Graphics Cards Help

[banter]

Allo all, I am in need of opinions, facts, and pointers on two very volatile gpu's.
But first a little backstory.

I am now currently in the process of selecting the parts to build a rather beefy gaming computer. My budget is going to be rather high, as I have allocated roughly 1600$ ((but will go as low as 1500$ and as high as 2000$ *wallet sweating intensifies* )). I already have the CPU and motherboard to match in mind, and not to mention a 32GB ram setup, but have come to a dead and complete stop in selecting the graphic card. I know that I am going to need a hunk of change no matter what card I choose, and with that, I am aiming for either a Radeon R9 290, or the GeForce GTX 980. These two have been known to duke each other out on any platform, and on any game. I am torn between the two for several reason, like the price tag, interface, etc. I need your help here, forums...

Which card and why?

I have read everywhere and looked far and wide for a feasible answer, but to no avail.

If it is worth mentioning, the processor in mind would be an Intel i7 Quad Core.
But I am at the end of rope ((and patience, for heck's sake)). Give me some ups, downs, and all-arounds about each card, please.

And with that, many thanks far in advance~!

~Saff

 

[cb600fshornet]

If you can hold off buying for a few days you'll see a real benefit, the 3** series of ATI/AMD graphics cards are being released soon, so in theory we should see the prices of both Nvidia and the 2** series cards drop, (or the 3** series may be well priced!)

I think Nvidia drivers tend to be better, AMD/ATI optimise theirs eventually, but it seems to take longer. Ultimately, both brands would serve you well, the current Nvidia cards seem to be less power-hungry than their ATI/AMD counterparts, soa if I were buying a card now, I'd probably go for the 980 a few days after the AMD/ATI 3** series is released.

There are fans of both brands though, Nvidia are more popular at the moment (Is NVIDIA Becoming the Intel of Graphics Cards? (AMD, NVDA)), but if the new lineup of AMD cards are well priced then it could become a game changer for them!

 

[PP Mguire]

Well need to ask a few questions. First, what do you plan to do with this PC? Which i7 are you getting?

If this is a gaming box you can drop the 32GB of RAM to 16 effectively giving you way more money to play with. That extra cash will allow you to get a 980ti.

To more effectively answer your current question, the 980 is actually better than a 290x, and a lot better than a 290. It's a no brainer. The 980 consumes way less power and puts out very little heat.

 

[luke127]

^ This. The 980 will SMASH a 290X, and therefore it'll just blow a 290 clear out of the park. As for the 980 Ti, I wonder how it goes against the R9 295X2... The 980 beat the X2 in single GPU applications, but the X2 beat the 980 in multi-gpu options (since it's 2 GPUs on the same card)

 

[cb600fshornet]

It's hard to justify getting a Titan, but a 980Ti or 980 might be a more wallet friendly solution

 

[PP Mguire]

There is no justifying getting a Titan.

 

[cb600fshornet]

Yep

 

[luke127]

There is no justifying getting a Titan.

Wellll, video encoding? Linus has a rig in his office with 3 of the suckers xD or is it 4? God knows XD

 

[PP Mguire]

Titan X doesn't have the double precision performance like the Titan Black or Titan. Linus put 2 on his 36 core server just because he could.

 

[cb600fshornet]

Wellll, video encoding? Linus has a rig in his office with 3 of the suckers xD or is it 4? God knows XD

I didn't think the Titan X would be the optimum card for that sort of work, I'd have actually skipped back a generation for that!

I guess if you have a huge amount of money, the Titan X is worth it to prove you can afford it... until the next flagship comes out, then you have an inferior card which you paid a lot of money for