Tri 480 GTX to AMD 7990

[thegamer36]

I am looking for advice. I game on a 30" monitor 2560x1600. I am currently running 3x480 GTX video cards with water cooling. With the prices of the Radeon HD 7990 coming down to $550 or so, is the upgrade worth it? Just a FYI, I would also water cool the 7990.

Thanks.

 

[OCGuy]

If you want AMD, I would go with the single-GPU 290X that is about to be launched.

Not only do you not have to worry about Xfire driver issues with the 7990, but you get 4GB of VRAM.

Just what I would do personally, after owning multi-GPU configs from AMD and NV.

 

[Rezist]

I'd say 290x or just save your money and get a 7950 for 230ish and OC it, the 7990 is actually an ok deal but new games won't probably launch with xfire profiles and different games have different levels of stutter seems like a pain really.

 

[Stuka87]

If you want AMD, I would go with the single-GPU 290X that is about to be launched.

Not only do you not have to worry about Xfire driver issues with the 7990, but you get 4GB of VRAM.

Just what I would do personally, after owning multi-GPU configs from AMD and NV.

Having a 7990 should not have any issues he was not already seeing with the 480's. 480's don't have any frame pacing tech that kepler has. The 7990 should be an improvement in playability over the 480's.

Although I agree that a 290X would be a better card to have.

 

[runzwithsizorz]

If you want AMD, I would go with the single-GPU 290X that is about to be launched.

Or wait awhile after the launch and see how prices are affected. I know I will wait until after the holidays to upgrade my gpu.

 

[blackened23]

I'd say 290x or just save your money and get a 7950 for 230ish and OC it, the 7990 is actually an ok deal but new games won't probably launch with xfire profiles and different games have different levels of stutter seems like a pain really.

So you're suggesting he go from tri 480s to a single 7950? Come on. Read his original post.

I would echo the thoughts of some others here and go for a halo single GPU, or re-evaluate the CF/SLI situation after the 290X launch to see what it brings. Wait and see if price cuts happen and what not, it is possible that NV may cut prices somewhat after the 290X release.

 

[Grooveriding]

I went from tri 480s to dual 680s and it was not much of an upgrade. Dual 680s were actually slower in some older games, but faster in newer titles. Because you game at a high resolution I would avoid 680, 770 from nvidia and 7870, 270X from AMD along with every card below those levels.

So if you want to really feel like you've upgraded I would go bigger than just a 7990, which is probably around where dual 680s are.

I would want to get rid of those horrible 480s no matter what though. A real upgrade would consist of a few options and you'd have to wait a week till the new AMD cards come out to get a good comparison. I would say you almost have to go multi-GPU to really feel it. 780 SLI, R9 290 Crossfire, R9 290X Crossfire would be what I would look at. All of which are more expensive than a 7990. To stay in your budget, 280X Crossfire is probably the best and only option. I would prefer that to a single 7990.

Balancing price and performance and raising the budget, R9 290 Crossfire would probably be the ideal choice.

 

[Stuka87]

Yeah, an R9 290 CF would cost what a Titan does, but should vastly out perform it (Assuming the rumored $500 price is correct). 290X would be a big upgrade for you.

But whatever you go with, your machine should run a lot cooler, and use quite a bit less power than three 480's.

 

[OCGuy]

I went from tri 480s to dual 680s and it was not much of an upgrade. Dual 680s were actually slower in some older games, but faster in newer titles. Because you game at a high resolution I would avoid 680, 770 from nvidia and 7870, 270X from AMD along with every card below those levels.

So if you want to really feel like you've upgraded I would go bigger than just a 7990, which is probably around where dual 680s are.

I would want to get rid of those horrible 480s no matter what though. A real upgrade would consist of a few options and you'd have to wait a week till the new AMD cards come out to get a good comparison. I would say you almost have to go multi-GPU to really feel it. 780 SLI, R9 290 Crossfire, R9 290X Crossfire would be what I would look at. All of which are more expensive than a 7990. To stay in your budget, 280X Crossfire is probably the best and only option. I would prefer that to a single 7990.

Balancing price and performance and raising the budget, R9 290 Crossfire would probably be the ideal choice.

But winter is coming up, do you want him to freeze to death?????


I think the 290x is your only option OP (if the price of Titan doesn't drop dramatically). Take a look at the VRAM usage numbers on BF4, especially at higher resolutions like yours.

