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Is 290 better than GTX 780?

J

jds1991

n00b
Joined
Mar 23, 2014
Messages
8
Shopping for a new graphics card and I was wondering if the 290 is better than the 780 when it comes to raw power. Which one is better?
 
I have a 290x Lightning and a 780 GTX ACX , when we are talking about speeds with max overclocks, my 290x was about 15% slower (benchmarks and gaming, depends on what though, some were less than 15%) as it couldn't clock as high. I would imagine a 290 would be around 20% slower when fully overclocked.
 
I've been playing with an Asus 780 TI the last 3 weeks and I have a complete opposite results. My 290x is 5 - 10% faster than the Nvidia card in most games.
 
The 290 is definitely slower. The 290x vs 780 might be a tossup, depending on the overclock and the game, but I'm out on anything AMD due to the driver situation.
 
Depends on the games you play, your type of CPU, the resolution of your monitor(s), and the eye candy settings you use...the first and second being the most critical.

But for the most part with most games, a 780 will be a little faster than a 290.
 
They are really close trading blows in the Anand bench. I recently made the decision between the two and went red. Figure out which one has features you're interested in like shield streaming, mantle, shadowplay and so on. Because from a pure performance standpoint in most real world situations you'll never know the difference.
 
I would *really* miss ShadowPlay if I lost it. With my recent AMD evaluations, I re-installed FRAPS to do some of what ShadowPlay does, and it definitely was a drag on my fast system. Plus it can't go back in time and record the past, which is what I enjoy doing in games when something interesting happens.
 
I just heard of shadowplay, damn that sounds really awesome. I wish things like that wouldn't be locked down to a vendor though of course it's understandable why they do it.
 
SixFootDuo said:
I've been playing with an Asus 780 TI the last 3 weeks and I have a complete opposite results. My 290x is 5 - 10% faster than the Nvidia card in most games.
Click to expand...

I agree
I have owned both 780Ti SLI and R9 290 crossfire.They trade blows,AMD is a great deal.
You can actually buy 2 R9 290x for the same price of one 780TI.
AMD all the way.A couple purchase by me in the last little bit.

AMD is just as good and just as fast at half the price.
Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD-R9 290X - 408 Canadian or 372 US

image hoster

Zotac 780Ti Amp Edition Feb 14 2014 for 824 Canadian or 743 USA dollars
780ti.jpg
 
+1 For nvidia. I've owned both. My 780 clocks higher, runs cooler and has better drivers. The only thing AMD has going is a lower price point.
 
Hey look, nVidia owners not knowing what they're talking about again.

The 290 is faster, the drivers are better, and I won't be going back.
 
Depends on the card itself, I'd rather have a Tri-X 290 than an ACX 780, for example.
But if we're talking about something like the 290 DCII vs the 780 DCII I would take Nvidia every time.

The only thing AMD has going for it is the $100 savings. If price was no issue then it's Nvidia every day of the week.
 
Also the 290s will be pushing 4GB of RAM for a cheaper price too. I have 2x 290s in crossfire. I have a few more driver issues as this is the first time I have gone the red team in many many years but the price differences and the more RAM while gaming at high resolutions was the final decider.
 
3GB vs. 4GB of RAM will really only be an issue with over 1440p or 2+ monitors. I am currently running 1440p on a single 27" and the only games that come close to using 3GB are BF4 and Titanfall. WoW with everything on Ultra uses maybe 2GB.
 
WoW has textures? Everything is just a solid color. I'm surprised it breaks 1 GB. I was playing MoP with my 5870 @ 8xAA.
 
Having only recently gotten back somewhat into the red camp this year with the 290's and owning a 780 and 780 Ti, this is purely my opinion, but with what I've seen of the 290 I would stick to a 780 assuming you don't need to save the extra cost for something else, like cooling upgrades, etc.

The 290 is a VERY good card for what you get, and fast for that matter. The drivers still seem as finicky as I remember, but aside from the little glitches here and there, you really can't go wrong with this card for $100 cheaper.... I mean, you really can't, lol.

As far as the 780, I prefer my 780 in the secondary rig I run for guests/friends instead of the 290 simply because, and this is just for my personal experience and opinion, but the 780 has shown smoother results in my games as well as a higher overall FPS @ 1920x1080. I also would be very sad to get rid of ShadowPlay, as I find it to be quite ingenious for a game recording software.

Please keep in mind, my opinion based on my own experience which was run with an overclocked i5. My vote goes for the 780, but like I said, assuming you don't need to put that $100 towards something else, as the 780 isn't that much faster and the 290 will run all the games a 780 will...
 
At current prices the 290 is hands down the better value. There are several custom models for under $400 whereas the cheapest 780 is $100 more. You can't even use the free Watch Dogs game argument on the Nvidis card because the AMD card comes with 3 free games which can be sold and used towards the purchase of that game.

