Advice on GPU's: First time build

[GiggsBoson]

Hello all,

I am looking to build my first gaming PC, and have been stuck for the longest time on my GPU choices (first world problems woohoo). My goal is to future proof as much as possible as well. My build is as follows (so far):

CPU: i5-4690k--$230
CPU COOLER: Swiftech H220--$100
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero--$204
Memory: G.Skill 16 GB (2x8GB)--$150
Storage: Samgsung 120 GB SSD--$81
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB $83
Case: NZXT H440--$100 --(one thing I am set on)
PSU: EVGA 750W--$124
OS: Windows 8.1--$100
Monitor: Asus PA248Q 24.1"--$291

Case Fans: x2-Noctua NF-F12 120mm--$42
1-Corsair Air series 140--$25
1-Corsair Air series 120--$25

Total cost with the R9-290~$1950

Now, one of my dilemmas is whether I should get the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Duel Classified ACX Video Card ($570) or Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X ($390)
It is my understanding that the 780 and R9-290 perform about the same while being $180 price difference. (Do not want to pay over $700 for graphics card...)


Some of the games I want to play on max settings include BF4, LoL, Bioshock, TF2 to name a few.

I Plan on using my device for mainly gaming, as of now no video editing or anything like that. Taking all that into consideration, which would be the better card to get, considering all the future developments planned (Mantle, G-Sync, 3-D)?

I want to be able to play all my games at high/max settings without compromising FPS.

Any thoughts?

(Budget up to $2300 open to all and any advice and opinions)
Thank You!

 

[legend001523]

For the games you play, a r9 290 would be what you should get, because bf4 has mantle support, that should increase fps by a couple of frames, also, you say that you don't want to spend too much so this would be your choice of gpu, the 780 is for people who have enough money for it, or just prefer a nvidia card, since you are neither, a r9 290 would be better

 

[drkatz42]

Hello all,

I am looking to build my first gaming PC, and have been stuck for the longest time on my GPU choices (first world problems woohoo). My goal is to future proof as much as possible as well. My build is as follows (so far):

CPU: i5-4690k--$230
CPU COOLER: Swiftech H220--$100
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero--$204
Memory: G.Skill 16 GB (2x8GB)--$150
Storage: Samgsung 120 GB SSD--$81
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB $83
Case: NZXT H440--$100 --(one thing I am set on)
PSU: EVGA 750W--$124
OS: Windows 8.1--$100
Monitor: Asus PA248Q 24.1"--$291

Case Fans: x2-Noctua NF-F12 120mm--$42
1-Corsair Air series 140--$25
1-Corsair Air series 120--$25

Total cost with the R9-290~$1950

Now, one of my dilemmas is whether I should get the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Duel Classified ACX Video Card ($570) or Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X ($390)
It is my understanding that the 780 and R9-290 perform about the same while being $180 price difference. (Do not want to pay over $700 for graphics card...)


Some of the games I want to play on max settings include BF4, LoL, Bioshock, TF2 to name a few.

I Plan on using my device for mainly gaming, as of now no video editing or anything like that. Taking all that into consideration, which would be the better card to get, considering all the future developments planned (Mantle, G-Sync, 3-D)?

I want to be able to play all my games at high/max settings without compromising FPS.

Any thoughts?

(Budget up to $2300 open to all and any advice and opinions)
Thank You!

Awesome build! I do believe the GTX 780 will outperform the r9 290(no X version).

 

[byza]

I would get the 290. There isn't much value in the extra $180, and with AMD releasing FreeSync, G-Sync is probably not going to be worth the premium, and as mentioned above, BF4 has mantel support. The 290 will also likely save you money if you decide to Xfire later on as it will probably still be cheaper.

 

[legend001523]

Yes, the 780 does outperform it, but only by a couple of fps, and barely noticeable on a 1080p monitor

 

[leeb2013]

The R9-290 and GTX780 are pretty evenly matched. The R9 probably favours the games you play and has 4GB Vram if you ever decide on multimonitor. Mantle is also paying dividends now with improved performance in supporting games.

