Nvidia 770 vs AMD R9 290 @ 5760x1080

Inferno · Jul 14, 2014

I currently have a Radeon HD7870 and while it "does the job", it struggles a little with a 3 monitor setup getting around 30fps. So I'm considering an upgrade at the moment. The 2 cards that I'm looking at are Nvidia 770 and AMD R9 290.

So I am wondering how these 2 video cards compare running specifically at 5760x1080. If anyone has any feedback about performance and what sort of FPS they are getting at this resolution I would really appreciate it.

Mobius · Jul 14, 2014

Nvidia all the way, the reason I go Nvidia is because they get it right with their drivers, almost every time you see an update for a game its bound to have a radion fix in it somewhere, I don't think I've ever seen a game release a patch that needed a Nvidia fix.

Calebe · Jul 14, 2014

I would also go Nvidia. Their drivers are stable, and I think that says it all. The question to ask buy one now or wait for the new Maxwell cards to come out which I am doing. For me I can justify the wait my GTX580 runs the game fine.
If you can't run it smooth then no reason to wait for the new cards. If it is good enough I would wait and buy the new card or buy the current cards at a discount.

Calebe

Ghost1 · Jul 14, 2014

Mobius said:
Nvidia all the way, the reason I go Nvidia is because they get it right with their drivers, almost every time you see an update for a game its bound to have a radion fix in it somewhere, I don't think I've ever seen a game release a patch that needed a Nvidia fix.

how could justify that when the R9 290 is way better then the 770 and mantle support as well.

Inferno · Jul 14, 2014

Generally Ive found Nvidia more reliable/user friendly, but AMD more bang for your buck. So anyone that has one of these cards want to share some 5760x1080 data?

Aleksej · Jul 14, 2014

Ghost1 said:
how could justify that when the R9 290 is way better then the 770 and mantle support as well.

Mantle support in ED is not confirmed yet. Also there will be already next gen video cards when mantle is fully released and if it is released as scheduled (both expected in Q1-Q2 2015).

Sure R9 290 is better and more expensive as well.

VR jefranklin18 · Jul 14, 2014

I tend to use this site for comparisons:
http://www.hwcompare.com/16197/geforce-gtx-770-vs-radeon-r9-290/

Alphasite · Jul 14, 2014

Inferno said:
Generally Ive found Nvidia more reliable/user friendly, but AMD more bang for your buck. So anyone that has one of these cards want to share some 5760x1080 data?

I do have a 290, but I dont have a screen at that res to test it with unfortunately.

That said, the 290 has one very important performance characteristic that gives it a massive edge over these nvidia cards; (iirc) AMD cards in general scale much better with very high resolution displays, 4k especially; something this card can handle, but the 770 most likely cannot.

And if you know where to look, the cards is absurdly cheap atm, i got my 290 for £120 + £8 S&H, and am contemplating a £50 aftermarket water cooler and mounting bracket.

burzum · Jul 14, 2014

Ghost1 said:
how could justify that when the R9 290 is way better then the 770 and mantle support as well.

Not true:

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/high_end_gpus.html
Radeon R9 290 | 6,381 | $359.99
GeForce GTX 770 | 6,190 | $304.99

It's a little faster but according to this site a little more expensive right now.

And I personally would go for Nvidia, because as others already mentioned, I never had an ATI card working without driver problems.

Also I would wait until September and October when the 880 comes out.

Srefanius · Jul 14, 2014

The GTX 770 should not be compared to a 290. The 290 is the competitor for the 780. The 280X is the card that should be at the level of a 770 (280X vs 770 is basically the same as 7970 vs 680, because they have the same chip architecture).

But I doubt either of them could handle a 3 screens setup at 1080p at high quality (don't know for sure though).

Lorenzo · Jul 14, 2014

I would recommend nvidia cards just for the drivers, the last two months nvidia made a huge improvement on drivers when it come to cpu overhead and since the 337 drivers they are improving even further.
And next year dx12 will work same as mantle, and don't forget g sync that technology alone is enough to get nvidia cards.

NoirWolf · Jul 14, 2014

Lorenzo said:
I would recommend nvidia cards just for the drivers, the last two months nvidia made a huge improvement on drivers when it come to cpu overhead and since the 337 drivers they are improving even further.
And next year dx12 will work same as mantle, and don't forget g sync that technology alone is enough to get nvidia cards.

