280x vs 770 vs 290 vs 780

kathir28

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May 13, 2014
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Hello
i'm looking after a gpu and i'm concidering: 280x, 770 and maybe a 290
so is their a big difference between these GPUS?
All of this gpus will be ASUS and maybe EVGA.
And how would the 290 perform vs the 780?
edit: And would the price of the 780 go down in July- august?

Thanks in advance!
 


there will be about 15-20 fps (maybe even more in some games) between these gpus, the 290 is about 15 fps faster than a 280x...etc....290 will beat the 780 in just about anything...however when choosing between amd or nvidia for gpu, you need to consider things beyond fps performance...
Do you want physx?...
Do you any issues with extra heat and power usage? (amd gpus that is)
What games do you play? amd based or nvidia based?
 


What does physx do?
 
I personally decided to go with a 290 because it is slightly more powerful overall and with games such as star citizen using mantle, the future looks good. If you're playing more ubisoft games then the 780 will perform better because they are now working together however I am very happy with my 290 :) The temps and power consumption are also higher but that's not a problem for me.
 


Physx is a Nvidia technology that simulates particles, it is only avalaible in nvidia cards, not amd....search up images of physx and you'll see what i mean (i'm sorry i cant right now, i'm on my phone)...what the post below mentions 'mantle' is amd's technology, mantle basically increases cpu performance, but if going for a powerful card as a r9 290, you're likely to also have a powerful enough cpu that you wont really benefit from mantle, plus mantle requires amd cpu and gpu....if you want physx, then go for nvidia, if you dont want physx then amd is the way to go (the post below is kinda right though, the r9 290 is more powerful than the gtx 780)

 
there will be about 15-20 fps (maybe even more in some games) between these gpus, the 290 is about 15 fps faster than a 280x...etc....290 will beat the 780 in just about anything...however when choosing between amd or nvidia for gpu, you need to consider things beyond fps performance...
Do you want physx?...
Do you any issues with extra heat and power usage? (amd gpus that is)
What games do you play? amd based or nvidia based?




ok, lets say the 780 is a bit cheaper than the 290, what would you choose?
 


i would personally choose the 780, simply because i cannot live without physx, thats it...no other reason, even though where i live the 780 is about 50% more expensive than the 290 and performs slower than a 290 as well, i wanted physx so i went with the 780....as Xtrasweat mentions, mantle is a good future for amd cards, however mantle only benefits low-mid end cpus, you would need a good cpu (maybe an i5 4670k or fx 8350) to run 780/ 290 anyways, mantle is almost irrelevant to you. all you need to know is three things...
Do you want physx? If yes, then nvidia is the only way
What games do you play? nvidia based? (like borderlands 2) or amd (like Tomb raider)
Do you have any restrictions on your power consumption? maybe cooling?...for example if you're using an old power supply or maybe using a silent case
 


i play a mix of amd and nvidia games(watch dogs and BF4), and i have a corsair ax760 and a fractal r4 with 3 fans intake and 2 exhaust fans. physx looks good, and i got a 4670k overclocked to 4,4

 


well then it all comes down to one thing....would you sacrifice 10-20 frames for physx?
 


would you notice the difference on frames?

 



the difference between 40 and 60 fps?...not really (some people do because they have super-human sight)....but the difference between 20 fps and 40 fps?....massive YES.....a hell of a difference....for future games, the amd card will continue to pump out reasonable fps while the nvidia simply wont be able to cope
the hierarchy of gpu power goes something like this: (with 1. being the most powerful and 4. being the least)

1)r9 290
2)gtx 780
3)gtx 770
4)r9 280x
 


So you mean that the 780 will strugle in 2 years, while the 290 would get good frames?

 



the 780 will struggle in 4 years (to run games maxed out that is) while the 290 will still give good frames on maxed out settings, maybe survive a year or two more?
 


so 290 is the best card ?. does all games support physx?
 


nope.....theres only a handful of games that support physx http://www.geforce.co.uk/games-applications/technology/physx?title=&sort_bef_combine=%20&sort_order=&sort_by= ....physx is nvidia only so only nvidia based games or games that otherwise have some sort of agreement with nvidia will support physx
 


Okey.., than i have to dicede between lower temps and better overclocking (780) vs more shaderproceccors and and maybe a bit more fureproof. what would you choose between these?
 


It makes alot more sense to go with the 290 or 290x......it is more futureproof, even if you oc the 780 it will not be faster than a oc'd 290x.......so performance wise its the 290/290x.....however as i've already mentioned, i love physx, i cant live without it so i would definately go for the 780 despite the obvious disadvantage of lower performance, i posted the link above, if you play any of those games (or plan to) and you want physx, there is no other way than to go 780....as you mentioned about the price of the 780...no i dont think it'll go down, look up the 680 or maybe 580, they still cost the same when they were first released, despite being of older generations, the price of the 780 is not likely to go down, even if the 8xx series is released...so if you want performance or are tight on the budget
go 290/290x
if you're willing to sacrifice 10-ish fps and pay more (as far as i know the 780 is more expensive than the 290x) to get physx because you play physx games
go 780
 


Will watch dogs support physx after a while, since its a nvidia game?
 



as of now, i dont think watch dogs supports physx, but will it support in the future?..well only time will tell
 


is 3gb enough for watch dogs?
 
Yes, 3gb should be enough for watchdogs, but depending on what resolution you are playing at.
Personally, if you are spending money on a 780 for physx, then get a 290x(same exact price on newegg as 780) because you get more performance with a 290x than a 780. There are only a limited amount of games that utilize Physx, personally not enough to switch to nvidia. If you have an relatively old nvidia graphics card, then use that as a dedicated physx card but would require some modding to get the 2 graphics cards to work.
 
Please stop quoting everyone :) if the 290 is cheaper then without a doubt get it. It has good performance and both tom's hardware and the creator of star citizen have said that it's the best value card at the moment.
 
although the r9 290 is the best value for money high end card right now, if given the choice again id go for the 780, the extra cost is worth the reduction of hassle you'll experience by not having to deal with catalyst and amd drivers. also, when overclocked to the limit, the 780 does outperform the 290x at 1080p and 1440p, but only just. also the 290x is absoloutely not worth it, as the r9 290 when overclcoked to the limit is just as fast as the 290x when overclocked to the limit to within 2fps.