780 ti or 290x....or just wait for 800 series?

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Vetra

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Hello,

I recently did a new computer build, and I have everything except a new graphics card. I currently have an old 460. It seems price wise the 290x cards from ASUS, MSI cards are just as much if not a tad bit more than 780ti cards. I've read the reviews and it always seems that 780ti comes in just a little under the 290x cards for the most part. So my main question is....in your all's opinion which card is currently the best bang for the buck, or should I wait till the 800 series drops. I waited 5 years to rebuild my computer....so a little longer for the next gen nvidia cards wouldn't kill me.

Thanks
 
No, the 780 Ti is faster.

AMD has a few problems right now:
1. Everything is out of stock and/or over-priced, this includes the R9 200 series.
2. Aftermarket cards STILL are not released. They're taking forever. I think the Gigabyte is the only one that's widely available and Gigabyte is saying they have production problems with their heatsink.
3. The 200 series is stupidly hot. And loud. And hungry.

The 780 Ti's already have a pretty good selection of custom cards and considering the price gouging on AMD it's not really a bad bet.

The Windforce 290x is $699 on Newegg right now. C'mon.
If you have no intention of mining, AMD is a non-starter. And I say this as an 8-year exclusively AMD hardcore fanboy.
 
Yeah. I have no intention of using the card for mining purposes. Any thoughts on holding out for the 800 series?
 
Couple things.

Do not bring "bang for your buck" discussion into the high-end gpu market. None of these cards are anything near "bang for your buck". Also, for the most part its 780ti > 290X > 780, so I am not sure what reviews you are looking at.

Secondly - we need to know what you plan on using these for. If you are only playing at 1080p, you don't need any of these. Hell a 770 will be more than enough to max out 99% of games.

The 800-series of gpus are probably not going to be here until the end of the year. This is mostly due to the immaturity of the 28nm process and the fact that Apple has first dibs on it for Q1/Q2 I think. So therefore, ask yourself if you need a new card for the next year or not - but honestly playing the waiting game is pretty worthless cause as soon as the 800-series comes out, the 900-series will come shortly, followed by God knows what.

So.. yeah.. get the most powerful card that you can comfortably afford (make sure your PSU is also up to the task of running it).
 
If you're not in a rush waiting is always the best option, availability, price drops etc regardless of which side you go with. Buy when you absolutely need to buy and not before.
 
Vetra said:
Yeah. I have no intention of using the card for mining purposes. Any thoughts on holding out for the 800 series?
Click to expand...
I don't know if anyone has official info about that now...
Maybe they'll say something at CES.
 
I'm planning on getting the 780, myself. Not sure about spending an additional $200 for the Ti or not, though.
 
TaintedSquirrel said:
No, the 780 Ti is faster.

AMD has a few problems right now:
1. Everything is out of stock and/or over-priced, this includes the R9 200 series.
2. Aftermarket cards STILL are not released. They're taking forever. I think the Gigabyte is the only one that's widely available and Gigabyte is saying they have production problems with their heatsink.
3. The 200 series is stupidly hot. And loud. And hungry.

The 780 Ti's already have a pretty good selection of custom cards and considering the price gouging on AMD it's not really a bad bet.

The Windforce 290x is $699 on Newegg right now. C'mon.
If you have no intention of mining, AMD is a non-starter. And I say this as an 8-year exclusively AMD hardcore fanboy.
Click to expand...

Pretty much agree with everything here. 780Ti would be my choice also.
 
Vetra said:
Hello,

I recently did a new computer build, and I have everything except a new graphics card. I currently have an old 460. It seems price wise the 290x cards from ASUS, MSI cards are just as much if not a tad bit more than 780ti cards. I've read the reviews and it always seems that 780ti comes in just a little under the 290x cards for the most part. So my main question is....in your all's opinion which card is currently the best bang for the buck, or should I wait till the 800 series drops. I waited 5 years to rebuild my computer....so a little longer for the next gen nvidia cards wouldn't kill me.

Thanks
Click to expand...

You could get a GTX 780 aftermarket card, which when overclocked, is significantly faster than the 290X and the GTX Titan. A GTX 780 at around 1225-1250mhz and 6500mhz VRAM is roughly 15% faster than Titan (and faster than the 290X by 15% as well). And pretty darn close if not the same speed as the 780ti. If you're into overclocking, this is an option to consider.

