SLI, GTX 800 Series, or ATI/AMD?

[Grippinq]

Can't tell if this is me falling for the typical Tom's trolls, but I asked a while back if my Gigabyte GTX780 OC 3x Windforce would be good enough to max out next gen games IE the next CoD, Watchdogs (though its optimization is crap), Witcher III, etc. But I had a couple users telling me my card was basically crap, and that I needed to drop 800 bucks on the top of the line Non-Reference R9 290x card. Now to me that sounds like a bunch of bandwagoning.. I mean sure, some games, the 290x beats the 780OC, but in some games, the 780OC beats the 290x. Personally, I'm not too fond of AMD/ATI, but I know their 295x 2 and 290x are great great cards.

So. Would it be worth while waiting for the GTX800 series, switch to the R9 290x, or go sli with two of the 780OC's now that SLI isn't buggy as it used to be?

Just want opinions from the forum, from people who actually know what they're talking about. As well, is a MOBO upgrade from an Asus z87-A to a z97 seriously going to make a huge difference in gaming if I'm going to be using the Haswell series chip for a couple more years?

Thanks to everyone who responds! I look forward to seeing what you people have to say on this!

 

[turkey3_scratch]

The GTX780 is a beast graphics card that can play next gen games great! Not sure who told you that but they must be one of those people who always need the best of the best.

 

[Grippinq]

The GTX780 is a beast graphics card that can play next gen games great! Not sure who told you that but they must be one of those people who always need the best of the best.

It's extremely funny because they suggested that an r9 290x would still overpower SLI'd GTX780's at 1080p on 1 monitor...

 

[turkey3_scratch]

I say keep your graphics card because you will be fine with it, you do not need to buy a $800 card.

 

[Grippinq]

I say keep your graphics card because you will be fine with it, you do not need to buy a $800 card.

SLI my card maybe?

 

[turkey3_scratch]

Yes you will have extremely great graphics then. But make sure your case has good airflow then and powerful fans and possibly a water cooling loop system.

 

[volcanoscout]

There's really no way of telling whether you'll be able to max out a game that hasn't been released yet, and there's a good chance that you won't be able to if the games are optimized based on specs for the next generation cards. Anybody that says otherwise is just speculating. But that applies to just about every card currently on the market, excepting the very top of the line AMD and nVidia cards. Why borrow trouble? Wait until the next gen games are released and if you're not happy with your current card's performance, THEN look at upgrading or SLI. By then the new cards will be out and you'll be able to make an educated purchase based on tests and evals, or take advantage of any price drops for the 780OC that should follow the new cards hitting the market.

Since you already own a 4770K and Z87 mobo, there's no sense in getting a Z97. There are some minor improvements over the Z87, but not enough to rate the cost of upgrading. Again, wait until the next series of boards and chips come out. Unless you've got money burning a hole in your pocket, wait until you can get a big jump for your money, not just incremental improvements.

As far as the 780 vs R9 290X goes, for practical purposes they're comparable cards. If you didn't have a GPU already, I'd say consider it...and buy the 780. If you already own a 780, I wouldn't bother even considering any of the current gen AMD cards. Personally, if I didn't already have a crappy opinion of AMD products, all it would take to convince me to buy nVidia would be look at this forum with all of the threads for people just trying to get their 270X, 280X, 290X to run, let alone run well.

 

[gridironcj]

Honestly, your card is fine. AMD usually offers a cheaper alternative to Nvidia cards, which is why many people go with them. However, some people get lost in their decision and start thinking that AMD cards are superior. This is nonsensical, if you look at it from a more open-minded point of view. Price-per-performance and raw performance are not the only metrics when comparing two video cards. You also want to look at power consumption, temperatures, compatibility, etc. A reference R9 290X runs at 95C. My Titans overclocked to 1150MHz never go past 72C when gaming for hours. I'm not quite sure how much better off non-reference cards are for the 290X, but 95C will definitely cause a noticeable temperature increase in your room. Also, power efficiency is a joke with AMD cards (as I mentioned, they're the "cheaper" alternative). You also can't enjoy G-sync with an AMD card, which I believe is essential now for enthusiasts.

As far as upgrading goes, just wait a few more weeks until we hear of the rumored GTX 980 (Nvidia is rumored to be skipping the 800 series name completely). It's rumored to be around $500 at launch and I've heard improvements of up to 30 percent from the GTX 780Ti. However, these are rumors, so they could be wrong. If we're looking at a 30-40 percent improvement over 780Ti, I would honestly recommend just selling your 780 and buying two 980s (you'll be a happy man with that setup).

As far as the mobo upgrade goes, you're not going to notice a big jump. I would wait until X99 becomes a little cheaper, considering DDR4 and eight-core i7 is the highlight of that platform.

 

[terroralpha]

ignore their crying. it's usually 14 year olds posting that crap without first getting permission to go on the internet form their parents and having zero experience on the matter. my little cousin trolls macrumors like that.

i had a pair of MSI R9 290X cards. got them the day they came out. after 4 months of headaches and a total of 3 RMAs i put them on ebay and got a pair of EVGA GTX 780 ACX. while frame rates are slightly lower the games still look smoother due to less micro-stutter. not a single issue with them. the cards are dead silent, draw like 2/3 the power and produce 3/4 of the heat when compared to the 290X cards.

keep the GTX 780.