wait for r9 290 or get 7970, 1920x1080p

[moondogy42]

Hi everyone,

Just wanted a litle help deciding on a gpu. I'm considering the r9 290(non-reference) because its price makes this crazy gpu slightly in my reach. But the price is still a lot compared to what i wanted earlier, a used sapphire dual x for about 250 from eBay. I don't have much of a budget for the 290(~$1300) and am depending on black friday deals to meet my budget.

So is it worth it to spend the extra money now and get the r9 or should i save it and get a 7970 and crossfire later on.Only ever plan to use 1080p(75hz) monitor for as long as i game.My thing is the 7970 is already showing its age,barley hitting 60 fps in most benchmarks,i wanted a little more head room.

Thanks for reading

 

[goodguy713]

consider 2 7870s in crossfire for about the same price. as a 290 you would get better performance but from what i can see if you wait for aftermarket cooling you might be able to push a decent overclock on it.

 

[thismafiaguy]

I agree with goodguy, you will need better aftermarket cooling if you want to push the 290 at all. That card is pretty much overclocked as far as it'll go at stock, and the reference cooler can be freakishly loud.

But I would suggest waiting until aftermarket 290s are released, that card is such a good value for $400. It's always better in the long run to go with a strong single GPU than two lesser GPUs. With two cards you'll have twice the chance of defect, twice the value depreciation, more power draw and less efficiency.

 

[centaurius]

budget wise why not a R9 280 then? Since its a 7970 GHZ in disguise... around 300 ? If you can wait until Janurady /February prices will drop on GPU of course after Xmas...

 

[moondogy42]

I agree with goodguy, you will need better aftermarket cooling if you want to push the 290 at all. That card is pretty much overclocked as far as it'll go at stock, and the reference cooler can be freakishly loud.

But I would suggest waiting until aftermarket 290s are released, that card is such a good value for $400. It's always better in the long run to go with a strong single GPU than two lesser GPUs. With two cards you'll have twice the chance of defect, twice the value depreciation, more power draw and less efficiency.

I know that's why i said non reference card in my first post,would never buy gpu day one. I'm just not sure if its worth the initial investment,400 for a card(reasonable in this case)still has me second guessing.Guess i will get over it eventually.

 

[goodguy713]

well honestly unless your gaming on a 120 htz screen you wont notice anything over 60 fps no matter how beast your system is its a waste. I know that 1 ghz edition 7870 can play bf3 with ultra settings @ 1080p with playable frame rates if you got a 7970 buy it because you want to play battle field 4 or something like that. crossfire has its issues but feel free to try and get a decent deal on a pair of 7950's that are being phased out. personally i would go with the 290.. with the right coolers i seen a guy get 1100 mhz on one albiet the fans where on high and they used msi overclock tool versus amd version .. but it allowed him to get the fans past 60 percent vs the locked 46% that they are now.

 

[thismafiaguy]

If you don't want to spend $400 on a card, you could look at the next best option, which would be the 7950 for around $270. That would still give you plenty of power to max most games at 1080p, with the exception of Crysis 3 and a few settings in BF4.