Graphics Card! What do!? (GTX 780, GTX 970 or R9 290)

[IamTimTech]

Hey there everyone I need your help making a purchasing decision pretty quick. I am selling my budget gaming machine today to buy a nicer graphics card(s) for my main PC. There is someone locally who is running 2x Asus Direct CU II GTX 780's in SLI and is willing to sell 1x for $300 or the pair for $580. Seems like an alright deal, with the advantage of being able to go grab them myself tonight (as opposed to being patient and waiting for a card to ship here ) But I want to know if it's still worth it to buy the 780 when the 970 is in that ballpark and the R9 290 is cheaper still. Help me forum, what would you do if it were your money!

This GPU is going to be paired with an i5-4440 and 8GB of Corsair Vengeance 1866Mhz memory.

Keep in mind: I honestly don't game that much. I enjoy the hardware, building, benchmarking and stress testing as well as light video rendering more than I actually do gaming haha. Of course if I had a wicked GPU I may play more games. Thanks in advance for the help everyone!

 

[Robert Cook]

For $300 you can almost get a brand new 970, and you can easily get a 290, possibly even a 290x. the advantage here would be that you get a new card, not a used card. that is a good deal for a 780, however considering you can match it with a 290x or a 970, I would just buy a new card. right now, the 290x or 290 is the best for the price, but you may want a 970, as they are ideally "next gen".

 

[IamTimTech]

I think you are right. What would be a good price for the 780 to make it worth? Somethings I like about my used option: I can see the card working before I buy it (so being a used card is less of a big deal) and it's the super sexy Asus card with a blackplate, drool. If i go new I do want the 970 over a 290. The R9 is totally the better card, (feel the love AMD!!!!) but because my system has power constraints. The powers supply in the PC this is going into is only a 550w, and not a high end one at that.

In reality I should just save my money and get an R9 280 because I would never even use it to it's full potential.

 

[Robert Cook]

I would say to this person that you would take the cards for at the highest $265 each or one for $270, as they are used, and be sure to mention there are other cards out there, unless you know this person, you want to make it clear that you are there for the deal, and nothing else (but still be polite) and do not make it sound like you are over the moon about the cards, as then he has you in his leverage. If it is family, obviously you should try other tactics. mention that you can get a 290 for that price, he does not need to know you cant power one.

 

[IamTimTech]

I think $270 per card is a great place to be, thanks.