Alternatively, if you want a 290X i'd say it isn't an option unless you want to mine altcoins. Prices are wack at the moment due to the mining craze, so if you're set on a 780ti - i'd get a 780ti aftermarket card. It is the faster and better card anyway, and in the US it is actually priced similarly to the 290X. Which makes the decision easily in favor of the 780ti. You also get the added bonus of not dealing with AMD "issues", such as frame pacing being broken on their 79xx and earlier cards.

The third option is waiting. And waiting. For the inflated US 290X prices to come down. If that happens, the 290X aftermarket cards could be great purchases. But they're not so great purchases when they're 100$ above MSRP. We just don't know when prices for the 290 cards will correct, could be a month from now or 6 months from now for the mining craze to end. If you need a card now, the 780 or 780ti would be the best bet by far.
 
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only time waiting makes sense is if something new is confirmed to be coming out within the next 4-6 weeks...the 800 series is all rumors right now...Maxwell sounds amazing but who knows when it'll be released and what AMD will counter with
 
I had similar concerns about waiting for the 800 series before. I ended up purchasing a set of 780gtx to SLI.

Originally I was going to get a single 760GTX, but knew that I wouldn't see any real upgrade over my previous 5850 crossfire setup.

In the end I figured that the 4608 cuda cores and 3GB ram I got for around $900 should be able to stay relevant vs a higher end/similarly priced 800 series when it comes out. So there was no reason to wait.

I was really more concerned with whether or not there'd be a new DirectX, etc. It really doesn't seem like that's going to happen for a while.
 
i would never drop that much money for a 780ti due to only 3gb of Vram

NVidia has always been greedy with Vram, I always had to upgrade with Nvidia cards because of that.

Now im good with 290, 4gb of vram for $399 that I paid when it first came out was a steal.


before I upgraded to a 290 I had two 560ti's in sli, performance was still good but the cards were crapping in BF4 due to 1gb of Vram.

its almost as if Nvidia is doing it on purpose so u don't hold on with same gpu's for too long.
 
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TroyX said:
i would never drop that much money for a 780ti due to only 3gb of Vram

NVidia has always been greedy with Vram, I always had to upgrade with Nvidia cards because of that.

Now im good with 290, 4gb of vram for $399 that I paid when it first came out was a steal.


before I upgraded to a 290 I had two 560ti's in sli, performance was still good but the cards were crapping in BF4 due to 1gb of Vram.

its almost as if Nvidia is doing it on purpose so u don't hold on with same gpu's for too long.
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Yeah because vram is more important than how fast a card actually is and is more important for futureproofing... yeah we got it. More BS. The 780ti wins hands down even in 4k resolutions at ultra settings with high SSAA enabled. Stop your foolishness vram snobbery.
 
WinSomeLoseNone said:
What Resolution?

You cannot beat the value of a used 780 right now.

~$400ish vs $730 for the ti (non-ref).
Click to expand...

The 780 is the better bet for now. Can overclock to 780ti with aftermarket cooling solutions. I would only get a ti if I knew I wasn't going to upgrade for a couple of years and had the extra money now to get it.
 
780 ti for the sure, way better thermals and performance then the 290x.

If your not in a rush though you might wait til 800 series is released and see what they have to offer.
 
Nvidia does pretty well at mining scrypt coins with the new CUDA miner too. So if you're just a part time miner, not full time, the GTX 780 can get around 600KH/s now with the new CUDA miner. That's actually around the 7970 ballpark if i'm not mistaken in terms of hashrate. It was just released not too long ago.

Of course, AMD is better for mining but for gaming? You'd have to be a madman to buy one at 100-150$ over MSRP. Just IMO.
 
xoleras said:
Nvidia does pretty well at mining scrypt coins with the new CUDA miner too. So if you're just a part time miner, not full time, the GTX 780 can get around 600KH/s now with the new CUDA miner. That's actually around the 7970 ballpark if i'm not mistaken in terms of hashrate. It was just released not too long ago.

