF and im not sure how well the 780's scale. But even 780's will throttle when stacked next to each other.
 
OMG, literally TONS of cases to rummage through these days. My current decade+ case is a Thermaltake so I will start looking at those when I get there. Corsair Obsidian cases were awesome too last I checked. Lian Li and Cooler Master are also possibilities.

Are there any other GPU's I should consider besides the Sapphire Radeon R9 290X and EVGA GeForce GTX 780? I'm open to suggestions.
 
What resolution are you playing at? Anything at or over 4k, you'll want the extra vram, so I'd go dual 290xs.

Also, in my expierience with tri-fire/tri-SLI, returns are diminished on the third card and driver issues abound -- it's not worth the added headache/power req/heat.
 
Yeah, 4k gaming is what I have in mind, HOWEVER, there is only one or two good 4k gaming monitors out there. By the time more good ones get released I will either decide to sell what video card(s) I have and buy 2-3 upgraded ones or just add to what I have.

I'll probably just do a complete upgrade as if I have the money or a LARGE 4k gaming monitor then I should have enough for a video card upgrade. I should be able to get most of my money back as the cards should still be relatively new. However, if I just have the money for the monitor(s) then my current cards at the time should work.

I gotta start somewhere though. Can't keep putting off a build just to wait for the next best thing around the corner. I'd never have a computer if I did that.

BONUS QUESTION: Is PhysX and Eyefinity still a thing?
 
Last edited:
Lots of great 290X's out there, sapphire tri-x and vapor-X, Powercolor pcs+, Gigabyte Windforce for smaller cases/tighter spaces, Asus DCU II etc... Figure out your space constraints case wise and spacing on your motherboard, keeping them as far apart as possible will go a long way with Temps.
 
Undercover_Man said:
Putting together a build for when I get enough money for a new PC
Two Sapphire Radeon R9 290X
-or-
Three EVGA GeForce GTX 780
I will most likely start with ONE card and add more a month or so later
HUGE difference between cost
About $1000 more for the three GeForce
Is there a big enough difference in quality/performance to justify the extra money?
Click to expand...

why not 3 x 290?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...a&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite

that's $960 total for trifire 290
 
trungracingdev said:
why not 3 x 290?

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...a&cm_sp=&AID=10440897&PID=3891137&SID=rewrite

that's $960 total for trifire 290
Click to expand...

Good question. I'm still doing research on this, but it seems the Radeon pushes air to the outside as well as to the sides on the inside of the case. The nVidia pushes air solely to the outside. I would think 3 Radeon cards would heat up the inside of the case more than the nVidia cards which are structured to exhaust hot air back into the case.
 
Undercover_Man said:
Good question. I'm still doing research on this, but it seems the Radeon pushes air to the outside as well as to the sides on the inside of the case. The nVidia pushes air solely to the outside. I would think 3 Radeon cards would heat up the inside of the case more than the nVidia cards which are structured to exhaust hot air back into the case.
Click to expand...

simple solution, get a case with good airflow

this is what im using for my xfire 290

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811147053&cm_re=thor_v2-_-11-147-053-_-Product
 
I dunno. The only reason I'd get 3 of the top-of-the-line video cards would be for multi-monitor 4k gaming. That alone will be running the video cards hot nearly all the time while gaming. I would think, especially for the card in the middle, the cards would be susceptible to over heating due to the side exhausts even with a good airflow case. 1 or 2 of those, though, maybe not. This is one of the reasons why I am conflicted with my decision.
 
Undercover_Man said:
I dunno. The only reason I'd get 3 of the top-of-the-line video cards would be for multi-monitor 4k gaming. That alone will be running the video cards hot nearly all the time while gaming. I would think, especially for the card in the middle, the cards would be susceptible to over heating due to the side exhausts even with a good airflow case. 1 or 2 of those, though, maybe not. This is one of the reasons why I am conflicted with my decision.
Click to expand...

If airflow is good, heat would not stay in case. The case I linked has awesome airflow and my cards are relatively cool when gaming. You should be more worried about ambient air temps. Is your room cool enough to handle all the heat? My house room temp is kept at 72F.
 
I dont see how you could justify the extra $1000 for the three 780s. As mentioned earlier the more cards you add the more diminished returns you get.

I think 2 x 290x is the way to go. Might want to consider water cooleing with all the money you will save with the 290x over 780. At the very least, upgrade your case to one with good airflow.
 
4k gaming? If buying now at the very least two 290x. The 290x cards excel at ultra high resolutions. You may need more than 2 cards so I'd get a mobo that can handle three or four video cards because its already been shown two cards wont run everything at ultra if that is what you are going for. Be lucky to run games at high from what I have read. If you go with more than two GPUs it's wise to consider water cooling. The heat is going to be quite high even with good cards with coolers.

Having said all that I don't think 4k gaming is there yet. These current monitors are just allowing 30fps so waiting for the better 4k monitors that let you get 60fps is a better idea. It may happen this year but I think 2015 is the year for 4k gaming. Just my own opinion anyway.
 
The cheap route to go is buy one reference 290X, and a G10 bracket with a cheap AIO cooler, Mount that on the top card because it's usually the hotter card. Then pick up a non reference card with a great cooler such as the powercolor pcs+ for the bottom card, most of the heat from the top card is taken out of the case and is nice and quiet as well, and the bottom card will stay cooler as it's not breathing the same air as the top card... both cards will stay cool as a result. A full custom loop is the best for cooling, but that bumps the cost up considerably...
 
If you are gonna go 2 290x's why not just got with the 295x that has a water cooler built in. If you want you could always add a 290x later to come up to three. I guess cost would be a deal breaker at $1500 versus $1150 ish depending on the card you get. Water would be a way to keep the noise and heat down either way.
 
rhansen5_99 said:
If you are gonna go 2 290x's why not just got with the 295x that has a water cooler built in. If you want you could always add a 290x later to come up to three. I guess cost would be a deal breaker at $1500 versus $1150 ish depending on the card you get. Water would be a way to keep the noise and heat down either way.
Click to expand...

3 780s will set him back 1500 also.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top