I certainly don't think you can justify the $180 extra (nearly 50% more!) for the 780.

The Sapphire Tri-x is a particularly good cooler, very cool and quiet.

If you want to pay more, get the R9-290x, which is close to the 780ti.

 

[GiggsBoson]

For the games you play, a r9 290 would be what you should get, because bf4 has mantle support, that should increase fps by a couple of frames, also, you say that you don't want to spend too much so this would be your choice of gpu, the 780 is for people who have enough money for it, or just prefer a nvidia card, since you are neither, a r9 290 would be better

Wow thanks for your quick answers!
Any games that would perform better on the 780 that you know of? I am willing to pay extra if that means I will get a quality card that will be better for games to come. Have herd R9 290's have had problems with crashing, and Nvidia leads in software support?

 

[GiggsBoson]

[/quotemsg]
Awesome build! I do believe the GTX 780 will outperform the r9 290(no X version).
[/quotemsg]

Hey thanks so much!

 

[legend001523]

For the games you play, a r9 290 would be what you should get, because bf4 has mantle support, that should increase fps by a couple of frames, also, you say that you don't want to spend too much so this would be your choice of gpu, the 780 is for people who have enough money for it, or just prefer a nvidia card, since you are neither, a r9 290 would be better

Wow thanks for your quick answers!
Any games that would perform better on the 780 that you know of? I am willing to pay extra if that means I will get a quality card that will be better for games to come. Have herd R9 290's have had problems with crashing, and Nvidia leads in software support?

Not really, the 780 will be better but only by a few fps, that doesn't really justify the extra cost, the r9 290 is 5-10% lower performing than the 780 probs, so you should get the r9 290, the driver support isn't as good as nvidia, but nothing major to be concerned about

 

[GiggsBoson]

Hello all,

I am looking to build my first gaming PC, and have been stuck for the longest time on my GPU choices (first world problems woohoo). My goal is to future proof as much as possible as well. My build is as follows (so far):

CPU: i5-4690k--$230
CPU COOLER: Swiftech H220--$100
Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII Hero--$204
Memory: G.Skill 16 GB (2x8GB)--$150
Storage: Samgsung 120 GB SSD--$81
Seagate Barracuda 2 TB $83
Case: NZXT H440--$100 --(one thing I am set on)
PSU: EVGA 750W--$124
OS: Windows 8.1--$100
Monitor: Asus PA248Q 24.1"--$291

Case Fans: x2-Noctua NF-F12 120mm--$42
1-Corsair Air series 140--$25
1-Corsair Air series 120--$25

Total cost with the R9-290~$1950

Now, one of my dilemmas is whether I should get the EVGA GeForce GTX 780 3GB Duel Classified ACX Video Card ($570) or Sapphire R9 290 Tri-X ($390)
It is my understanding that the 780 and R9-290 perform about the same while being $180 price difference. (Do not want to pay over $700 for graphics card...)


Some of the games I want to play on max settings include BF4, LoL, Bioshock, TF2 to name a few.

I Plan on using my device for mainly gaming, as of now no video editing or anything like that. Taking all that into consideration, which would be the better card to get, considering all the future developments planned (Mantle, G-Sync, 3-D)?

I want to be able to play all my games at high/max settings without compromising FPS.

Any thoughts?

(Budget up to $2300 open to all and any advice and opinions)
Thank You!

Awesome build! I do believe the GTX 780 will outperform the r9 290(no X version).

Thanks so much!

 

[GiggsBoson]

The R9-290 and GTX780 are pretty evenly matched. The R9 probably favours the games you play and has 4GB Vram if you ever decide on multimonitor. Mantle is also paying dividends now with improved performance in supporting games.

I certainly don't think you can justify the $180 extra (nearly 50% more!) for the 780.