Between the increased memory and not having Xfire/SLI, I think you will notice a difference in newer games, absolutely.

Also, it leaves you a clear upgrade path next year when the new cards come out....drop in another 290X and you are good for quite some time. If you end up not liking 290x Xfire, you can sell one of the GPUs. Kind of hard to split up a 7990

 

[thegamer36]

But winter is coming up, do you want him to freeze to death?????

It does keep me nice and warm!!!

 

[djnsmith7]

I would hold onto the 480's for another 3 - 4 weeks to see what happens to all of the pricing. There will probably be a bunch of price gouging on the new cards, & we could see some nice drops on current cards (might even see the 7990 drop below $500). Depends on how many are on the shelves. A 7990 for $449 AR would be a hell of a deal.

Keeping in mind that a few folks around here have complained about coil whine on the 7990, tracking 7970 price drops would also be a good idea. Could see prices in the $225 AR range, which, IMO, would be a better deal.

 

[Vesku]

If you are fine with multi-gpu, dual 7950s are a good deal right now.

 

[Red Hawk]

I would wait and buy a 290X; gives you the option of slotting in another 290X for Crossfire in the future.

 

[SolMiester]

I cant see the price of AMD flagship card (7990) dropping below the new 290x....but as other have said, now is not the time to buy.

 

[el etro]

Two 7950Boost can bring something close to the performance of tri-SLI 480. 7990 sould outperform this 3wSli in every game.
My thought is the 7990 will not satisfact you. You should grab two 780HOF clocked above 1200Mhz each to achieve a great performance gain.

 

[PontiacGTX]

Power supply?cpu?

 

[OCGuy]

Power supply?cpu?

He has at least a 1200W for those 3 480s and I am assuming a highly clocked Intel Quad-Core.

I have been wrong before, and I will be wrong again....OP can you tell me if this is one of the times?

 

[blackened23]

If you are fine with multi-gpu, dual 7950s are a good deal right now.

Say what? He has tri 480s. Why on EARTH would go from tri 480s to dual 7950s?

OP, just wait to see what 290X brings, then make a decision from there. NV may have price drops in the wings depending on how 290X is priced. So you can decide on whether you want the 290 or 290X. NV is also rumored to be working on a 770ti SKU.

In any case, re-evaluating this question in a week or two seems to be the best bet.

 

[thegamer36]

Power supply?cpu?

1350 watt power supply with a Core I7 930 quad core overclocked to 4.4GHZ.

 

[Vesku]

Say what? He has tri 480s. Why on EARTH would go from tri 480s to dual 7950s?

OP, just wait to see what 290X brings, then make a decision from there. NV may have price drops in the wings depending on how 290X is priced. So you can decide on whether you want the 290 or 290X. NV is also rumored to be working on a 770ti SKU.

In any case, re-evaluating this question in a week or two seems to be the best bet.

Well he was considering a 7990...

 

[Headfoot]

2x R9 290x or 780 SLI

 

[el etro]

1350 watt power supply with a Core I7 930 quad core overclocked to 4.4GHZ.

Try to found an used i7 970 to overclock, or pick an i7 4770k to go 4,6Ghz+. But your i7 can keep up with your config.

 

[RFC Rudel]

I have 2 evga gtx 480 oc, before 2 4870x2.

want to upgrade, power or sli/crossfire issues are none problems to me. (1600W psu, 220V at the wall)

I also think of a 7990, or 2 770, a single card leave room to add second so I prefer single card ( dual gpu or not).

prices in argentina are crazy and avaliavility sucks. If I buy I want to fell it like my wallet will do.....

lets wait to see 290x prices after release panic.

 

[Jacky60]

I can't see how a single 290x is going to be much quicker than tri-480 sli. You'll need two cards and as Groove says 2x290 is probably going to be the sweet spot with the benefit of 4gb RAM per card. Just wait a couple of weeks and see what the 290/x bring but a 7990 while being good value is towards the end of its life cycle (not to say it's not still blazingly fast) but if you're going to keep the next cards as long as the 480's then 4gb video ram would be a wiser choice.

 

[RussianSensation]

Someone needs to do HD7990 oc CF vs. GTX780 oc SLI vs. R9 290/X oc CF.

I would sell those 480s and consider 2 of the R9 290s. I think those are going to be a sweet spot if they overclock well and are $499 or so. R9 290 retains the same 512-bit bus / 4GB of VRAM of the flagship. It shouldn't be much slower once both are overclocked.