GTX 970 vs R9 290 (or 290X)

[Red Five]

So, I'm putting together a new rig. I've asked around in many places, but I totally forgot to ask on here! So, which would you recommend? The 290 is cheaper, the 290X about the same price, and in other games the performance similar. I really like the idea of Shadowplay and the "Geforce experience," however I don't know much about AMD's alternatives. Also, the 970 happens to run a lot cooler than the 290 and use less power, big plus. But its a bit much considering it lacks performance in areas. Eventually I might want to stream and hookup 3 Way 1080p monitors. (Likely with SLI/XFire though, would be nice if I could do so without and just turn down a few settings) So, thoughts?

[Sgt Smash]

290x all day long your thank me when DX12 comes out

[anamymo]

I have a R9 290 Setup and it runs very well.

My Hardware:

ASUS R9 290

I5-4690K (3.5)

8GB G Skill Ripjaws X (1600)

ASUS Z97-A

Bla bal bla Etc...


Anyway, I can max out nearly every game I have without normally dipping below 30 FPS. I have ArmA 3 nearly Maxed out (AA set to 2x and Render Distance set to Medium-high) and during offline play, I get 40-60 FPS with small dips to 30 and below. When I play Arma 3 online, depending on what server i'm playing on, I usually get 30 FPS.

I have recently gotten back into Skyrim and I have a lot of Graphically intensive mods that are running. So far, I havent had any dips below 60; It runs absolutely fantastic.

Alien: Isolation? 60+ FPS fully Maxed. Never once had a noticeable dip.

Total War Rome 2 is Processor intensive but I can run that game maxed at a steady 40-60 FPS depending on the battle circumstances.

The card is actually very good and it's something you probably wouldn't have to upgrade for at least the next 2 years if you are the type of person that likes to play games on higher settings.

If you want a cheaper high performance Video Card, go with a 290/290X.

If you want a slightly higher quality card with better support, then go for a 970/980.

Remember though, the GTX 970 doesn't actually a full 4 Gigabytes of Video Ram to use; It has a working 3.5 Gigabytes and a gimped 500 Megabyte cache, so if you're looking for a future proof card then avoid it.

[Cleaver of OZ]

I'm running a 290x and haven't had an issue, runs around 50 degrees celsius depending on the weather. A lot quiter than the 7970 I upgraded from. As far as recording goes you can use Raptr which is the AMD recorder which allows for recording and streaming to twitch if that's what your into. As far as price goes it's a damn sight better than the970/980 as far as bang for buck. I run Arma 3 no problems and am currently playing GTA V without an issue. It really comes down to how much you want to spend, both cards are good and have nearly equal features as far as recording goes. I've used ATI cards for years and have had issues when using NVidia where others have the opposite so it's really up to you.

[KolonelSopDrol]

I am running 3pcs:

* I7 4790k with R9 290
* I7 950 with Geforce GTX 760
* I7 2600k with Geforce GTX 960

Most of them using 8+gb ram and SSDs

Regarding the R9 290 :

No complaints - I get 60 FPS+ in Arma 3 with everything on max and a view distance of about 2 km, 1km on objects.

GTA 5 Runs fine, as do most other games except Watchdogs.

Choice between cards:

If performance is about the same, I would prefer a cooler running card using less power any day.