Upgrade from a R290.....

[Achilleslastand]

Thinking of upgrading the R290, trouble is im not sure what to get as I want to stay away from AMD,
Is a 980 my only choice?

 

[Shmee]

980 Ti on the Nvidia side pretty much.

 

[RussianSensation]

Option #1: EVGA B-stock 980s for 1080P

~ $359-379
http://www.evga.com/Products/ProductList.aspx?type=8&family=GeForce+900+Series+Family

Option #2: After-market GTX980Ti for 1440P and above
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2454100

 

[Udgnim]

only an OCed 980 Ti is worth it imo if you really need a GPU upgrade now

 

[tg2708]

Or just wait till next year as I'm sure buyers remorse will kick in. 980ti is a good choice but I'm sure pascal will offer improved features and performance at a lower cost and even more performance for the successor to said card.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

980Ti or don't upgrade.

 

[Mondozei]

980Ti or don't upgrade.

/thread

 

[guskline]

From my sig below, you can see I own BOTH a GTX980TI (EVGA GTX980TI SC) and 2 Sapphire Tri-X R9 290s. If you want to stay away from AMD, the GTX980TI seems to be the only "upgrade".

 

[Techhog]

Why do you want to stay away from AMD?

 

[happy medium]

A B stock gtx980 with overclock for 350$ is a good upgrade.
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-1980-RX

The overclock should net you about 18% more performance with games.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8526/nvidia-geforce-gtx-980-review/22

That's a 37%+ upgrade.

 

[RussianSensation]

That's a 37%+ upgrade.

More recent graph.

18% faster

 

[tential]

980Ti or don't upgrade.

I'm in the same position as you op. The 980ti is at 550 after rebates.

980ti is the only card worth upgrading to.

 

[MrTeal]

Do you currently have a reference 290, or is it an aftermarket model?
What's your reason for wanting the upgrade? If it's just more FPS, going to a 980 likely isn't going to give you a worthwhile increase, especially if you have an aftermarket cooler and can overclock it.
If it's that you want to get rid of a loud reference blower and get a little more performance, or just really hate CCC, the B-stock 980 might be an option. Going rate on a 290 seems to be around $175, so it will cost you ~180-220 (depending on shipping, taxes and whatnot) to get a 20% performance increase. Unless you really hate running that 290 you'd be better off just buying another 290 and running them in xfire until Pascal arrives.

Going with a 980 Ti would set you back 425-475 out of pocket, but you'd probably see a 60-80% performance increase or so depending on overclocking, which would be much more noticeable.