GTX 780 vs 7990

[Rozbwen]

I purchased a GTX 780 a couple weeks ago for ~$680 so it is recent enough that I could ship it back and get a refund.

With the recent price cuts for a 7990 and the drivers fixing microstutter issues, I was just hoping to get your opinions if I should stick with what I have, go for a 7990 or look into something else?

I don't have a lot of knowledge on the 7990 so I'm not sure what to expect as far as thermals, noise and if increases in those and an increased price is going to be better

Background info:
I game at 2560x1440. I've got a case with room and a good power supply so that is not an issue. I like to game at max settings or as close as I can get with a stable ~60 FPS framerate. I also like to heavily mod games so that may factor into recommendations regarding to the amount of vram with the resolution I play at.

Thank you for your time.

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

I purchased a GTX 780 a couple weeks ago for ~$680 so it is recent enough that I could ship it back and get a refund.

With the recent price cuts for a 7990 and the drivers fixing microstutter issues, I was just hoping to get your opinions if I should stick with what I have, go for a 7990 or look into something else?

I don't have a lot of knowledge on the 7990 so I'm not sure what to expect as far as thermals, noise and if increases in those and an increased price is going to be better

Background info:
I game at 2560x1440. I've got a case with room and a good power supply so that is not an issue. I like to game at max settings or as close as I can get with a stable ~60 FPS framerate. I also like to heavily mod games so that may factor into recommendations regarding to the amount of vram with the resolution I play at.

Thank you for your time.

Honestly, you can't go wrong with either, nvdia still has a bit better support. The 7990 has a massive amount of vram that will help at such a high resolution. What is your full specs? Dual 7970s will be an even better option, if you have the space and money for a 6GB one. The 7990 is pretty good thermal wise do to its nice cooler. The 7990 will definitely get more frames @1440p, but of you are having very good frames with gaming as of now, keep your 780. What specific 7990 are you planning on, some have superb game bundles.

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

the 7990 and 780 have the exact same amount of VRAM...

Anyways, I think that there's no real point in making the switch now that you already have a 780. And if you do decide to make the switch, be sure to stay away from the official 7990 due to coil whine and heat issues and get the power color devil 7990 instead. It will be slightly faster, but not so much so that I would go through the hassle of the switch, personally.

The 7990 has 6GB, while the 780 has 3GB. Coil whine seems to not really be an issue when it is inside the case, and not that many 7990s have the issue at all.

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

VRAM does not stack in crossfire or SLI; the 7990 does indeed have 6GB of VRAM chips onboard but it's split between two GPUs... it is 3GB effective VRAM, same as 7970 crossfire.

And coil whine is a big enough problem that MANY reviews mention it... (and as I've gone back through reviews just now, it looks like it can be an issue even with a custom card like the Devil 7990)...
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/60843-amd-hd-7990-review-malta-arrives-11.html

Unfortunately, coil whine drove our sample’s acoustical profile into annoying levels. In applications where the HD 7990 displayed high framerates it wailed like a banshee and lower performance situations caused it to exhibit an odd “chugging” noise. This proved to be immensely distracting, regardless of how quiet its fans are.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-hd-7990-review-benchmark,3486-18.html

Although we actually like the acoustics of the Radeon HD 7990’s triple-fan cooler a little more than GeForce GTX 690’s single-fan solution, we also have to live with the fact that, this time around, fan noise isn’t what you’re most likely to hear while you game. As mentioned earlier on, variable loads cause the card’s ceramic capacitors and PCB to vibrate, resulting in a whining sound that grates on your ears.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/radeon_hd_7990_review,29.html

And one thing I have to mention, coil noise. In certain power draws you can hear the a squeeky sound of coil noise coming from the card. Admittedly I was surprised to 'hear' that happen with a 999 USD card.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_7990/31.html

What is a major issue, though, is the extremely annoying coil whine the card emits as soon as it runs a 3D application. The whine is generated by resonating power circuitry coils and is a problem that can be resolved; it's just an engineering challenge. NVIDIA did so for the GTX 690 and GTX Titan; both cards don't have such coil whine issues. On the HD 7990, however, it is very apparent, and I don't understand how AMD missed such a glaring problem. I talked to five other reviewers and they all confirm it, so it's not an isolated issue. What makes the whine even more apparent is that it is constantly changing pitch and volume, drawing your attention to it by effectively overpowering the fans' "whoosh" sound.

I'd just stay away. That list isn't exhaustive but when this many of the big name review sites mention the problem with such consistency, better to just avoid the hassle.

Given that the 7990 is just 10-15% faster than a decently clocked 780, I'd say that the better path for the OP, given that he already has the 780, is just to overclock his 780 a bit if he needs more performance, rather than move over to the 7990.