Of course, AMD is better for mining but for gaming? You'd have to be a madman to buy one at 100-150$ over MSRP. Just IMO.
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define well ? you mean as good as 2 generations ago mid range ($!50-200) GPU ?
got a link for that... ? last time I checked the 780ti was at best pulling just over 7870 hash

https://litecoin.info/Mining_hardware_comparison

GTX 780 Ti, GV-N78TD5-3GD-B / 430 Hash / cudaMiner 2013-11-20 / 92C
7870 GHz Edition, GV-R787OC-2GD/ 425 Hash / cgminer 2.11.3
7870 GHz Edition, GV-R787OC-2GD/ 470 Hash / cgminer 3.1.0


Latest raw data from:https://litecoin.info/Mining_hardware_comparison/raw_data


GTX 780i / GTX 670, 03G-P4-2881-KR EVGA / EVGA
450 Hash 1045- GPU 1900 /1626-MEM 1125 / 1111 V
cudaMiner release December 1st 2013 - beta release

The highest 780 variant is a highly OC'd 780
GTX 780 Classified, 03G-P4-3788-KR EVGA
507 Hash 1254-GPU 6600-MEM 1.187 V
cudaMiner 2013-12-07
 
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xoleras said:
Your information is dated

http://www.reddit.com/r/dogecoin/comments/1t7479/nvidia_miners_new_version_of_cudaminer_is_out/

It's pretty good if you're a part time miner. AMD is still better obviously. Personally, I buy GPUs to game with primarily, which I prefer gaming on the nvidia side anyway...
Click to expand...

hmm outdated by a week... i see
I will give you that it is an increase still a far cry from the claimed 600.. barely 10% over what was already posted.. big dif going from 450 to 500 (11% )vs 450 to 600 (33.33%).

Heres hoping miners start grabbing 780s/770s in lieu of the Radeon shortage., maybe then they can return to a sane pricing model
 
Like I said, improvement. I never said it was better than AMD at mining, but it is respectable now. A lot of PC gamers don't give a flying fuck about mining (such as myself), or maybe some want to part time mine. Not everyone wants to mine 24/7 or wants to wait 3 months for AMD prices to adjust back to the realm of sanity.

Either way this doesn't change the fact that nvidia is just better to buy across the board for someone who is an actual gamer. Most miners dont even give a fuck about games, they just want hashrate, and obviously those people will go to AMD even at inflated prices. AMD is better than NV at mining, but NV has improved with the new CUDA miner. Like I said. Not bad for a part time miner and someone who wants a good gaming experience.

If the OP were a full time 24/7 miner he wouldn't even ask this question. 780ti vs 290X. That question never gets fucking asked by someone who mines. The answer is obvious, so i'd say the OP doesn't give a shit about mining.
 
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I'm a gamer xoleras and I run a R9-290 @ $386 as I didn't wait and the card has been running strong without issue .. I will agree that the mining market has made Nvidia look better in price but it's not because they lowered the price .

I wouldn't buy anything until Mantle is shown to us as you may need an 880GTX to keep up with current AMD cards under the new API and why Nvidia is in such a firestorm to get the new cards out.
 
fanboy said:
I'm a gamer xoleras and I run a R9-290 @ $386 as I didn't wait and the card has been running strong without issue .. I will agree that the mining market has made Nvidia look better in price but it's not because they lowered the price .
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I wouldn't have an issue with recommending an aftermarket 290 at MSRP. I don't like the reference 290/X, but the aftermarket cards solve the issues associated with that and then some. 100-150$ over MSRP is just absurd though. Hopefully that will correct sooner rather than later...

For the time being nvidia is the better value, which is just odd. I don't remember a single time in history where that has ever happened - I don't know what the answer is to correct US prices, but hopefully those prices will correct soon. Like I said...the aftermarket 290s are good cards and would be great purchases at MSRP. At 100$+ over MSRP not really. Not unless you place a disproportionate value on mining, which the OP doesn't.
 
780ti exists simply to outperform a 290x by a few % points. Keep in mind 290/x drivers are still in Beta, while being pretty damn good for Beta.

If I was buying an Nvidia card I would get a 780 simply for the recent discount and overclock it to 780ti range. It makes absolutely no sense to spend $180 for a Ti. Just like spending an additional $180 for a 290x over a 290 (before price inflation) was plain wasteful. In 290 vs 290x case, you get 5-6% performance difference, its simply not worth the added cost. Same can be said for 780 vs Ti.
 
If you get lucky and find a 290(x) at msrp then go for it. Otherwise wait until the next Gen, 780ti pricing is even more disproportionate than the price gouging on the 290x.
 
