R9 290 or GTX 770?

[aceaverse]

I found this GTX 770 for about €284 and this R9 290 for €318. Seeing as the difference in price is so small, I am considering getting the latter, but, still, is it worth it?
I am aware that performance-wise the R9 290 would get me a couple frames over the GTX 770 and that it crushes the Nvidia card on higher resolutions, but I am afraid of having heating problems. Also, I could always do some SLI with the 770 in a few years, but is CrossFire an option with the 290?

 

[woltej1]

crossfire is an option and heat won't be an issue as long as it is an after market cooler. MSI, gigabyte, asus and sapphire all make good coolers. The 290 is a much more powerful card than a 770.

 

[ewok93]

You shouldn't have heat problems, those can go up to 90c just fine. Crossfire is an option with a 290, but in a few years it's probably best to get a new card. I'd go for the 290.

 

[woltej1]

it's not the gpu or temps that actually read out in monitoring programs that are the issue, it is the VRMs that get too warm and cause the throttle.

 

[Pr3di]

If it`s possible for you, you could wait a bit for R9 290 non-reference cards.
I`ve seen at least the Toxic version is ready, just not sure when it will reach the retailers.

Than you`ll get a beast card with no heating and noise problem. Just that the price will probably be kind of big at launch.