Need GPU halp!

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

Get a mortgage for a Titan X.

[Senni__Ti]

Which is cheaper?

If 970, check out MSI twin frozr.
If R9 290X, check out sapphire tri-x or vapour-x.

The CPU will be plenty fine. It'll limit fps a bit, but it's pretty much all GPU limitation atm.

[Daunt_Flockula]

Currently, aftermarket and reference options of both cards come at roughly the same price. And tbh, I am already a bit tired of the heating problems of my AMD card. The heating is so bad that it renders the great airflow of my case almost useless. Also when people make the "room heater" joke about them, I can testify that it is no lie. Believe it or not, it actually heats up my room very well.

Also, thanks for the comment about my processor, Senni. I already thought it was fine but I needed someone else to confirm. After all, we are at that next turning point of PC upgrades and I want to make sure I can squeeze more out of my system. I am fearing that the upgrade interval might shrink down to 1 year at a time very soon.

[LEKIS]

GTX970 Astrix have a decent cooler, not that pricey either.

Chose 290X if you dont have any heat in your house/room/apartment, cuz it will heat it up without any problems.



On a serious note: Choose 970, its really not that much worse, almost like a potato pot"ah"to kind of difference and alot COOLER (brr, cold. not cool like  ) also, drivers...

On a not so serious note " /thread"

/thread

[Senni__Ti]

If you can afford to wait till june (computex), the next blob of AMD should be out which will hopefully lower prices.
The R9 380(X) looks to be a rebrand of the R9 290(X), though they might have better coolers, who knows.

The difference in TDP is quite insane tbh. If that is a factor for you, then it's really no choice .

The GTX 970 should also OC better, R9 290Xs struggle with OCs, usually only a small percent increase is possible.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/R9_290X_Tri-X_OC/27.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/30.html
(memory OC is more useful at high resolutions, and usually isn't the limiting factor)

I wouldn't want to run a 290X at that kind of OC all the time though :p.

On a side note, if you are willing to go through Ebay or something similar, you can nab people's old cards for a steal if you are lucky.
Like I managed to get a gtx 780 new condition for £140, cheaper than a gtx 960, goes like a 970.

[Spurdospera]

I would wait for Rx 300 series as they are upgrading from GDDR5 to HBM which should allow stacking memory in crossfire/SLI setups.

[Senni__Ti]

I would wait for Rx 300 series as they are upgrading from GDDR5 to HBM which should allow stacking memory in crossfire/SLI setups.

Pretty sure that's the 390(x) only.

Though we'll only know for sure in june.

[cmp]

I would wait for Rx 300 series as they are upgrading from GDDR5 to HBM which should allow stacking memory in crossfire/SLI setups.

I think you're confusing SLI/Crossfire memory stacking with stacked memory.
The former means that you can use the sum of the VRAM of all cards, and it will be possible for all SLI/Crossfire cards (even older ones) that support the new graphics APIs (Mantle/DX12/Vulkan).
The latter is just a way to describe the physical placement of memory dies.

[Daunt_Flockula]

There is a lot of speculation surrounding the R9 300 series that most of them will just be rebranded versions of existing cards. I realize those should be taken with a grain of salt though. If there were a new series of Nvidia gpus coming up, I would consider waiting. Then again, I have never seen Nvidia cards getting noticeable discounts here when a new series was introduced.

As for e-baying, I am one of the few people on earth who is shopping online but still doesn't have a credit card. I like to pay for something only when I can pay it at once. So, shopping there is out of question for me.

[Thomek]

I'm very happy with my 970 that I had to get to use shadowplay for recording the KS. Seems a very reasonable price point for the performance.

[Rando]

I can't say which card is better for sure - but I can tell you NVidia has better software. I've had AMD cards and now have an NVidia, I'm really liking GeForce experience a lot more than Catalyst Control Center. Choosing the GPU you want is tough, with all the dynamics to it... Game devs in the pocket of either side, biased reviewers... Just look at some benchmarks and see which one has better price to performance and go for it, or grab a cheaper card and wait for the next generation. Never be a fanboy.

[Kafein]

When Freesync becomes an argument there'll be few reasons not to buy AMD's 100$ cheaper equivalents. Yes, Physx and drivers, but Nvidia fucks up drivers too.

I can't say which card is better for sure - but I can tell you NVidia has better software. I've had AMD cards and now have an NVidia, I'm really liking GeForce experience a lot more than Catalyst Control Center. Choosing the GPU you want is tough, with all the dynamics to it... Game devs in the pocket of either side, biased reviewers... Just look at some benchmarks and see which one has better price to performance and go for it, or grab a cheaper card and wait for the next generation. Never be a fanboy.

Grabbing a midrange card is not an option if you are into 4K/VR etc. and that will only intensify with upcoming PC games.

[Molly]

True, freesync and g-sync are a big argument, tho it needs a capable display too.

[Daunt_Flockula]

I am so swinging in between going for it and giving it time. For the last few days I have almost hit that "complete transaction" button several times for a GTX 970. Then I started overworrying about the gimped memory and coil whine issues. I got over it, went for the purchase again and still couldn't do it.

At this point, I still have to decide whether I should forget about the whole upgrade thing and wait for the next gen DX12 cards to hit the market or still buy one of these thingies.

[Spurdospera]

I am so swinging in between going for it and giving it time. For the last few days I have almost hit that "complete transaction" button several times for a GTX 970. Then I started overworrying about the gimped memory and coil whine issues. I got over it, went for the purchase again and still couldn't do it.

At this point, I still have to decide whether I should forget about the whole upgrade thing and wait for the next gen DX12 cards to hit the market or still buy one of these thingies.

well I have asus gtx970 and only times I've had coil whine was in Homeworld start menu and Space engineers start menu, both because of some reason game tries to run at over 3000 frames.