gtx 970 or Radeon R9 290 at 3/4ths the price?

[tyrannical]

I was all set to buy a 970 when I came across this seemingly great deal on a r9 290

290: http://www.ncix.com/detail/asus-radeon-r9-290-directcu-71-93995-1079.htm

970: http://www.ncix.com/detail/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-970-oc-6d-102012-1481.htm

Basically the 290 is $300 while the 970 is $400

I plan on exclusively 1080p but i guess you never know
will be used along side i5 4460

I don't know anything about the coolers they come with so maybe there is a quality difference there.

Thanks a bunch for any feedback!

 

[AnPCtester]

What is the resolution of your monitor??? If it is 1080p get the gtx 970. You also get the Witcher 3 which is a pretty hyped game and a good bonus for you if you plan to buy it. The 290 on the other hand is slower and cheaper. It also consumes more power so you may need a PSU upgrade as well. Personally I would go with the 970 despite its higher cost as it faster, newer and more efficient than the r9 290.

Another best bet for you would be getting the r9 290x. It performs better than gtx 970 in 1440p and is now cheaper during sales and deals. If your find one than get that.

 

[RaDiKaL_]

Since both cards deliver practically the same performance, with the GTX 970 delivering at most 15fps more in a few games, I'd say the deal on the R9 290 is the way to go, just bear in mind is a more power hungry card, as long as your PSU can handle it and if your case can fit it with the appropriate airflow then it's the right choice.

 

[tyrannical]

My psu is 850w so i figure thats overkill and my case massive, my tv is 1080p though and likely wont be getting 4k for years to come. r9 290x is $380 but i cant see me using 1440p.

I had to get two conflicting opinions 🙁 im awful at these decisions.

the input is great though thanks a lot guys


it says under the specs that the 290 supports 11.2 direct x while the 970 supports direct x 12.
Is that a big deal?

 

[AnPCtester]

As the other commentator posted you should expect at most ~15 fps difference between r9 290 vs gtx 970. The average fps difference should be around 5-10 fps. If the game you play are nvidia supported get the 970 and vice versa. the most important thing is to see if the fps gain is worth the extra 100 dollars. Remember the 290 is old almost obsolete while the 970 still has room to improve as you will not be doing more than 1080p.

The upcoming DirectX 12 is also a factor. Take a look at this link: http://www.anandtech.com/show/9112/exploring-dx12-3dmark-api-overhead-feature-test/3 to estimate the performance gain/ loss of the gpu. The DirectX gains are also CPU core bound so that may affect your performance as well.

 

[jerdle]

no, they will both support dx 12 when it's releasedd