290x - Time to Upgrade from 2x6970s?

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TwistedAegis

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Since the review thread is pretty much descending into flame wars, I wanted a legitimate discussion on whether I'll see a significant increase running 1600p with a 290x vs two 6970s. Worth the cost?

Also, with a MSI P67A-GD80, which has PCI gen2, is there any bottleneck issues here? I know the review only said they saw saturation with crossfire, but still wondering if there would be an issue with an "older" board.
 
PCIe 2.0/2.1 versus 3.0 is pretty much a non-issue at this point, AIUI.

Performance-wise, you'd basically go from the equivalent of an R6990 (slightly faster, I know) to a 290X. At 1600p, depending on what you're doing, you'd likely get a noticeable performance boost in exchange for less relative power usage...and, admittedly, more heat (or would that be a wash in this case?). Is that worth $550-600 to you?
 
Redshirt #24 said:
PCIe 2.0/2.1 versus 3.0 is pretty much a non-issue at this point, AIUI.

Performance-wise, you'd basically go from the equivalent of an R6990 (slightly faster, I know) to a 290X. At 1600p, depending on what you're doing, you'd likely get a noticeable performance boost in exchange for less relative power usage...and, admittedly, more heat (or would that be a wash in this case?). Is that worth $550-600 to you?
Click to expand...

Less power usage and more heat can not be part of the same package, it's physically impossible (literally, physics won't allow it).
 
What's amusing is some of the acoustic testing on the 290x reveals it's at least 1db quieter than the reference cooler on the 6970/6950. I found my 6950's too loud with stock cooling, went with Accelero Twin Turbos, traded noise for heat (I see 90c+ quite often). Then I switched from gaming with an amp and SPDIF out to using a headset 100% of the time, so noise isn't a big deal for me anymore.
 
OP a HD 7970 Ghz / R9 280X OC is faster than HD 6970 CF.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_280X_Direct_Cu_II_TOP/26.html

1920 x 1200

ASUS R9 280X - 100
HD 6970 - 60

http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/17636-amd-radeon-r9-280x-och-r9-270x/16#pagehead

tpu hd 7970 ghz scores are with old drivers. thats why HD 7970 Ghz (1050 mhz) is slower than R9 280X(1 Ghz). HD 7970 Ghz / R9 280X OC is 65 - 70% faster on avg. CF scaling on avg is 1.6x. so even at stock R9 280X / HD 7970 Ghz is faster. when overclocked the gap widens in favour of HD 7970 / R9 280X

but in the latest DX11 games like BF4, Metro Last light HD 7970 Ghz / R9 280X OC is 2x - 2.5x the performance of HD 6970 and clearly faster than HD 6970 CF.

http://gamegpu.ru/action-/-fps-/-tps/battlefield-4-beta-test-gpu.html

the R9 290X is 35% faster than R9 280X and will crush the HD 6970 CF and be close to 2x the speed in the latest DX11 games. :)
 
Why not 7970GHz CF?

That is cheaper and faster then R9 290X.

Sure I am subjective because I have done it :)
 
Back when I Crossfired my 6970's I would never get 100% performance out of that second card, perhaps 80% scaling overall in the games I tried. But I've seen the reviews and going to a 290X will more than double the frame rates of a single 6970. I'm guessing you'd see at least a 20% bump all across the board while I'm looking at a 100% bump up from my single 6970. It would be a significant upgrade. It'll also be half as loud and hot since you'll be down to one card instead of two, though you could Crossfire that later on for the win, since I hear scaling is even better on the R9's.
 
I would wait until better coolers for the 290X appear, because as it stands the 290x practically demands watercooling
 
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Seems like it will be a good bump of around 25% at least, hopefully, which will be substantial over my current setup which still runs current games fairly well, just not quite as smooth as I would like it to be.

I would/will wait for better coolers to show up. How much do you think I could offload the 6970s for (reference design, 2gb)?
 
TwistedAegis said:
Thanks for all the feedback everyone. Seems like it will be a good bump of around 25% at least, hopefully, which will be substantial over my current setup which still runs current games fairly well, just not quite as smooth as I would like it to be.

I would/will wait for better coolers to show up. How much do you think I could offload the 6970s for (reference design, 2gb)?
Click to expand...

You might be able to get around $70 for each.

I personally would wait until next year when GPUs jump to 20nm but that is just me.
 
The only reason to upgrade is when Mantle hits, if that pushes out more performance your 6970 won't benefit from it .
 
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