Which graphics card upgrade for 1440p?

hiddengecko

Honorable
Jan 22, 2013
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10,510
Hello, fellow tech-enthusiasts! I've a problem I hope you lot can help me solve.

Having become reemployed earlier this year, I purchased a large, 1440p monitor. Unfortunately, my Sapphire 7850 2GB OC, while a respectable GPU, has always struggled with things like ambient occlusion and tesselation, not to mention any advanced particle effects. I've overclocked it past 1000mhz, but it doesn't solve the issue - the thing just chokes at 1440p. 1080p, it can somewhat handle, but I don't feel comfortable gaming at 45 fps, and find 30 fps and below gives me a headache.

My current specs are:
Motherboard: Asrock Z75
CPU: i5 3570K @ 4.0 ghz
RAM: 8GB DDR3 1600
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 7850 2GB OC Edition
PSU: Corsair Builder Series 450W
(I have a Corsair 750W on hand; I just haven't installed it yet.)

My case is pretty well ventilated, though I'm sticking with air cooling for the foreseeable future.

I considered the R9 280x for a time, but I'm concerned it might not have the power to run current and next-gen games at 60fps at 1440p. The R9 290 and 290x are appealing, but have become a great deal less so of late, since their prices have been inflated so horribly by the rash of Litecoin miners we've had the past month. For the 290s, I'm hoping to get an aftermarket card, besides, as the reference coolers are unanimously considered terrible.

I've also given the 770, 780, and 780 Ti some consideration, as they're in about the same price range as the 290s are right now, but not as inflated. I do like Physx and Nvidia's drivers, but don't see why I couldn't just force those effects on by editing .ini files and leave them to my CPU. Besides that, Mantle sounds promising, and all the next-gen consoles appear to be using AMD, and so most AAA games for the PC - not to mention ports - will likely be optimized for AMD hardware.

What are your thoughts? Should I wait a month or so, and await the Litecoin craze's inevitable demise, or just suck it up and endure the cost hikes? Or, perhaps, just switch back to Nvidia? I'm at a loss.

EDIT: I just noticed the stickied thread about questions like this. I'll add a few details accordingly:

Purchase date is probably some time this month; I'd rather not wait too long, but can sit out another month if there's reason enough.

I'm from the US, and while I'm willing to import parts if it will save me money, I'd really rather avoid the hassle of import duty and shipping fees.

I don't really care what retailer sells it; I like Newegg and Amazon rather well, but as long as a vendor is reliable and of good quality, I'll buy from them. The only stipulation is that it must be online; I'm not willing to travel any great distances to pick something up in person.

SLI/Crossfire is not of even slight importance to me. I always prefer single GPU solutions; when this card becomes dated, I'll just sell it and get a new one.
 
Solution
The Asrock Z75 has two PCIe slots, but only one is 3.0, if I recall correctly. I don't believe it's capable of SLI/Crossfire, at least at any reasonable capacity. Besides that, while the Corsair 750W is a solid PSU, I'm not sure if it's enough for two 280Xs.

With two 289's you need bit bigger psu. Really good is then rosewill lightning 1Kw
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-power-supply-lightning1000

Other good one is seasonic or XFX

I suppose the 290 and 780 would be quite adequate for high performance at 1440p. I don't see myself upgrading past this resolution for a very long time, as even on a 27 inch monitor, I can't make out individual pixels from where I sit.

Im lookin to buy this monitor as soon as I get...

hiddengecko

Honorable
Jan 22, 2013
4
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10,510
Thanks for the tip!

The Asrock Z75 has two PCIe slots, but only one is 3.0, if I recall correctly. I don't believe it's capable of SLI/Crossfire, at least at any reasonable capacity. Besides that, while the Corsair 750W is a solid PSU, I'm not sure if it's enough for two 280Xs.

I suppose the 290 and 780 would be quite adequate for high performance at 1440p. I don't see myself upgrading past this resolution for a very long time, as even on a 27 inch monitor, I can't make out individual pixels from where I sit.

NCIX seems to have the best prices, if not the newest stock - I notice they don't seem to have much in the way of the recently-released aftermarket 290s.

So, with that all said, I think it ultimately comes down to Nvidia or AMD for this one. AMD seems like it's winning this generation, especially given Mantle's potential, but Nvidia has got a better track record over the last few months, generally better drivers, and is currently far better at overclocking.

I looked up some bench comparisons between the 290 and 780, but they seem to slightly favor the 290 even without Mantle - and that's the 290 with the crappy reference cooler that results in the card being throttled excessively. But, even with a good cooler, I doubt you could overclock the 290 worth a damn; it's another story for the 780. Can I get any more opinions on this?
 
