290X or GTX970

[D.Kepler]

MSI 290X Lighting just dropped to $300 on Newegg
GTX970 is about $40 more

I am living in college dorm so I don't really worry about electrical bill
I am running dual monitors 1080p
I use benchtable
What is the better choice for me?
Thank you.

 

[Silverforce11]

That R290X Lightning model being cheaper than 970 is ridiculously good.

 

[MeldarthX]

That R290X Lightning model being cheaper than 970 is ridiculously good.

Dude Lightning of course

 

[Essence_of_War]

Unless you need some Nvidia feature like Shadowplay, I'd go with the Lightning 290X for $300. That is a sick deal.

 

[Kenmitch]

Having 970 SLI I think I'm obligated to pimp NVIDIA's goods now

Just kidding.

Get the Lightning as it's the better deal and a great card!

 

[ShintaiDK]

DX11.3, full DX12 etc. Less noise, less heat in room. I would pick the GTX 970.

 

[DarkKnightDude]

Man that's a tough choice. I love MSI Lightning cards and the GTX970 is good, though rather depends on what vendor you are picking.

I'd lean in favor of the Lightning I guess unless you want something like Shadowplay or PhysX.

 

[funboy6942]

I was just on the same boat as you, which one to get. I went with the GTX970 for $26 more from Superbiiz shipped. Direct x 11.3, 12, and when you kick all the candy up full on they are exactly the same frame rates, but if you need that extra push in some and kick some of the eye candy off the gtx starts to pull away, something the AMD cant do. So for me it was a win win, got better direct x support for future games, less heat, less power, the card I bought is WAAAAAAAAY smaller, and I mean WAAAAAAAAAY smaller, http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=ZT-970G4D5, so it will fit in ANY case no matter what, and if I need more frames I can kick back the eye candy a bit and go faster then the amd would be able to....IMO of course, but why I decided to go with the GTX 970....

 

[Despoiler]

OP what resolution do you play at?

Unless you need some Nvidia feature like Shadowplay, I'd go with the Lightning 290X for $300. That is a sick deal.

AMD has had a competing solution for at least 6 months now.

http://www.amd.com/en-us/markets/game/downloads/raptr

 

[Udgnim]

GTX 970 is the faster card

R9 290X has better long term consistency due to GTX 970 having only 3.5GB of viable VRAM and my opinion is that the 3.5GB issue will become more apparent at 1080 as more VRAM hungry games get released

there's already plenty that use 3GB+ with max textures and high AA at 1080

if you play a lot of GameWorks games though, I'd still go for the GTX 970

 

[Attic]

For speed, the 290x Lightining will be faster.


The 290x lightining is a ridiculously good card. So is the 970, but the memory shenanigans on the 970 (3.5gb card) would cause me to go 980 or 290/290x and shelf any ideas about picking up a GTX 970 for >$300.


I like the lower power of the 970 and I like HDMI 2.0. It sounds like you don't need either of these and the 290x lightining is faster with true 4gb of VRAM. Can't go to wrong either choice, but i'd go 290x lightning. It being cheaper is icing.

 

[Grooveriding]

290X Lightning is faster and it has 4GB of full speed VRAM. 970 is going to be a little slower than the lightning and 500MB of its VRAM are crippled and run at a very slow speed.

 

[n0x1ous]

Lightning for sure - that is a smoking deal

 

[wand3r3r]

I think it's basically a clear winner, the 290x lightning is top of the line vs. some random budget 970 (unless you raise the price even more), add the 970 memory fiasco which we still don't know all of the ramifications beyond the having only 3.5GB of normal memory (potential stuttering). You have to pay more to get less with the 970. The latest benches show 1080p being close but higher resolution swings over to the 290x, if you ever go eyefinity (noting that you have 2 monitors already).

The only way I'd buy a 970 now is if it were cheaper than a 290x, which is an excellent card in the aftermarket form.

 

[el etro]

Get the lightning if you don't care about power. The lightning solution is quiet as nothing.

 

[guskline]

D. Kepler, what is "benchtable"?

 

[SlowSpyder]

The Lightning, no brainer, it is faster out of the box, has more high speed vram and is cheaper.

GTX970 pros, Uses less power.

Other than that, I think both will probably overclock some, but will be pretty close typically average overclock to average overclock (maybe a slight advantage for the GTX970, not likely enough to matter).

 

[notty22]

D. Kepler, what is "benchtable"?

Something like this, it's what I have anyways.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php...765955c5d325&gclid=CO-Q5ZjQw8MCFSZp7AodZjQA2g

 

[RussianSensation]

I would pick the Lightning, unless most of the games you play are Blizzard or GameWorks.

 

[SPBHM]

in some specific conditions the 290x can go as far as matching the 980, but overall the 970 and 290x are pretty close, the 970 is clearly faster for some gameworks titles, and can use a lot less power (like close to 100W in some cases), you are not paying for it, but someone is and there is the bonus of a little bit less heat in your room/case...

I would personally chose the 970 because of the power advantage, and potential for better DX12 support, and the Nvidia advantages (like gameworks), but the 290x looks like a better deal in terms of price/FPS, it's just that it's not a very big advantage in this case I think.

 

[garagisti]

DX11.3, full DX12 etc. Less noise, less heat in room. I would pick the GTX 970.

AFAIK, even nvidia doesn't claim it's cards to be fully compliant with dx12, but rather certain specific feature sets, just as they supported 10, 11. Do share if there's anything that confirms this is different going forward.

 

[lavaheadache]

Something like this, it's what I have anyways.

http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?...FSZp7AodZjQA2g

I have one of those too. Great bench. Get the optional pieces too.

 

[Magic Carpet]

By the time DX12 becomes relevant, there might be better GPUs suited for that API, imo.

 

[Eric1987]

I would pick the Lightning, unless most of the games you play are Blizzard or GameWorks.

Why even mention blizzard games? I max out wow with only using 1 290x at 4k everything maxed. Never lag.

 

[Leyawiin]

42 dBA vs 30 dBA at load. Pretty huge difference in noise.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_970_Gaming/26.html
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_290X_Lightning/23.html

For 1080p and 1440p I'd get the GTX 970. For resolutions above that I'd get the R9 290X, but I'm not sure about that particular cooler. Its too noisy for me and my PC case with its mesh side panels. YMMV.