Help wanted. Best GPU for my bucks

[Thebonius]

Hello!
I have for a while suspected that my setup has a bottleneck. I also suspect this to be my GPU, a XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB.

So therefore i am turning to you to tips me with the "best bang for the buck" GPU i can get for about 350-400$. I do not have any preferences about wether it is a Radeon or GTX card, as long as it has proper cooling(something like Gigabyte's Windforce preferably), as long as it has good performance.

As more info i play Diablo 3 and Dark Souls 1 & 2 mainly, I also play games like BF4.

This is my setup:
CPU: AMD FX8320 8-Core clocked at 3.7GHz with a Corsair H60
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 7870 2GB
Motherboard: ASUS V Formula
PSU: Corsair AX 760W
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 16GB 1600MHz

 

[Wisecracker]

Well ... that's an easy one :lol:

XFX Black Edition Double Dissipation Radeon R9 290 4GB: $412 before $30 rebate

 

[Thebonius]

This would be a great solution, tho i forgot to mention that i live in Norway, which means i get a +25% price increase for purchases over 30$ thanks to our toll system..

 

[Wisecracker]

What about the UK? I do not believe Scan-UK would ship in your direction but Amazon-UK or Aria PC might.

And, the other version of that card (maybe the -EDEF ??) which is +$30US over the one listed above is voltage unlocked and typically clocks the GPU core above 1250MHZ with the VRAM clocking to the Moon.

 

[reesemonster]

From Amazon, you shouldn't get a ridiculous price increase.

 

[flawlessturd]

I just recently purchased the XFX R9 290 DD. I think the 290 is probs the best bang for the buck right now, well for me where I live (AUS).

 

[Thebonius]

I've been searching a bit on my "local" computer parts store and found the XFX Radeon R9 290 Black for about 3700,-NOK(which is about 600$) or i could go for the non-black version for 3500,-NOK(580$), is it worth the 20$ for the black version?

 

[Wisecracker]

It looks like your budget is more in the R9 280X (newer version of the HD 7970) or the GTX770 range. Either will run 1080p games just dandy.

As far as the extra $20, I suspect that gets you the unlocked version of the R9 290 from XFX -- which typically clocks beyond 290X (even with less shaders) performance levels and even blows past the nVidia Titan in some titles.

It's a monster

 

[Thebonius]

Ok. so as of this moment the questions stands between Sapphire's R9 290 with the TRI-X cooling(which was the reccomended card/cooling of the 290-series on guru3d) at $540 for the normal verson and $620 for the overclocked 1050MHz version, or the XFX R9 290 with the DD cooling at $570 for the normal and $600 for the black version

 

[Thebonius]

From Amazon, you shouldn't get a ridiculous price increase.

The price increase comes with any purchase from outside our country over $30,-(200,-NOK)

 

[Embra]

Get the Sapphire Tri-x, it is one of the best version of the R9 290.

 

[Thebonius]

so, since my "local" component supplier has two versions of the Sapphire R9 290 with TRI-X i am still a bit confused, tho i think i'm going for the less expensive one, even if it is 30MHz less than the "expensive" one.

For further referance:
Cheap: https://www.komplett.no/sapphire-radeon-tri-x-r9-290-4gb-oc/805884#!tab:extra
Expensive: https://www.komplett.no/sapphire-radeon-tri-x-r9-290-4gb-gddr5/808300#!tab:extra

edit: ok.. seems like i didnt read the spesifications as closely as i tought.. the "Expensive" one is with the Vapor-X cooling.

 

[Embra]

so, since my "local" component supplier has two versions of the Sapphire R9 290 with TRI-X i am still a bit confused, tho i think i'm going for the less expensive one, even if it is 30MHz less than the "expensive" one.

For further referance:
Cheap: https://www.komplett.no/sapphire-radeon-tri-x-r9-290-4gb-oc/805884#!tab:extra
Expensive: https://www.komplett.no/sapphire-radeon-tri-x-r9-290-4gb-gddr5/808300#!tab:extra

edit: ok.. seems like i didnt read the spesifications as closely as i tought.. the "Expensive" one is with the Vapor-X cooling.

Those are both slighty different from each other. The VaporX edition id probably the best version 290 made in my option. Slightly better cooling than the tri-x. Worth the bit more in my opinion, though either one very very sound cards.

 

[Wisecracker]

R9 290 Double Dissipation -- (R9-290A-EDFD) - Over-clocking

 

[flawlessturd]

just to let you know, I get an average of 60-110 fps on BF4 with the XFX 290 DD.

 

[Thebonius]

and what are your settings, Flawless? ultra?