4GB 770 vs 4GB R9 290

[TheRealShoe]

So I have been looking at both of these cards, and with the official pricing for the 290 at $400, it puts it very close to the 770, 4GB that is. I have looked on here, and all I see is 290x vs 780 or vs 770. No 770 vs 290. So that is my question, with a price difference of just $10, which is better?

I am currently running two 1080p monitors, and will either upgrade one to a 27" 1440p or get a third at 1080p. But this would come in the future. That being said, I plan on running SLi or CrossFire down the line aswell, when the monitor upgrade comes. I understand that Nvidia is generally knows for their SLi being the better of the two. The 290 outperforms the 770 as far as I know, but then again there are currently problems with the drivers. I would be buying the card on blackfriday/cybermonday so there is about a two week time between now and then, so I can see what AMD does with their drivers in that time.

I just need help deciding what to get. My first thought was a 280x, then that went to 760, then to 770, then to 290, and back and forth, I have done a lot of jumping around.

I am currently running an i5 4670k at 4.4Ghz with 8gb of 1333 ddr3, which I plan on upgrading(the ram that is).

 

[IAMEXTREME]

R9-290 OF COURSE!

 

[swifty_morgan]

I'd go with the 770. the new amd cards have odd cooling issues ( stock cards ) and don't always run to spec.

 

[TheRealShoe]

R9-290 OF COURSE!

I'd go with the 770. the new amd cards have odd cooling issues ( stock cards ) and don't always run to spec.

This is my dilemma.

 

[kacperwpl1898]

gtx 770 is better r9 is really loud with cooling issues

 

[Sakkura]

Wait for the non-reference 290 models to arrive? Or buy a reference model and upgrade it with a water block if you're into that.

 

[ImperialistMillitant]

The R9 is more suited to higher resolutions as it wields 4Gb of USEABLE vram and a 500 bit memory bus. On top of this, the R9 290 has more graphics grunt in general. Its far more future proof and I will advise to go down that route.

 

[IAMEXTREME]

That's no dilemma.. The path to extreme performance goes straight to 290 wihtout any twist and turns.
Just wait for the non-ref cards, and let the beast do its work.

 

[MKBL]

If you are planning to go SLI of xFire, it doesn't look like a dilemma, at least at the moment. If you get R9 this time, when you go out to buy another R9, chances are the identical product will be either out of stock, or sadly outperformed by then-latest product with modified cooling solution. Question is whether you will be happy with dual cards with poor noise and cooling performance at the time. If AMD opted to let partners do their job at launching, it would not have mattered, but they didn't.

 

[TheRealShoe]

When should we expect to see the non reference models come out?

 

[ImperialistMillitant]

When should we expect to see the non reference models come out?

The end of November, maybe into December.

 

[nikoli707]

rofl at peeps who thing the 770 is better.