For around $350, is the GTX970 or R9 290x my better option?

[Sulaco]

So I'm very close to a new build. All told, around $1500, and I'm looking in the $340-$380 range for a GPU. Obviously, this puts me dead center on the 970 or 290x, as price is pretty much equal.

The only problem is the 970 is somewhat hard to find at the moment, but I imagine that should be resolved soon (I hope?)

This is a gaming heavy build, hopefully to last several years at reasonable resolution.

Any thoughts and insights and recommendations are welcome.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Won't be much between them. The only weak spot of the 290x is tessellation, but future games might not use it heavily.

970 doesn't have real weak spots, but the 290x will have a lead on compute shader heavy games at very high resolution if the ryse tests are to be believed.

 

[davie jambo]

Gaming in 4K go for the R9 290x
1440p ?????
1080p go for the 970

 

[Keysplayr]

http://www.anandtech.com/show/8568/the-geforce-gtx-970-review-feat-evga/4

And these are with launch drivers for the 970. It does just peachy at 4K sometimes ahead of the 290X sometimes behind. And does even better at lower resolutions vs. 290X. For the same price, the obvious choice is the GTX970. If you can find the 290X with a game bundle (which isn't hard) then you might go for that.

 

[Rvenger]

A R9 290 for $250 or less is a good option too. The GTX 970 is an excellent option. I would personally go for the GTX 970 right now since AMD needs to sort their recent driver issues out. It also seems that their performance regressed a little as well on the newer driver releases.

 

[davie jambo]

A R9 290 for $250 or less is a good option too. The GTX 970 is an excellent option. I would personally go for the GTX 970 right now since AMD needs to sort their recent driver issues out. It also seems that their performance regressed a little as well on the newer driver releases.

What's this nonsense ?

Nothing wrong with the AMD drivers , it's Nvidia that have had been behind on that recently

 

[SlowSpyder]

I'd go with a cheaper option, the R9 290 and put the extra money towards games or a bigger SSD. But I guess that really isn't what you asked. Of the two you said, I'd probably pick the GTX970 since it and the R9 290X are pretty close in performance, but the GTX970 will use a good deal less power. I think power use is made into way too big of an issue, but when everything else is equal or close to equal (GPU's horsepower, vram, price, etc) why pass up the power savings? That is unless you want some specific features like Mantle.

 

[Rvenger]

What's this nonsense ?

Nothing wrong with the AMD drivers , it's Nvidia that have had been behind on that recently

It was something I personally observed when I had my R9 290. The newer drivers are not working properly. (14.9 and 14.9.1) Its all over the web. The last stable release was 14.4. The newer ones make the cards run hotter, enabled the wake from sleep bug, and Battlefield 4 performance is a slideshow (for me) after about 10 minutes.

Kepler has been having issues, yes, but Maxwell release drivers seem to be solid. Everyone's experience probably won't be the same but that was my experience and I appear to not be the only one.

I am not going to derail the thread with an AMD driver issue discussion, it was my take on the issue, if you disagree, so be it. I am not going to post any further on the issue.

 

[wand3r3r]

Basically in agreement with the others. I'd probably go 290 for 95% of the performance but 66% of the price.

http://anandtech.com/bench/product/1059?vs=1355

They are fairly close.

I would NOT get a reference 290x but I don't think that was a question.

1080p -> 970
4k -> 290x

If you go dual card I'd go 290x for the XDMA crossfire.

Now it's up to you to find a deal, factor in the games if you care, and purchase. I don't think you'll go wrong either way.

 

[96Firebird]

The 970 sounds like a great choice for your build... If you look hard enough, you can find one in stock every now and then.

 

[davie jambo]

It was something I personally observed when I had my R9 290. The newer drivers are not working properly. (14.9 and 14.9.1) Its all over the web. The last stable release was 14.4. The newer ones make the cards run hotter, enabled the wake from sleep bug, and Battlefield 4 performance is a slideshow (for me) after about 10 minutes.

Kepler has been having issues, yes, but Maxwell release drivers seem to be solid. Everyone's experience probably won't be the same but that was my experience and I appear to not be the only one.

I am not going to derail the thread with an AMD driver issue discussion, it was my take on the issue, if you disagree, so be it. I am not going to post any further on the issue.