The Sapphire Tri-x is a particularly good cooler, very cool and quiet.

If you want to pay more, get the R9-290x, which is close to the 780ti.

Thank you! At this point definitely leaning to R9 290's. Have you ever worked with either (or both) GPU's?

 

[GiggsBoson]

I would get the 290. There isn't much value in the extra $180, and with AMD releasing FreeSync, G-Sync is probably not going to be worth the premium, and as mentioned above, BF4 has mantel support. The 290 will also likely save you money if you decide to Xfire later on as it will probably still be cheaper.

Hi thank you for your answer!
I am still very new to building custom PC's, If I wanted to Xfire in the future, would my case/motherboard support it? Would PCpartpicker tell me if I can/cannot do this with my current set up?

 

[legend001523]

I would get the 290. There isn't much value in the extra $180, and with AMD releasing FreeSync, G-Sync is probably not going to be worth the premium, and as mentioned above, BF4 has mantel support. The 290 will also likely save you money if you decide to Xfire later on as it will probably still be cheaper.

Hi thank you for your answer!
I am still very new to building custom PC's, If I wanted to Xfire in the future, would my case/motherboard support it? Would PCpartpicker tell me if I can/cannot do this with my current set up?

yeah, on pcpartpicker, underneath your current gpu, it'll say ' add another card for sli/crossfire' , click that, it'll automatically add another gpu of the same type, if it says no incompatibilities, you're good to go Make sure you have a high watt psu to handle crossfire

 

[GiggsBoson]

I would get the 290. There isn't much value in the extra $180, and with AMD releasing FreeSync, G-Sync is probably not going to be worth the premium, and as mentioned above, BF4 has mantel support. The 290 will also likely save you money if you decide to Xfire later on as it will probably still be cheaper.

Hi thank you for your answer!
I am still very new to building custom PC's, If I wanted to Xfire in the future, would my case/motherboard support it? Would PCpartpicker tell me if I can/cannot do this with my current set up?

yeah, on pcpartpicker, underneath your current gpu, it'll say ' add another card for sli/crossfire' , click that, it'll automatically add another gpu of the same type, if it says no incompatibilities, you're good to go Make sure you have a high watt psu to handle crossfire

Thank you! You have been extremely Helpful!
Think I might be ready for the buying phase 😵

 

[leeb2013]

The R9-290 and GTX780 are pretty evenly matched. The R9 probably favours the games you play and has 4GB Vram if you ever decide on multimonitor. Mantle is also paying dividends now with improved performance in supporting games.

I certainly don't think you can justify the $180 extra (nearly 50% more!) for the 780.

The Sapphire Tri-x is a particularly good cooler, very cool and quiet.

If you want to pay more, get the R9-290x, which is close to the 780ti.

Thank you! At this point definitely leaning to R9 290's. Have you ever worked with either (or both) GPU's?

yep, I have the R9-290 Tri-x, having also had Grainward Phantom GTX680, XFX 7950 crossfire and HIS ICEq 7950 crossfire in the last 12 months (yes I have a problem!). But happy with the R9-290 now.

 

[legend001523]

I would get the 290. There isn't much value in the extra $180, and with AMD releasing FreeSync, G-Sync is probably not going to be worth the premium, and as mentioned above, BF4 has mantel support. The 290 will also likely save you money if you decide to Xfire later on as it will probably still be cheaper.

Hi thank you for your answer!
I am still very new to building custom PC's, If I wanted to Xfire in the future, would my case/motherboard support it? Would PCpartpicker tell me if I can/cannot do this with my current set up?

yeah, on pcpartpicker, underneath your current gpu, it'll say ' add another card for sli/crossfire' , click that, it'll automatically add another gpu of the same type, if it says no incompatibilities, you're good to go Make sure you have a high watt psu to handle crossfire

Thank you! You have been extremely Helpful!
Think I might be ready for the buying phase 😵

Ahahaha, no problem