What is the difference between a XFX Radeon R9 290 and a XFX Radeon R9 290 DD?

[CaesarSalad]

I'm planing on upgrading from an nvidia gtx 550ti to either one of these cards or a gtx 770 but I only have a 550W seasonic PSU. Which card should I get and what are the differences between the two AMD cards (linked below). I plan on gaming on a 1440p monitor.

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-Double-947MHz-Graphics-R9290AEDFD/dp/B00HHIPM5Q?SubscriptionId=AKIAIEF7KZG4SSIJ7QQA&tag=toms_shopping_gpu-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00HHIPM5Q

http://www.amazon.com/XFX-RADEON-947MHz-Graphics-R9290AENFC/dp/B00GA3C662%3FSubscriptionId%3DAKIAJ7VMODKUTIUWFY2Q%26tag%3Doverclockdotnet-pro-mct-lo-t-d-20%26linkCode%3Dxm2%26camp%3D2025%26creative%3D165953%26creativeASIN%3DB00GA3C662

and here is the Nvidia card I was considering but it has a 600W minimum recommendation

http://www.amazon.com/GTX770-DC2OC-2GD5-GeForce-256-bit-PCI-Express-OC-selected/dp/B00D3F7CFK?SubscriptionId=AKIAIEF7KZG4SSIJ7QQA&tag=toms_shopping_gpu-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00D3F7CFK

 

[Suztera]

One is a reference design which is recommended to be avoided.
Get the Double D version, it will run quieter and cooler.
You can either the GTX 770 as well.but the R9 290 is the better card. Any quality 550W is fine for a GTX 770. Seasonic is a good quality power supply.
With the R9 290, it would be best to get a 650W power supply (preferably Seasonic or XFX).

 

[CaesarSalad]

One is a reference design which is recommended to be avoided.
Get the Double D version, it will run quieter and cooler.
You can either the GTX 770 as well. Any quality 550W is fine for a GTX 770. Seasonic is a good quality power supply.

Thanks for the input. Will the double D give me the better performance over the 770? It's a little cheaper and has a lot more memory, but I'm reluctant to switch from nvidia to AMD.

 

[Suztera]

Yes the R9 290 will be better than the GTX 770 overall. But it is better to have a 650W power supply with a R9 290, don't overclock your build with the 550W.

 

[CaesarSalad]

Yes the R9 290 will be better than the GTX 770 overall. But it is better to have a 650W power supply with a R9 290, don't overclock your build with the 550W.

Alright I'll get the Double D. The minimum power supply for the double D is 750W. I don't plan to overclock but are you sure my 520W can handle it? why do they recommend such a high wattage?

 

[Suztera]

Do you have a 520 or 550W power supply? You mentioned you have a seasonic 550W above.
What is your other pc specs?

 

[CaesarSalad]

Do you have a 520 or 550W power supply? You mentioned you have a seasonic 550W above.
What is your other pc specs?

Sorry that was a typo above. I have a 520W seasonic psu.

Motherboard: ASUS P8Z68-V LX LGA 1155 Intel Z68 HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard with UEFI BIOS

RAM:CORSAIR Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9

CPU: Core i5 3570K 3.4GHz Socket LGA 1155 Boxed Processor

Graphics: EVGA 01G-P3-1556-KR GeForce GTX 550 Ti (Fermi) FPB 1GB 192-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready

PSU: SeaSonic M12II 520 Bronze 520W ATX12V v2.3 / EPS 12V v2.91 SLI Ready 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Modular Active

Storage: 1 TB WD Caviar & 120 GB Kingston SSD

 

[Suztera]

Well i would remove any overclock to the cpu. It is doable on a 520W but i would advise you to save for a higher power supply. 650W will be good enough and you can upgrade to a R9 290x later on.

 

[CaesarSalad]

Well i would remove any overclock to the cpu. It is doable on a 520W but i would advise you to save for a higher power supply. 650W will be good enough and you can upgrade to a R9 290x later on.

How difficult is it to replace the power supply? I already have everything connected and working, I just want to buy a better graphics card to work with my new monitor, and if the 520W will work that is preferred.

 

[Suztera]

Its not that bad. You just need to unplug the cables from the motherboard that connects to the power supply.
Have a look at this website for all the power supply connectors you can get: http://www.playtool.com/pages/psuconnectors/connectors.html