280X or 770 4GB

G

groebuck

2[H]4U
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So I am in the market for a new Video card to replace my aging 480GTX. I run two monitors one 2560x1400 and the other 1080P. I am playing The Elder Scrolls Online, Star Wars TOR as my two main games plus other randoms I might want to check out and game on the 2560x1440 monitor.

So...I can get an EVGA 770 GTX with 4GB of GDDR5 for 325 bucks open box or I can get an xfx 280X DD (just reviewed on H) for 329.00

Review to review puts them in about the same boat as far as performance...unless I am missing something. Should I get the 280x and hop on the mantle train or stick with Nvidia? All opinions are welcome and not trying ot start an AMD v NVIDIA war.
 
I would nod towards the 280x, but that just me. If you can I would try to swing for a vanilla 780. There was a nice buy on an Asus DirectCU 780 recently in the FS/FT forum for 425. Most 780s overclock very well and add a nice performance boost as a result.
 
Can you get the full warranty on the 770?
EVGA limits their refurb/second hand stuff to 1 year. Otherwise I'd say get the GTX 770 and don't even think about it.

If the idea of having a $325 paper-weight one year from now scares you then get the 280x.

You can find used 7970's/280x's on ebay for as low as $200 if you can deal with the miners.
 
If you're willing to chance it, I suspect the incoming pre-summer dump of 7970/280x/290/290X from miners will see pricing look pretty nice.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
Can you get the full warranty on the 770?
EVGA limits their refurb/second hand stuff to 1 year. Otherwise I'd say get the GTX 770 and don't even think about it.

If the idea of having a $325 paper-weight one year from now scares you then get the 280x.

You can find used 7970's/280x's on ebay for as low as $200 if you can deal with the miners.
Click to expand...

A good miner undervolted and kept the cards around 70C
 
For not that much more you could get into a 290x at $375-$400. I just wouldn't buy one from a miner if possible. I know that's where some of the deals will lie, but I'd be hesitant to get a card that has been running at near full steam constantly for months, vs one that has seen idle levels for most of it's life on desktop use with some full steam here and there gaming sessions.

Also to keep in mind, the 4gb cards are going to be in my mind the first sets of cards that are worth crossfiring/sli long term because the memory won't be as much of a factor at that point even while playing 4k games.
 
I have an Asus 280x DC2 card. Solid performer on my Dell 1440p monitor. I mostly play BF 4/ heavily modded Skyrim. The card posts smooth frames and remains very quiet, so much that my Noctua D14 is the loudest thing in my pc.
 
no real difference between my 280x and 660ti that I can tell in bf4. I'm sure if you ran a benchmark it might show a framerate difference but I'm telling you nothing noticeable. Also my 280x seems to hiccup more in hawken and takes longer to load for some strange reason.

I keep giving ati/amd cards a chance but every damn time I come up with a fucked up card or left disappointed. Only reason I have this card is for mining and since I'm not doing that anymore I put it in my desktop, going to put the 660ti back in and the 280x on ebay.

Not pro nvidia, but I am anti ati/amd. Not sure how many times I have to buy one till this gets through my damn head.
 
Not sure the 4gb frame buffer on the 770 will make a difference. Multi monitor/high resolution situations you might as well have went with a 780 imo.
 
You can actually get the DD for a bit less than that and the XFX R9 280X DD http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FSC5N66 is a much better option at it's current price.

Both cards trade blows in performance but the 4GB version of the GTX 770 is pointless. The GTX 770 doesn't even have the bandwidth to utilize 4GB VRAM so you're obviously not getting more for your money.

The deciding factor should be determined by the games you're planning to play or the programs you're planning to use. If you have more AMD optimized titles then go AMD, if you're going to have more nVidia optimized titles then go that route. Both are great cards either way!
 
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I bit on the 290 another H er had for sale. Rather spend the money on a fellow H er than give it to microcenter :) -Plus I got a good deal on a 290 4gb :)
 
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