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What are your other specs? Make sure your PSU can handle a 290/780 before even thinking about buying either.
As for gaming performance, the 290 is a bit faster in most games, however it draws more power and runs hotter. Which models exactly are you talking about?
AMD cards are good option for medium budget but for more high end PC I would go with Nvidia.
Also better option when you go with SLI board and want to have option for running two cards open, SLI is more stable then Crossfire.
Just personal opinion though, not looking to start another green vs. red war.
6GB version if u plan to do SLI and have a decent Motherboard for such a setup.
As for brands: ASUS, MSI, EVGA, Gigabyte
Why?
Because Nvidia focused on hardware, rather than AMD just using Mantle (third-party software) for their boost. Later on, DirectX 12 will be released with Mantle-like low level graphic calls. This means 100% of the later model Nvidia graphic cards will be given another huge boost in the future over the top of what Mantle (33% of AMD cards) can do!
Better support, better drivers with game boosts, better hardware, more stable SLI and more future proofed.
Getting the custom duel fan coolers is also very worth while. You get better quality components, cooler and quieter runnings even if you overclock.
Then for a little optional extra on top - use GeForce Experience software:
http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience
Tweak your latest games to optimised settings for your PC hardware. If interested, you can also use ShadowPlay to record/stream your gameplay, without any lag or software issues, as it's direct from the graphic card hardware itself.
Nvidia will be supporting the inherently more efficient DirectX 12 with all of their Fermi, Kepler, Maxwell and next-gen, future GPUs.
Then in 2016+, Nvidia Pascal will be removing a major bottleneck with replacing the PCI-e 3.0 (16GB/s) with their NVLink (80GB/s) and using 3D stacked memory. You can expect a huge leap then 5x-12x more performance and bandwidth.
Currently if your using 1080p (1920x1080), then the Nvidia GTX680 or GTX 770 (the recreation of it with another boost) would be optimal for high to ultra settings - plus a future boost. You can stick with this card so long you don't go higher resolutions or multi-monitor.
If you want 1440p (2560x1600) or duel/tri monitor setup, then the Nvidia GTX 780 would be ideal. Remembering it will also get a major boost over AMD using Mantle (which only some games support) in the future.
If you want 4K (UltraHD), you will be waiting around for a while till it starts coming main stream in 2016+, plus a few more years. Pricing will be marked up at least 30% for starting off on. Nvidia Pascal would be worth the wait, but remember cost and entry level cards first.
Also DirectX12 won't magically boost every game's performance. A graphics API has to be supported by a game to take advantage of its features.
Also, For 1440p a 780 might be sufficient, but I would be wary about making the same statement for dual, let alone triple monitors. 3x 1080p is 75% 4K, so already requiring some massive GPU power, which the 780 just isn't quite able to pull off. Dual 1080p might be doable, but then again dual monitor gaming isn't really viable since you have the bezel in the center of your vision.