Gtx 970 sli vs r9 290 crossfire

[FatalBurrito]

Im starting on my newest project which is constructing a home build version of the redharbringer cross desk. The last thing i need to pick out is the GPU configuration. I have a 600w psu right now that I think id need to switch out anyway. Should i go with the lesser option and get 2x r9 290s right now or get one gtx 970 right now and get another one later because i cant afford it right now. The desk sucked up a lot of my budget. I'm currently running duel 1080p monitors and i will add a third soon. Thanks and ill start a thread here with pics of the desk being constructed.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I'd go with the single 970 for now, and add another later if you need to. The later addition of a second 970 will give you better performance than the dual 290's, especially at only 1080p even with dual monitors, plus the PSU requirements for 970SLI will be less than for the 290's. The PSU you have now, if of sufficient quality is a high enough capacity unit to run the single 970 until you decide to upgrade with a second card.

When you do replace the PSU, stick with Tier 1 or Tier 2 units:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html#15349669

 

[TheRaginGamer]

970 vs r9 290x would be a more even match as they are about the same price (for me alteast). amd crossfire is good but the r9 290/x cards are very power hungry and i would go for sli 970 for less required wattage and lower overall temps. btw amd r9 300 series is coming very soon so if you are prepared to wait for that you may get something far better.

 

[Darkbreeze]

You won't get something "far" better than what's currently available. You might get something "better", but not "far" better, AND it's going to cost you more than what's currently available, simply because it's new. It MIGHT be worth waiting for though since prices on current cards tend to dip somewhat when new cards are released, so they won't become instantly obsolete. If the price of a new card was the same as that of the current gen cards, nobody would ever buy another current gen model again which would leave a lot of vendors and OEM's with worthless hardware they can't sell. Either way, it may be worth the wait, I'll at least agree with that. And of course, to whatever degree it IS "better", may be worth the price, especially if AMD has made any advances on lowering TDP at all.

When the GTX 970 and 980 were released, prices on nearly all current gen AMD cards dropped by about 20%, and didn't go back up until the "fiasco", if you want to even call it that, with the memory issue on the 970 that momentarily disrupted sales of those Nvidia models. Since it turned out to be a mostly Non-Issue, things have since pretty much returned to the status quo.

 

[TheRaginGamer]

You won't get something "far" better than what's currently available. You might get something "better", but not "far" better, AND it's going to cost you more than what's currently available, simply because it's new. It MIGHT be worth waiting for though since prices on current cards tend to dip somewhat when new cards are released, so they won't become instantly obsolete. If the price of a new card was the same as that of the current gen cards, nobody would ever buy another current gen model again which would leave a lot of vendors and OEM's with worthless hardware they can't sell. Either way, it may be worth the wait.

When the GTX 970 and 980 were released, prices on nearly all current gen AMD cards dropped by about 20%, and didn't go back up until the "fiasco", if you want to even call it that, with the memory issue on the 970 that momentarily disrupted sales of those Nvidia models. Since it turned out to be a mostly Non-Issue, things have since pretty much returned to the status quo.

yeah that was a bit on an exaggeration, they should be much better but for an amd card the same price as the 970s you'll probably get something about 10-15% better because amd are extremely competitive with their prices and recently lost many buyers to the 970. either way if he buys the new amd cards or not they should dominate the competition and current gpu prices will likely fall quite dramaticly (when nvidia released the 970 and 980, the r9 290/290x cards prices dropped).