Gigabyte Windforce 290@$379.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125505) - $30(3xgame coupons assuming sold at a low $10 each) + Watch Dogs@$59.99 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832138162) = $409.98 with free shipping


Shadowplay is barely worth mentioning as a selling point. Go to the most popular Twitch streams and ask the broadcasters what software are they using and the overwhelming majority will tell you OBS (with the odd holdout still using Xsplit). Why? Because it has better performance, has (a ton) more features, is constantly updated and it's completely free.

https://obsproject.com/
 
gerardfraser said:
I agree
I have owned both 780Ti SLI and R9 290 crossfire.They trade blows,AMD is a great deal.
You can actually buy 2 R9 290x for the same price of one 780TI.
AMD all the way.A couple purchase by me in the last little bit.

AMD is just as good and just as fast at half the price.
Gigabyte GV-R929XOC-4GD-R9 290X - 408 Canadian or 372 US

image hoster

Zotac 780Ti Amp Edition Feb 14 2014 for 824 Canadian or 743 USA dollars
780ti.jpg
Click to expand...

This is how I looked at it. I picked up 2 290s on launch and a third when someone I know decided they didn't really need 2. Triple 290x(unlocked) for 1200 and smokes anything that other than triple Titan Black.
But then again I play at 7990x1440 so I actually need the extra gig of memory over the 780.
 
I vote for the 780. For +100$ you get the benefit of being able to buy from EVGA.

All other manufacturers have a spate of horror stories about their RMA, customer service, etc.

AMD has no EVGA equivalent.

The 780 is also faster, but probably not by 100$. Speed + security (+ watch_dogs) = at least 100$ in my book.
 
Lorien said:
Shadowplay is barely worth mentioning as a selling point. Go to the most popular Twitch streams and ask the broadcasters what software are they using and the overwhelming majority will tell you OBS (with the odd holdout still using Xsplit). Why? Because it has better performance, has (a ton) more features, is constantly updated and it's completely free.
Click to expand...

I disagree. I like OBS just fine, but using the NVIDIA GPU processor makes more sense than stealing it from the system's CPU. I would argue whether the performance is better or not. (Without proof/benchmarks, etc., I doubt it.) Shadowplay is also frequently updated, new features are added regularly, and it's included for free with the driver, so your final three points are all moot.

TaintedSquirrel said:
WoW has textures? Everything is just a solid color. I'm surprised it breaks 1 GB. I was playing MoP with my 5870 @ 8xAA.
Click to expand...

Yes, as I posted earlier in the thread, it uses ~2GB with all settings on Ultra at 1440p. I think they are up to 2 or 3 colors now. ;)
 
Starrbuck said:
Yes, as I posted earlier in the thread, it uses ~2GB with all settings on Ultra at 1440p. I think they are up to 2 or 3 colors now. ;)
Click to expand...
The more vram you have, the more it will allocate. It might show 2 GB but there's precisely zero chance WoW actually utilizes 2 GB. :eek:
 
I've owned many 780's, Titans, and the 780ti as well as several 290's. The reference cooler 290 was about on par with a stock 780 in everything I did, thanks to the thermal throttling it displays. However, once the fan curve is moved up it was a little faster. My Sapphire 290 Tri-X which ran at 1000/1300 was very close to my stock 780ti. The kepler cards seem to have a little more overclocking headroom for normal setups so if you're going for max clocks they probably will win, but either is a good choice. I would go with the one that supports the options you like (shadowplay, mantle, physx, whatever).

My personal favorite for the money was the sapphire 290 tri-x though, very nice card with a quiet cooling solution and excellent performance.
 
Starrbuck said:
I disagree. I like OBS just fine, but using the NVIDIA GPU processor makes more sense than stealing it from the system's CPU. I would argue whether the performance is better or not. (Without proof/benchmarks, etc., I doubt it.) Shadowplay is also frequently updated, new features are added regularly, and it's included for free with the driver, so your final three points are all moot
Click to expand...

I'd agree, also ShadowPlay is still in it's infancy whereas OBS has been around for streamers for... Quite a while, so saying x streamer(s) use y application is a bit stupid. And having used OBS myself, ShadowPlay is easier to deal with, also offering the better performance. Of course, I haven't tried OBS with nvenc, so can't comment there.

Looks like OP has a lot to think about though, I think he'll be happy with either.
 
I would buy the 290 over the 780 any day of the week.

Don't get me wrong 780s are nice and all, but you save nearly 100$ and its as fast or faster by going with a 290.

as for the drivers, well stick with the WHQL drivers unless a beta specifically addresses a game your playing and having a issue with. I recommend the same thing for Nvida users as well.