The Asrock Z75 has two PCIe slots, but only one is 3.0, if I recall correctly. I don't believe it's capable of SLI/Crossfire, at least at any reasonable capacity. Besides that, while the Corsair 750W is a solid PSU, I'm not sure if it's enough for two 280Xs.

With two 289's you need bit bigger psu. Really good is then rosewill lightning 1Kw
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/rosewill-power-supply-lightning1000

Other good one is seasonic or XFX

I suppose the 290 and 780 would be quite adequate for high performance at 1440p. I don't see myself upgrading past this resolution for a very long time, as even on a 27 inch monitor, I can't make out individual pixels from where I sit.

Im lookin to buy this monitor as soon as I get other pgrades final.
http://www.amazon.com/QNIX-QX2710-Evolution-LED-Monitor/dp/B00BUI44US

NCIX seems to have the best prices, if not the newest stock - I notice they don't seem to have much in the way of the recently-released aftermarket 290s.

Just look good deal and gigabyte is nice card.
http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=4884#ov
Really nice cooling solution on this card.

So, with that all said, I think it ultimately comes down to Nvidia or AMD for this one. AMD seems like it's winning this generation, especially given Mantle's potential, but Nvidia has got a better track record over the last few months, generally better drivers, and is currently far better at overclocking.

R9 290 do not OC much. Remember it is really hot card. AMD drivers have been not so good. Nut now they are better. Nvidoa is good but expensive too. Here R9 290 is about 100 cheaper than 780 and new 8 series cards are vcoming out soon. Keep in mind. Id have to say. you can buy any card and it is not a bad choice.

I looked up some bench comparisons between the 290 and 780, but they seem to slightly favor the 290 even without Mantle - and that's the 290 with the crappy reference cooler that results in the card being throttled excessively. But, even with a good cooler, I doubt you could overclock the 290 worth a damn; it's another story for the 780. Can I get any more opinions on this?

R9 290 + water cooler may be awesome option. Gigabyte cards are with nice air cooler (or Asus)
GTX 780 is more silent so it really depends on how much noise you can take. Hard choice I know.
But remember there is not bad choice here. Only bit diffrent choice.
Even I was lookin to sell my GTX 780's away and buy two R9 290's But here we go I have 780's SLI and they work really well.. I have all water vcooled build with 3930k. Btw I have 650 rad to cool cpu + video cards down.
R9 290 + BF4 sound like best choice for u :) R9 gets better bigger the resolution is.

And good choice is look for 760's and 770's with 4HB memory. More memory than 2GB is good since you plan on going to 2560 1440 monitor. 770 is better choice qith biger monitor resolution.
http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn770wf34gd

http://pcpartpicker.com/part/zotac-video-card-zt7040610p


http://pcpartpicker.com/part/gigabyte-video-card-gvn770wf34gd

 
Solution

Avocade

Honorable
Apr 12, 2013
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11,460
for 1440p Gaming with current and next gen titles it will have to be a 780 or Ti or 280/x -290/x or SLI configurations. Without one of these cards 1440p performance is spotty depending on the game.
 

hiddengecko

Honorable
Jan 22, 2013
4
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10,510
Hm. Alright. At this point, I've sort of narrowed it down to the 780 Classified, or the 780 ti. That nearly $200 difference in price stings, though, and I'm not entirely sure if it's worth the performance increase. Just how much better is the 780 ti than the classy? I've had a bit of difficulty finding benchmarks, though I've seen anecdotes of people saying their Classified ACX 780s matched the 780 ti, and others saying the 780 ti blew the classified out of the water.

If it's a ~20% increase in performance, the 780 ti would probably be worth waiting for another paycheck. A ~5% increase wouldn't; above a certain price point, the law of diminishing returns seems to strike with a vengeance.

Again, while the advice on SLI is useful, it doesn't mean too much for the time being. Maybe in a few years, when whatever card I get starts to chug, I can think about slapping another one on there, but for the time it's neither economical or practical. Still, I'll probably try it someday, so I appreciate the guidance.

Another thing - regarding maxing games out, anything over 2x or 4x MSAA isn't a priority at all at 1440p. I can barely make out individual pixels if I lean in close to the monitor; jagged edges aren't an especially huge concern.
 

hiddengecko

Honorable
Jan 22, 2013
4
0
10,510
Dual bios? Ah, is that for if you accidentally brick the card? What's the feature meant for?

Has anyone got any useful insights related to the issue of a 780 Classified (or any other 780, really) versus a 780 ti?