XFX Edition R9 290 would be my vote...then unlock it to a 290x. can be got for around 499 from amazon and if you have decent credit then get an amazon card with 50 dollars instant credit to put you down to only spending $450 for what should be a 290x:) (after unlocking) And this is coming from an nvidia man my entire life excluding my recent card:)
Hard to beat a R9 290X for $450 imo
 
primetime said:
XFX Edition R9 290 would be my vote...then unlock it to a 290x. can be got for around 499 from amazon and if you have decent credit then get an amazon card with 50 dollars instant credit to put you down to only spending $450 for what should be a 290x:) (after unlocking) And this is coming from an nvidia man my entire life excluding my recent card:)
Hard to beat a R9 290X for $450 imo
Click to expand...

Unlocking a 290 to a 290x is in no way guaranteed to be successful...:rolleyes:
 
exlink said:
Unlocking a 290 to a 290x is in no way guaranteed to be successful...:rolleyes:
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not its not...but he said it was no rush...could always exchange it lol....and truth be told from reading the polls here 10 out of 15 xfx cards unlocked just fine...not to bad of odds
And had these card been out when i was buying...its what i would have done;)
 
After owning both cards 780ti all the way. No way I would pay inflated 290x 290 prices.
 
hdgamer said:
Yeah because vram is more important than how fast a card actually is and is more important for futureproofing... yeah we got it. More BS. The 780ti wins hands down even in 4k resolutions at ultra settings with high SSAA enabled. Stop your foolishness vram snobbery.
Click to expand...

VRam or not, I bought two 290s for just about the same price as one 780ti would have costed me. If just by judging in today's pricing, I would get the 780ti if the 290 is selling near $600 because that $100 or so difference will give you a good performance boost. But, as with any investment decision, one should never buy at high or inflated prices. Therefore, I would hold off until prices for the amd cards stabilize. You will feel horrible when prices go back down and realize you can get 80% more performance for $100, if you had chosen crossfire 290 over a 780ti. Now is not a good time to buy either card.
 
...which is why OP should get an aftermarket GTX 780 and overclock it. The GK110 scales incredibly well with the aftermarket variety of cards, since nvidia basically tuned the GK110 for efficiency - once you ramp up the clocks, performance really scales well. A GTX 780 at 1250mhz and 6500VRAM is on par to 5% faster than the 780ti and 12-20% faster than the GTX Titan.

The 780ti doesn't make much sense unless budget is a non issue. And on that note did the OP mention anything about budget? No I don't think he did. If that's not an issue, 780ti all the way. Anyway, if that IS an issue, the GTX 780 is an actual good value right now, and when overclocked with an aftermarket variety card - easily surpasses both the Titan and is on par with the 780ti.

At this point given AMD's shortcomings in terms of software compared to nvidia, the 290 doesn't make sense with inflated pricing. I think at MSRP, the 290 aftermarket cards would be a great buy. Inflated? No.. At the current inflated prices, none of those cards make a bit of sense - and the waiting game won't have a definite end point given the current mining craze. So with that being the case, the value purchase is getting a GTX 780 aftermarket and overclocking the heck out of it, or a 780ti if budget is a non issue - the 780ti is priced similarly to the 290X for the time being.
 
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Get 780 and OC it.

I have sold my R9 290 @ 290x 1025/1250. Even though I had 82% ASIC, it was an awful overclocker. At least it unlocked and I made a nice profit on it. Pretty much traded it for a new Asus GTX 780 DirectCU II which is running @ 1263/1650 AFAIR. It is much faster btw, but it might be because of my old i5-750 @3.6 (nvidia utilizes cpu better afaik)
Depending on game/benchmark, about 5-15% faster I think

It is also finally quiet. Even though my R9 290(X) had super low stock voltages (high asic) it was still incredibly noisy...
 
I was waiting for the non reference 290/x cards to replace my 6970. Then the crazy price increases on AMD cards hit, the price dropped on the 780's and NVidia came out with the 780Ti. I like to skip generations so I go for the best card I can afford. Hence I went with the 780Ti. I may regret it when Mantle comes out but I still figure the 780Ti will carry me well for the next two years.
 
ASIC quality, in GPUz, means pretty much nothing and even if the register being read did refer to the quality/bin of the silicon, the new PowerTune pretty much negates that.
 
Recently upgraded to a Qnix 25601x1440 @ 120Hz and my GTX 680 doesn't have enough juice any more. I was looking at getting a GTX 780 and oc'ing it instead of forking out the extra for the GTX 780Ti, but I'm having some doubts now since they both only have 3Gb vram. I play mostly BF4 MP, and I'm hoping we'll hear in the near future if any of the 800 series will have 4Gb....
 
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