From a pure speed prospective the 290 will beat a 780 if both are of equal worth on the overclocking department.
 
veedubfreak said:
This is how I looked at it. I picked up 2 290s on launch and a third when someone I know decided they didn't really need 2. Triple 290x(unlocked) for 1200 and smokes anything that other than triple Titan Black.
But then again I play at 7990x1440 so I actually need the extra gig of memory over the 780.
Click to expand...

I hear ya,got Tri crossfire myself.
That is a lot of pixels to be pushing,but you have the cards for it.

I've owned many 780's, Titans, and the 780ti as well as several 290's. The reference cooler 290 was about on par with a stock 780 in everything I did, thanks to the thermal throttling it displays. However, once the fan curve is moved up it was a little faster. My Sapphire 290 Tri-X which ran at 1000/1300 was very close to my stock 780ti. The kepler cards seem to have a little more overclocking headroom for normal setups so if you're going for max clocks they probably will win, but either is a good choice. I would go with the one that supports the options you like (shadowplay, mantle, physx, whatever).

My personal favorite for the money was the sapphire 290 tri-x though, very nice card with a quiet cooling solution and excellent performance.
Click to expand...

I also had a few cards on the Nvidia side and a Tri-X which is a great card and fast.You just can not go wrong with AMD cards.
I prefer the AMD cards right now compared to the Nvidia cards.
Hey I might go back to the green side once again in the future but not just for shadowplay.
 
Question to all those running crossfire 290s?, do you run vsync? I can't for the life of me get vsync working properly with 2 290s, I'm at the point where I'd recommend nvidia if you don't want tearing in your games.
 
hajalie24 said:
Question to all those running crossfire 290s?, do you run vsync? I can't for the life of me get vsync working properly with 2 290s, I'm at the point where I'd recommend nvidia if you don't want tearing in your games.
Click to expand...
You can always try something like DXTory and manually limit your frame rate to whatever you want (your monitor's refresh rate generally).

I haven't used vsync in years.
 
hajalie24 said:
Question to all those running crossfire 290s?, do you run vsync? I can't for the life of me get vsync working properly with 2 290s, I'm at the point where I'd recommend nvidia if you don't want tearing in your games.
Click to expand...

Vsync runs fine for me on 144hz screen and 60 hz screen on crossfire.
I just use in game vsync,have not tried with CCC so not sure if forcing thru CCC works.

You could use RadeonPro
http://www.radeonpro.info/

Featuring basic 3D controls found on Catalyst Control Center plus exclusive controls like advanced V-Sync control and post-processing based anti-aliasing like SMAA, RadeonPro can help on fine tuning of your games making them look better and also feel better and smoother through the use of Dynamic V-sync Control (DVC) and Dynamic Frame rate Control (DFC). RadeonPro can also help Crossfire users to force multi-GPU utilization in games not supported by the driver, improving your games performance with a few clicks.

Other exclusive RadeonPro Features include support for OSD functions making possible to monitor your system with GPU information displayed right on your screen while you’re gaming. You can also take screenshots or record Movies of your games with the press of a key to register your gaming moments, benchmark your games, apply post processing effects like SMAA, FXAA, Ambient Occlusion and SweetFX with full support for 64-bit games. All in one free tool!

- See more at: http://www.radeonpro.info/#sthash.7dIIXcKu.dpuf
 
Vsync works for me, it just makes the game really choppy and pretty much unplayable. Doesn't happen when crossfire is disabled, and it seems others have similar issues,
 
Sodapopjones said:
Hey look, nVidia owners not knowing what they're talking about again.

The 290 is faster, the drivers are better, and I won't be going back.
Click to expand...

Correct. Drivers have been hit or miss for me but the 290 is slightly faster.
 
sobe88 said:
I'd agree, also ShadowPlay is still in it's infancy whereas OBS has been around for streamers for... Quite a while, so saying x streamer(s) use y application is a bit stupid. And having used OBS myself, ShadowPlay is easier to deal with, also offering the better performance. Of course, I haven't tried OBS with nvenc, so can't comment there.
Click to expand...

Thanks, it's nice to have someone agree with me for a change! ;)

Not to mention, Shadowplay is always recording (if you want it to) and I have used it many times after something cool happens that I want to keep a record of and I can hit the hotkey combo to save it to video.
 
Starrbuck said:
Thanks, it's nice to have someone agree with me for a change! ;)

Not to mention, Shadowplay is always recording (if you want it to) and I have used it many times after something cool happens that I want to keep a record of and I can hit the hotkey combo to save it to video.
Click to expand...
This is pretty much the only feature I miss after going red. Would love to see an AMD version if the hardware is capable.
 
A 290 will trade blows with the 780 at stock. An overclocked 780 will spank the 290. The 780 has way more overclocking headroom.
 
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