Gtx 780 Or R9 290 For The Witcher 3

[zainal47]

Hi guys, I have good deal on a used gtx 780 and r9 290. The 290 is a gigabyte windforce card and newer while the 780 is already 2 years and a reference model. Which one is better for the witcher 3 @1080p Ultra, hairworks off? I know that in earlier benchmark the 290 is better, but how is it now for the both cards with the latest driver and latest patch? Can they run it at least 40 fps minimum and 50 fps average?

 

[azca]

go for the R9 290, it's generally 10-15% faster than 780 and has 1GB extra VRAM (4GB vs 3GB) and gigabyte windforce cooler is much better than any reference cooler.

latest AMD 15.7.1 drivers are solid

 

[zainal47]

go for the R9 290, it's generally 10-15% faster than 780 and has 1GB extra VRAM (4GB vs 3GB) and gigabyte windforce cooler is much better than any reference cooler.

latest AMD 15.7.1 drivers are solid

can you give me a link to that 10-15% faster? Is that in newer games? cause they're pretty similar in this
but I can't find the witcher 3 comparisons with latest patch and drviers

I'm actually leaning toward the 780 just because it looks awesome but I don't know about the heat and overclocking ability. If they're similar in witcher 3 performance, I think I'm gonna go with 780. But I still need more information from you guys

 

[Birdinmotion]

A gtx 780 actually isn't too good of a GPU (unless you are talking about the ti model). Go with the R9 290 since the windforce is awesome for cooling and overclocking.

The best performance I've seen was on an R9 290x which is basically the exact same thing, if the 780 only has 3gb than its not really worth it. Also, the 290 is the only card you will need for about the next 3 years as it was built to perform very well on future games.

And on a game like Witcher 3 you will see better performance on the 290 than the 780 because of the large amount of VRAM and stream processors along with a large bandwidth of memory.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-and-290x,3728-2.html

Oh and also, the GPU gets really hot and a bit loud but that's okay this GPU is still open for over clocking.

In your video I easily am seeing the 290 outperforming the 780 models.

 

[zainal47]

A gtx 780 actually isn't too good of a GPU (unless you are talking about the ti model). Go with the R9 290 since the windforce is awesome for cooling and overclocking.

The best performance I've seen was on an R9 290x which is basically the exact same thing, if the 780 only has 3gb than its not really worth it. Also, the 290 is the only card you will need for about the next 3 years as it was built to perform very well on future games.

And on a game like Witcher 3 you will see better performance on the 290 than the 780 because of the large amount of VRAM and stream processors along with a large bandwidth of memory.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-r9-290-and-290x,3728-2.html

Oh and also, the GPU gets really hot and a bit loud but that's okay this GPU is still open for over clocking.

In your video I easily am seeing the 290 outperforming the 780 models.

so even after with the latest driver and patch the 290 still outperforms 780 in witcher 3?
oh one more thing, will the 290 windforce fit in my cooler master usp 100 case?

 

[azca]

http://www.techspot.com/review/1006-the-witcher-3-benchmarks/page2.html

 

[bukojoe]

The Witcher 3 doesn't actually use up a lot of memory, it barely reaches 1.5GB usage on my 7870 XT on with textures on ultra and most settings on ultra except shadows on high, view distance on medium, and SSAO running at 900p. So I'm guessing that at 1080p, it will be using 1.5-2GB. Nevertheless, the R9 290 with its Windforce cooler is much better than the 780. Even if they were both reference actually, the 290 will still perform better.

Here is a comparison from Anandtech of the 2 cards: GTX 780 vs R9 290.

AMD also just released its first WHQL driver for 2015 last July which brings a lot of fixes and performance increase for its GCN-based cards.

edit:
saw your follow-up question and I actually owned a USP 100 before (I live in the Philippines) and it does not support very long graphics cards since the space where hard drives are installed extends to the bottom of the case and aren't removable without using tools. Looking at the specifications, it MIGHT JUST fit the R9 290 Windforce since the card is 293mm long while the USP 100 officially supports graphics cards up to 290mm. The card also has its power connectors located on the side rather than some which place the connectors at the back, giving you a better chance of fitting the 293mm long card.

 

[Birdinmotion]

The Witcher 3 doesn't actually use up a lot of memory, it barely reaches 1.5GB usage on my 7870 XT on with textures on ultra and most settings on ultra except shadows on high, view distance on medium, and SSAO running at 900p. So I'm guessing that at 1080p, it will be using 1.5-2GB. Nevertheless, the R9 290 with its Windforce cooler is much better than the 780. Even if they were both reference actually, the 290 will still perform better.

Here is a comparison from Anandtech of the 2 cards: GTX 780 vs R9 290.

AMD also just released its first WHQL driver for 2015 last July which brings a lot of fixes and performance increase for its GCN-based cards.

edit:
saw your follow-up question and I actually owned a USP 100 before (I live in the Philippines) and it does not support very long graphics cards since the space where hard drives are installed extends to the bottom of the case and aren't removable without using tools. Looking at the specifications, it MIGHT JUST fit the R9 290 Windforce since the card is 293mm long while the USP 100 officially supports graphics cards up to 290mm. The card also has its power connectors located on the side rather than some which place the connectors at the back, giving you a better chance of fitting the 293mm long card.

You don't need the 780 since the graphics will be the same and its way cheaper to get the 290 and the benchmarks show that you are getting so much more of a performance for price.