Looking at my First ATI card since 1999

T

thezfunk

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 9, 2003
Messages
387
Hey Guys,

I don't get on here much anymore but I thought I would consult with you guys about my perspective video card purchase.

I currently have a GTX 570 and it's starting to get long in the tooth. I have been Nvidia since 1999. My first PC was a laptop and it had an ATI graphics card that I hated. Looking back on it, it obviously wasn't fair to blame ATI for the poor performance but I went Nvidia with my first tower and never considered ATI again.

What has finally gotten me to come around is price/performance and the closed ecosystem that Nvidia staunchly maintains. I have been waiting for something like Free Sync to come around since the introduction of LCD monitors. I can't understand why it has taken a decade to finally get to variable refresh rate LCD monitors. Now to see Nvidia once again pushing a proprietary format with something I have desperately wanted for years is the last straw. I am going AMD to support the open Free Sync/Adaptive Sync standard.

With that being said, I am looking at a 290x. I am only doing 1080p gaming for now but I shortly plan on going 1440p or maybe even 4k. I see a variety of 290x choices that vary in price by quite a bit. GTA V for PC is a motivating factor for me to upgrade at this time as well. GTA V is really going to suck up graphics memory so I figure 4GB should be my minimum.

I see quite a few manufacturers that I have never purchased. I have been not only Nvidia for a while but also EVGA for their great customer service. I recognize Asus, XFX and Gigabyte on the AMD side but they don't seem to have the best reviews. Since these 290x cards do run warm I see the best reviews come from the cards with the best coolers. Cards from MSI with the Twin Frozr design and the Tri-X from Sapphire I see recommended a lot. They are also higher on the price range. Should I stick with those two options or should I consider VisionTek, Power Color, Diamond or some of the other no-names (at least in my mind). I worry about warranty and customer service.
 
fixedmy7970 said:
this! Sir, the new architecture will be out in a couple months, with epic HBM. I'd wait
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I haven't seen a compelling reason to wait. The only way I would wait that long is if GTA V gets delayed to that point. I really, really, really want to play that game as soon as it comes out. I never buy top of the line full price anyway. I would have to wait even longer for the next AMD cards to drop in price because I wouldn't pay the price of first day release.
 
Idk, 290 prices are already low as hell. Grab 1 or 2 of them and you'll be mint.
 
pliskin679 said:
Idk, 290 prices are already low as hell. Grab 1 or 2 of them and you'll be mint.
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I'd skip the 2nd card if new games like GTA V are going to be your thing, AMD hasn't exactly been keeping up with the new stuff and crossfire was really under supported last year when I was using 2x 290x.
 
The MSI 290x lightning really stands above the rest in performance. Powercolors PCS+ cooler version isn't too bad either. Both of those are 3 slot cards due too their larger coolers which allow for better overclocks thanks to better temps. The top of the one Asus models might work well too, never used one personally but Asus makes decent products most of thr time with thr exxeption of the directcu2 290x unless they fixed the cooling issue. But my favorite has to be the sapphire one with the trix cooler. The performance hit is marginal but the form factor, noise and temps are great.
 
I have the Gigabyte R9 290 with the Windforce 3x cooler. I believe they use the same cooler on their version of the 290x. It is a solid card all around - literally. I was very impressed with the fact that there was no board-flex with it (unlike my ASUS GTX 970 Strix, which requires me to prop it up using a stack of Legos between it and the power supply or it doesn't make a good connection in the PCIe slot). Temperatures and noise levels are impressive as well, in my experience.
 
I've had good, nay great experience with Powercolor service. CSR went out of his way a while back to make sure I got an equivalent card when my 5870 water-cooled model failed. Have heard good things about their 290x PCS+ .

As for waiting for the 390x.... a) that's months away b) 290xs are very attractively-priced now - best price/performance we've seen on high end cards in a long time.
 
IMO, if you arent going to get the Lightning version of the 290x, there's no reason to go 290x over 290, especially with a factory overclocked version. I'm quite happy with my Sapphire Vapor-X OC 290, gets basically the same performance as a stock 290x.
 
OofC_S7v7N said:
You hold a grudge, that is all.
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Good grief, he isn't holding a grudge, he is voting with his wallet. I am doing the same thing on the other side of the line. I just have had better luck with nVidia cards lately so I have stuck with them for the last couple builds. Once the 390x (and family) comes out I will read tons of reviews then reevaluate and see if price/performance difference is enough to make me got Red again. Or maybe a nice freesync monitor will do that.

OP is just supporting open source, doesn't sound like a grudge to me, thats a very responsible way of shopping for a video card. Support the features that mean the most to you. Right now nVidia cards have been best value for me for awhile now, my last ATI card was a 6950 (which was a fantastic card and value at the time). I will certainly be looking at them again.
 
Without standards that can be supported by all brands the PC gaming industry would not exist. They are needed for it to thrive. Good on the OP for realizing it. :cool:
 
I just thought I would update you guys on what I did. This Sapphire card http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202143came up on super sale at Newegg. At the time last week when I bought it, it was $250 after rebate.

It is only a 290 and not a 290x but for the price, I had to bite on it. I knew it would be a long card. and I knew it would be a tight fit but I underestimated it by a bit. This card is long. It would not fit in my case without (more) mods. I really didn't want to do that so I attempted to return it. No way, nope, they would not take it back. I missed that little tidbit when I ordered. I have been a Newegg customer since before they were Newegg (I can't remember their name but I think 'egg' was still in there somewhere) but that didn't matter one bit. Sorry sir, you are stuck with that card. Why don't you try selling it online or possibly contact the manufacturer. Yeah right, like Sapphire would take it back directly from me.

I dejectedly went back to my computer case and went about trying to figure out how to get this card in there. The hard drive cage was in the way. Well, I am on an SSD now so i don't really need the hard drive cage. Crap, it's riveted in. Well it's only 12 small ones and I can drill those out with my 12v Bosch. So I did just that. I also had to replace one of the fans on my ram cooler since it was dieing. Burned my finger on the 500F soldiering iron. Took a couple hours because I didn't want to take everything out because my water cooling is a pain. So, I balanced a shop vac hose while I did the drilling to keep shavings from getting on the electronics.

It works so far and it was nice turning detail way up on my games again. I didn't have time to really play last night but I will be sure to put it through its paces.

I test fit my 570 back in as a PhysX card in a lower slot but what games even use it? I couldn't think of any that I played so I left it out for now.

I will post a couple pictures when I get them uploaded.

EDIT: Pictures

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/seVU59dulqJF5tHQgTRMK8-wpKy8Hy2JfyJQ3xHeIxw?feat=directlink
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/VSDt0BqSF6SZqc8uQEsQLs-wpKy8Hy2JfyJQ3xHeIxw?feat=directlink
 
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NVIDIA blocks physics when usin AMD gpus last I heard with recent drivers. May be a hack somewhere
 
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