GPU shopping help (for iTX setup)

[sm620]

Recently I moved my ATX system into an ITX case becasue I wanted to make it more portable. When I finished I forgot to monitor my system temps which cause my graphics card to overheat and make green flickering lights accross my screen. I troubleshooted by switching to onboard graphics which fixed the problem, so I then decided it was either the GPU or the mobo. Next I found an old gtx 520 and put it in and as I expected the card worked just fine with no lines.

I need to buy a new GPU if I want to have good quality graphics, but I also need a card with really good cooling that isn't liquid cooled. I was lookign at the ASUS direct CUII cards. I don't know which one I should get though because I want my computer to be future proofed but I don't want to spend a lot of money if I don't have to.

The cards I'm looking at are the two fasteds Direct CUII cards(links below)

780: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121779

770: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814121770

I use a 1080p monitor and I like to play games fully maxed and get 60fps. so I was thinking I would get the 780 but I feel like it's overkill for everything except 3 monitor and 4k monitors.

If you have any suggestions on different cards, experience with these cards, or a suggestion of any kind please respond.

My system(relevent to GPU selection)
CPU-i5-4670K
Mobo-ASUS Maximus6 Impact
Case-Cooler Master Elite 130
PSU-HX650

 

[i7Baby]

They'll fit in the case? How much VGA card room is there?

Asus are renown as the coolest and quietest graphics cards. So if they fit then you should be on a winner. The psu is good too.

I'd prefer the 780 over the 770.

 

[unknownofprob]

if you have the space, go for an Asus R9 290 DirectCU II 4GB, best choice for the price, comparable to GTX 780 but with a reasonable price drop, only a bit more over GTX 770.

 

[sm620]

The graphics card will fit. I just measured it and there is a good amount of spare room for it. The case was made for gaming and is supposed to hold a reference Titan. I'll leave this tread up a couple days before I mark it answered, so I can hear more opinions but I am leaning towards the 780.

 

[i7Baby]

I think the 780 will run cooler and quieter than the 770 or 290. The 290 is better for 1440p but 780 better for 1080p but depending on the game -
http://www.anandtech.com/show/7601/sapphire-radeon-r9-290-review-our-first-custom-cooled-290/3.

The 780 is quieter, cooler and less power hungry than the 290. (see same link)

The 780 is a faster card than the 770 - http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_780_directcu_ii_review,18.html

and runs cooler - http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_780_directcu_ii_review,8.html

and quieter - http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_geforce_gtx_780_directcu_ii_review,9.html

than most other cards

 

[sm620]

I have an Nvidia shield which has a PC link function but of course only works for Nvidia GPU's,so I'm going to stick with them unless there is a huge difference... and now that I think about it $100 does seem like a big difference. I'll research the cards a little bit in the morning. The benchmarks are putting 290 ahead but it varies on games. but I havne't looked up temps for the ASUS cards yet but I'll do that in the morning. Thanks for your quick responses.

 

[unknownofprob]

The R9 290 features 4GB GDDR5 Video ram compared to the GTX 780's 3GB

R9 290 features a 512-bit memory interface compared to the 780's 384-bit, this helps as the more lanes you have on a highway, the less congested it will be, this is in reference to the GPU as an example of what the memory interface does.

R9 290 runs at 320GB/s compared to the GTX 780 @ 288.4Gb/s

Higher Core clock speed @ 947MHz vs the 780's 863MHz

R9 290 Has 25% More ROPS @ 64, compared to the 780's 48.

Has a higher power TDP at 300W, which is worse.

256 more shader units.

Just some things to consider.

 

[sm620]

I think either ASUS card will have a low temperature but I do know for the reference designs AMD's usually run hotter. Speed really seems to depend on the game more than anything else but for similar performance $100 cheaper is a great motivator for me to get the AMD one instead.

 

[unknownofprob]

yes it is, make sure it is a aftermarket cooled model, i.e. Asus DirectCU II.

 

[sm620]

well I'll think about it and respond some time tommorow

 

[sm620]

I looked at the Reviews for the ASUS 290 and people were complaining about a cooling issue which will just be amplified in my case. I also noticed all the benchmarks were for a non OC'd 780 so the performance is probably extremely close. when you increase it 1/8 of it's speed it should help on those benchmarks. The GTX 780 on the other hand looks pretty solid in the reviews only a few RMA's very few complaints on that one. $100 dollars more for a card that will last longer in my case and setup is the better deal in my opinion.

And yes I said I'd respond in the morning but I lied this time I will leave.

 

[unknownofprob]

the Asus R9 290 does have reviews for this, but at a whole, not too bad when it comes to cooling.

 

[sm620]

keep in mind I have very bad airflow in my case because it's an Itx case. If the card fans aren't effectively cooling the entire card effectively then it's bound to cause a problem. Also the memory doesn't matter all that much because I only have one monitor. I really can't judge by shader amount because they are just different processors. I would really like to save $100 but when one part of the card isn't being cooled and my case definitely isn't going to be cooling anything except my motherboard I really feel like the 780 is the way to go for me. Also the 780 nonreference design should be cooler all around than the R9 290 which for my case is everything because my old card didn't get above 70C on a good ATX case and it burned up in this case.

 

[Airm3n]

I have a question for you do you have a spot that you could hook up 120mm fan in the case? I just dropped a arctic accelero hybrid 2 on my gtx titan and I have to say i'm very impressed. Almost no noise at all now with that block installed and it doesn't take up all that much room either. If you have the space that would my recommendation. It is pricey but you wouldn't have any issues with cooling with it on provided you have room to get it on. I can provide picture if you want to see as I believe 780 should be the same size as titan.

Edit: temps were running at full load up between 70-75 degrees celcius with stock cooler on gtx titan. Now I can't even get over 52 degrees celcius with this cooler. I also just noticed you said you didn't want liquid cooled so I suppose its kind of moot to take my advice now sorry .

 

[sm620]

I have liquid cooling for my CPU which uses up the 120 fan at the front. it looks like a 120mm fan could be mounted to the side somewhere but I would need to modify the case because it's not made to accomodate a second 120mm fan. I don't think the radiator would fit because it would bump my other one. Thanks for the advice though I will look into liquid cooling my GPU in the future.

 

[sm620]

I'm going to get the GTX 780 because it will stay cooler, over clock further, and is overall faster.