I disagree strongly

I've been using 14.9.1 since they come out - perfectly fine as they always are

 

[ShintaiDK]

GTX970 also got better future DX support if you wish to keep it for several years. Not to mention more features.

 

[Creig]

The 290 is probably the best choice for the money right now. And depending on what games you intend to play, Mantle could also be of benefit to you.

 

[netxzero64]

970 all the way.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

GTX 780's are selling off at, or under, $300.- Might want to take a look

 

[Kenmitch]

Best to get the card the inner geek in you craves. Eliminates buyers remorse later.

 

[guskline]

At the $350 price point, the nod goes to the GTX970 but it' close. As Rvenger, points out for @$250 a R9-290 is a viable option.

I have 2 Sapphire Tri-X OC r9-290s in CF (and watercooled with EK blocks) in my rig below and they perform well. Had a bit of trouble installing the 14.9 drivers but have since cleaned that up. The general knock on the 290/290X is power usage and heat vs the GTX 970. In fairness the 970 is a newer gpu, based upon the Maxwell chip.

If I was going with a single gpu right now with a $350 budget the GTX970 would slightly nudge out the r9 290.

If I want to put that $100 toward a ssd, the R9 290 is not a bad choice.

 

[jfp555]

There is a 290X with a custom cooler going for $300 on newegg, has good reviews too.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150696

Has good reviews and a good cooler. Also, the AMD's are doing quite well in Civ:Beyond Earth, only being beaten by the 980.

 

[Enigmoid]

With current pricing I'd get a 290 over anything. If I still wanted more performance or Nvidia's features then the 970 over the 290X unless the 290X is more than $40 cheaper.

 

[Mezzanine]

Get the 970 and skip AMD's terribad drivers.

 

[x3sphere]

GTX 970 is the better buy at that price point. It's a no-brainer really. In most cases performance is on par but the 970 will run quieter, less heat, and you are buying into a newer generation architecture. If you really want the 290X I'd buy used, many are going on eBay for around $100-150 less than MSRP.

 

[3DVagabond]

How about if the 290X is $300AR with 3 free games?

 

[KaRLiToS]

OP, get the newest card and chose a GTX 970 (efficiency, price/performance and drivers are great for a recent card (still 28nm but still). Or get a a R9 290x if you can find it really cheap.

Both cards are good, actually, they are both VERY good.

A R9 290 for $250 or less is a good option too. The GTX 970 is an excellent option. I would personally go for the GTX 970 right now since AMD needs to sort their recent driver issues out. It also seems that their performance regressed a little as well on the newer driver releases.

What issues are you talking about?

I think you need to provide more info to the OP. I'm also interested about the issues you are talking about. If you are referring to 14.9 installation issues, the issues has been addressed a week after the release and everything got fixed in 14.9.1 beta.

Also 14.9.2 will be releasing soon.

I agree the GTX 970 is a very good card and I would probably consider it beside the R9 290, but saying AMD has driver issues is very very WRONG.

I'm running triple monitors of 1440p with Quad GPUs (R9 290x), I think I have a very complicated system and I have actually NO , I repeat, NO issue at all with 14.9.1.

People are comparing AMD R9 290x DirectX drivers with GTX 980 directX drivers. They are comparing them like if the R9 290x was equal in performance as the GTX 980. People forget that the R9 290x was release exactly a year ago. Sorry but I don't compare Apple to Pineapple. Even if they both have the word "apple" in them just like "DirectX" in AMD R9 290 DirectX and Nvidia GTX 980 DirectX. (But they both have directx in their name )

Thank you.

Get the 970 and skip AMD's terribad drivers.

Dammit (Facepalm)

GTX970 also got better future DX support if you wish to keep it for several years. Not to mention more features.

LOLLLL

I wish I was able to see in the future too. Wow.

Please explain what is more FEATURES, to the OP? He needs to know.

 

[notty22]

Best to get the card the inner geek in you craves. Eliminates buyers remorse later.

Good advice.
Posters have to give (a rest) the emotional/sensitivity reactions to others opinions. Opinions, everyone's got one. Cards are close on most metrics.

 

[digitaldurandal]

How about if the 290X is $300AR with 3 free games?

Tiger Direct has the same card for cheaper after the 27 off 270 coupon. I think it expires tomorrow. The coupon can be found on slickdeals if interested.