The GTX 780 has cases of coil whine, albeit less. Honestly, I have friends with dual 7970s and the coil whine is not really noticeable. He can't go wrong with either though, and I must admit that a 780 is not a bad choice and does have better drivers, the 7990 is without a doubt more powerful, but it is up to him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PvqcJxaR03s 6990 tiam! The other option is 6GB 7970 CF, but that costs $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

However, http://www.ebay.com/itm/EVGA-GeForce-GTX690-Better-Performance-Price-than-Titan-or-GTX-780-/321178209995

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

But the 690 only has 2GB vram and again, isn't really meaningfully faster than a decently clocked 780.

Dual 7970s are a better option than the 7990, because you can get models that do not have coil whine. And yeah, almost any reference card from either Nvidia or AMD can have coil whine, but when it's bad enough that it starts cropping up in tons of the reviews as a major issue, you know you have to take it into account.

OP, before this turns into a meaningless debate, is there any game you are currently trying to play that you are unhappy with your 780's performance in?

I admit, in the end, there is nothing that much faster. +1 on why he wants to trade his 780 in. The 7990 is a nice card, dual 7970s would be the best option TBH, but unless he for some reason lacks performance @1440p, I would keep the 780. Perhaps wait for the upcoming 9970 before deciding to switch2AMD. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202008
or
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202005

 

[Rozbwen]

Performance wise I've been pretty happy with my 780 with what I'm playing currently. I've had a few issues with driver crashes but I'm sure I can get that sorted once I get some time to look at it. I'll probably be spending a good amount of time with BF4 and the like in the near future which is why I'm kind of double checking my decisions.

It's not really that I'm unhappy with my 780 or looking to switch to AMD. Mostly I just wanted to get some opinions on the matter since I purchased my 780 so recently. I didn't want to miss out if it was a clearly better option and I'm not too familiar with the 7990 so I was looking for a few more opinions on the matter.

I was leaning towards keeping my 780 before and I think I'm a bit more firmly there. I do appreciate the responses, the discussion, and the links from both of you. It has been informative.

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

Performance wise I've been pretty happy with my 780 with what I'm playing currently. I've had a few issues with driver crashes but I'm sure I can get that sorted once I get some time to look at it. I'll probably be spending a good amount of time with BF4 and the like in the near future which is why I'm kind of double checking my decisions.

It's not really that I'm unhappy with my 780 or looking to switch to AMD. Mostly I just wanted to get some opinions on the matter since I purchased my 780 so recently. I didn't want to miss out if it was a clearly better option and I'm not too familiar with the 7990 so I was looking for a few more opinions on the matter.

I was leaning towards keeping my 780 before and I think I'm a bit more firmly there. I do appreciate the responses, the discussion, and the links from both of you. It has been informative.

No problem

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

I think that if what you are concerned about is future titles like BF4 etc, your best course of action is to wait for AMD to release their next series and either upgrade to that or purchase a second 780 for SLI once prices drop in response to AMD's 9-series, if a single 780 proves not up to the task.

If BF4 is not playable at settings you like on a 780, it is not very likely that it would be playable at settings you like on the 7990 or 690, because the difference between them isn't a lot more than what you can probably get out of your 780 by just overclocking it.

+1

 

[determinologyz]

I think that if what you are concerned about is future titles like BF4 etc, your best course of action is to wait for AMD to release their next series and either upgrade to that or purchase a second 780 for SLI once prices drop in response to AMD's 9-series, if a single 780 proves not up to the task.

If BF4 is not playable at settings you like on a 780, it is not very likely that it would be playable at settings you like on the 7990 or 690, because the difference between them isn't a lot more than what you can probably get out of your 780 by just overclocking it.

Words of knowledge right here. Im also thinking about going into sli as well with recently getting a 780 and i got to say its a beast..As far as amd i could of waited but with the microstuttering issues ive been seeing im not ready to cross that road yet and ive been happy with the performance with my 780 so far

 

[The Q6660 Inside]

I think that if what you are concerned about is future titles like BF4 etc, your best course of action is to wait for AMD to release their next series and either upgrade to that or purchase a second 780 for SLI once prices drop in response to AMD's 9-series, if a single 780 proves not up to the task.

If BF4 is not playable at settings you like on a 780, it is not very likely that it would be playable at settings you like on the 7990 or 690, because the difference between them isn't a lot more than what you can probably get out of your 780 by just overclocking it.

Words of knowledge right here. Im also thinking about going into sli as well with recently getting a 780 and i got to say its a beast..As far as amd i could of waited but with the microstuttering issues ive been seeing im not ready to cross that road yet and ive been happy with the performance with my 780 so far

Catalyst 13.8 solved the microstuttering problems. He has already decided to stick with the 780 for now.