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Should I upgrade?

U

USMCGrunt

2[H]4U
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
3,103
Curious what the performance difference I would see going from my x2 reference 290Xs to a single 980 Ti? I've started a few games lately that have been somewhat demanding and while my framerates haven't been an issue, the temperature of the room and loudness of the 290Xs is becoming a bit excessive. I also plan on grabbing an Oculus Rift when that launches in the coming months and I under the impression that CFX/SLI setups are not gonna be favorable due to the latency introduced by AFR.

I don't keep up too much with the video card scene anymore, I read [H] reviews when flagship cards come out to get an understanding of the new tech. they typically come with but I'm otherwise out of the loop. I'm still gaming at 1080p and don't intend to go to 4k for quite some time with the only resolution bump coming with the use of an Oculus Rift that's somewhere around 2k I think.
 
Or you could water cool them. A 980TI or really just one of those 290x would be more than enough. My XFX 290 DD is really quiet though. Reference fans are noisy and hot.
 
I would say it is time for an upgrade unless you water cool them like spaceman said. I had tried 2 x DD XFX R9 390's and they were hot and noisy as well when cross fired. I have a EVGA 980Ti FTW and it does quite well at 4k well not getting noisy or excessively hot.
 
How old are the R290s? Have not been following AMD too closely since they went to the R** name. But if it is 1+ years old then I would rather not buy expensive mods for it (water cooling). May as well put the money into a new 980ti or wait for AMD's next thing.
 
They were bought back when the 290X first came out...so it's been awhile. Unfortunately, AMD's naming convention is a mess as well. From my understanding the 380/390 are less powerful than the 290X. I'm not really interested in going the watercooling route simply because I don't want to deal with it. I watercooled my rig once before and it was great for awhile but having to do maintenance is annoying.
 
The MSI 980 Ti Sea Hawk actually caught my attention earlier for it having a closed loop system preinstalled. I just finished reading [H]'s review of the same card and they had nothing but good things to say about it, so if I do upgrade...which when I have an itch I end up doing it, that's probably the card I'll get. Any ideas on when AMD/Nvidia are going to release their next round of video cards?
 
USMCGrunt said:
They were bought back when the 290X first came out...so it's been awhile. Unfortunately, AMD's naming convention is a mess as well. From my understanding the 380/390 are less powerful than the 290X. I'm not really interested in going the watercooling route simply because I don't want to deal with it. I watercooled my rig once before and it was great for awhile but having to do maintenance is annoying.
Click to expand...

380 is slower than the 290x but the 390 is faster than the 290x. The naming convention is actual pretty straight forward just like the last time around. However, you will not escape the heat and noise by going with the 390's.

USMCGrunt said:
The MSI 980 Ti Sea Hawk actually caught my attention earlier for it having a closed loop system preinstalled. I just finished reading [H]'s review of the same card and they had nothing but good things to say about it, so if I do upgrade...which when I have an itch I end up doing it, that's probably the card I'll get. Any ideas on when AMD/Nvidia are going to release their next round of video cards?
Click to expand...

Nobody outside of the respective companies has a clue, unfortunately. Sometime next year is everyone guess though. Just make sure the card you purchase will fit in your case. I have a Define R3 which I was surprised to find out limited me to what I could get. (Went with an EVGA 980 Ti FTW since it was fast, quiet and short.)
 
ManofGod said:
380 is slower than the 290x but the 390 is faster than the 290x. The naming convention is actual pretty straight forward just like the last time around. However, you will not escape the heat and noise by going with the 390's.
Click to expand...

The 390 is worse than the 290X.
The 390 might perform a tiny bit faster as it is clocked higher, but the 290X has more shaders and overclocks just as well, so it is a much better choice.
 
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