290x CF or 780TI SLI for 4K Gaming

[_SomeOne_]

So I'm starting to build a list of parts for my new machine which will be used for 4K gaming.

The two things I'm stuck on are AMD or Nvidia and water cooled or air cooled.

Right now I'm heading towards 2 290x's for the extra gig and for the price.. although my brother has told me about the extra heat and noise(don't care about the noise really) the 290x's produce compared to the 780ti's

I have checked these benchmarks out: [Crossfire vs SLI] 780Ti/780/290X/290 x Dual/Triple/Quad | TechPowerUp Forums
Looking at that I'm still heading towards the 290x's because its only a few frames different, its cheaper and that 1gig of vram should help with 4k right? textures and stuff. Its around £320 cheaper to buy two 290x's then two 780ti's

I don't really want to go down the water cooled route because I'm lazy. If I did get the 290x's I would be going with:
Sapphire AMD Radeon R9 290X Tri-X OC
Phanteks Enthoo Pro case
with a few of these in it SP120-PWM High Performace Edition.. or is there anything better?
Noctua NH-D15 CPU cooler

So my questions are:
Will air cooled be enough for 2 290x's
290x's better for 4k gaming then 780ti's?
Are the 780ti's really worth £320 more?


I appreciate any help whatsoever.

Thank you!


ps: I haven't decided what 780ti cards I would want yet.

 

[steve10765]

I would personally go for the AMD cards, the 1GB more VRAM will be extremely more valuable to 4K gaming than the 3gb Nvidia , and performance in general is really good too.
can you send us a link to what case you have?

 

[Drogos]

Why don't u wait for the 780ti 6GB

 

[Oreo]

I have 780Ti SLI and can tell you they are not adequate for 4K gaming. As others have mentioned, there is not enough VRAM for all games. Most games would probably be okay, but newer games like Watch Dogs need more.

Two of them are fast enough.. easily. I get insane frame rates playing at 2560x1080. But they run out of VRAM far before they are strained in terms of performance.

 

[steve10765]

Actually you should buy this card from the USA and have it shipped to England, it will only cost you £299 so you save even more, I would buy it soon this card must be on super sale or something because its so cheap right now. It also has a lifetime warranty which is pretty awesome.

I wouldn't worry too much about temperatures, the fan will get loud, but that isn't a big deal. Here is a review of the graphics card I linked
You could also add some fans to your case, which would help cool off your cards and reduce the noise.

 

[PP Mguire]

There is no setup right now that is adequate for 4k gaming over 30fps. Not even the 6GB Titan Black cards in SLI can really properly handle 4k. If you invested in a big budget GPU setup now for 4k gaming you'd kind of be wasting money unless you've got the cash to fund a next gen GPU solution.

As for water vs air, well that all depends on if you have the patience and funds to go custom water for the GPUs. Otherwise, I suggest a Corsair AIO like the H100i for the CPU. Take note that the AMD 290 and 290x are designed to be run at 95c. If you buy an aftermarket cooled card and are running lower than that you're doing good and there's nothing to worry about.

 

[Oreo]

There is no setup right now that is adequate for 4k gaming over 30fps. Not even the 6GB Titan Black cards in SLI can really properly handle 4k. If you invested in a big budget GPU setup now for 4k gaming you'd kind of be wasting money unless you've got the cash to fund a next gen GPU solution.

As for water vs air, well that all depends on if you have the patience and funds to go custom water for the GPUs. Otherwise, I suggest a Corsair AIO like the H100i for the CPU. Take note that the AMD 290 and 290x are designed to be run at 95c. If you buy an aftermarket cooled card and are running lower than that you're doing good and there's nothing to worry about.

If you look at the 780Ti SLI benchmarks from Guru3d, they achieve over 30fps in most new games at 4K. 40fps in BF4, 37fps in Crysis 3 etc, Those are at ultra and high settings respectively. Those are playable framerates, not ideal but playable nevertheless. I guess if you knock the settings down to med/high you could get 60fps at 4K in most games.

But I do agree that unless you are desperate, it is going to be better to wait for the next generation of cards for 4K.

 

[PP Mguire]

Actually for FPS those aren't really playable. An RPG or whatever sure, but not FPS. Considering the people who buy into these things early are usually the same people that cry when they aren't getting 60fps or above. There are even people that complain when they don't get 120+ FPS. Not saying that's OP, but just in general.

 

[_SomeOne_]

I would personally go for the AMD cards, the 1GB more VRAM will be extremely more valuable to 4K gaming than the 3gb Nvidia , and performance in general is really good too.
can you send us a link to what case you have?

The current case i have now is the Cooler master HAF 932. Its an absolute dust magnet.

Why don't u wait for the 780ti 6GB

Would be out of my budget.

Actually you should buy this card from the USA and have it shipped to England, it will only cost you £299 so you save even more, I would buy it soon this card must be on super sale or something because its so cheap right now. It also has a lifetime warranty which is pretty awesome.

I wouldn't worry too much about temperatures, the fan will get loud, but that isn't a big deal. Here is a review of the graphics card I linked
You could also add some fans to your case, which would help cool off your cards and reduce the noise.

Thanks I'll definitely take a look at that!
What about import fees? Says £61 for me which brings it up to £367.. is it just pot luck if I get charged import fees?

There is no setup right now that is adequate for 4k gaming over 30fps. Not even the 6GB Titan Black cards in SLI can really properly handle 4k. If you invested in a big budget GPU setup now for 4k gaming you'd kind of be wasting money unless you've got the cash to fund a next gen GPU solution.

As for water vs air, well that all depends on if you have the patience and funds to go custom water for the GPUs. Otherwise, I suggest a Corsair AIO like the H100i for the CPU. Take note that the AMD 290 and 290x are designed to be run at 95c. If you buy an aftermarket cooled card and are running lower than that you're doing good and there's nothing to worry about.

Do you think next gen cards will be that much better? I did see somewhere that they aren't that much of a jump from current gen cards.
I wouldn't have the funds to buy the next gen cards.. Now you're making me doubt myself.
From this they get well over 30. I don't want to waste time and money on it if the next gen cards will be that much more superior.

 

[steve10765]

The current case i have now is the Cooler master HAF 932. Its an absolute dust magnet.

Thanks I'll definitely take a look at that!
What about import fees? Says £61 for me which brings it up to £367.. is it just pot luck if I get charged import fees?

You should get this fan(+red led to match case, +good airflow, low noise) or this one(+50% more airflow than the other, - slightly more noise)
Both of these fans are pretty quite, way quiter than the graphics card at idle, so its up to you which one you want, the red LED looks cool but the other performs a little better.

Also about the import fees thing, IDK how it works, but if you buy it home dont you get 20% VAT anyway which would make it cost a whole lot more?

Nice case, I have http://www.amazon.co.uk/BitFenix-23...sr=8-1&keywords=230mm+case+fan#productDetails I added a dust filter by going to a local hardware store, buying a really really thing heater filter for $1.49 and cut it out and in half and fit it under the front bezel of my case, and in a few other places.