Wasn't DX 12 like windows 8+ specific?

Doomdark · Jul 14, 2014

Ghost1 said:
how could justify that when the R9 290 is way better then the 770 and mantle support as well.

AMD are totally inferior in every department everything they make is already overclocked to hell just to keep pace with similar nvidia chips, not to mention a slight fan rpm drop will result in the amd card looking like an active volcano.

NoirWolf · Jul 14, 2014

Doomdark said:
AMD are totally inferior in every department everything they make is already overclocked to hell just to keep pace with similar nvidia chips, not to mention a slight fan rpm drop will result in the amd card looking like an active volcano.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gaming-graphics-card-review,3107-2.html

Gedemon · Jul 14, 2014

Inferno said:
I currently have a Radeon HD7870 and while it "does the job", it struggles a little with a 3 monitor setup getting around 30fps. So I'm considering an upgrade at the moment. The 2 cards that I'm looking at are Nvidia 770 and AMD R9 290.

So I am wondering how these 2 video cards compare running specifically at 5760x1080. If anyone has any feedback about performance and what sort of FPS they are getting at this resolution I would really appreciate it.

Forget the 770, for this kind of resolution the 290 is better, but if you want Nvidia for the drivers stability, try to find a 780Ti (I've seen some at good price now, but it will still be relatively more expensive)

Also, if it's only for Elite, you may want to wait for the game's optimization near the release date, and depending of your CPU if Elite use Mantle it could be a pro for AMD.

And then the new generation for Nvidia is not far away if you can wait a few months (I know, I know, I couldn't follow my own advise here if I wanted to change my card

), it will at least make the price of the 290/780 to go even lower.

At 5760x1080 and high quality, the frame rate is around 80 fps on my 290x (tested in quiet mode, so near a 290 in performance) but it can drop to 30 fps in asteroid fields. I hope that there'll be some optimization in this area (or that CF will be supported)

edit: and video memory usage seems to be more than 3.5gb in the asteroid field btw.

ICDP · Jul 14, 2014

So many uninformed posts from Nvidia fans in this thread it isn't even funny. ANYONE who compares a GTX770 to an R9 290 and believes it is even close is a fool... PERIOD. I cannot be nice about this, especially when it comes to them giving advice that will cost someone hundreds of dollars/euros/pounds listening to their idiotic advice. The constant talk of poor or unstable AMD drivers is clearly uninformed and based on nothing but conjecture ans wishful thinking. For every issue they can report I can do the same with Nvidia driver problems.

To the OP. An R9 290 should be compared to a GTX780, NOT a 770. Nvidia GTX780 is a brilliant card as is an R9 290. If you do go for an R9 290 stay away from the reference one with the truly horrible cooler. AMD really messed up with that cooler IMHO. Both Nvidia and AMD GPU drivers are stable and should cause no problems.

I am currently using an R9 290X in Elite and it is running at 2560x1440, max details at ~80 FPS, dropping to ~55 FPS in the Space stations. In contrast my spare GTX680 (GTX770 is a re-brand of this with faster VRAM) is getting ~25% less performance.

Here is a review of an R9 290 with GTX770 in there for comparison.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...741-xfx-r9-290-double-dissipation-review.html

As far as prices go the GTX770 is $70 (Aus) cheaper than an R9 290 and a GTX780 is $110 (Aus) more expensive than R9 290 for similar performance. Clearly the GTX780 is way overpriced compared to the R9 290 so stay clear of it. Also bear in mind that the R9 290 comes with 4GB VRAM and with the extra ~20%-25% performance over GTX770, it will be far more future proofed.

The GTX770 is a decent card but its price/perf compared to R9 290 in Australian is poor.

KING5TON · Jul 14, 2014

Be wary when you create threads like this. People will mostly say the same brand that they own. It's like asking someone with a PS4 if you should buy a PS4 or an Xbone. They're gonna say PS4.

Generally AMD cards offer the better price versus performance than Nvidia cards.

Generally Nvidia cards are more expensive than AMD cards (There's a phrase "Nvidia Tax" for a reason) but they do have a number of added bonuses if they are important to you such as shadowplay, G-sync etc..

AMD cards generally have more Vram than Nvidia cards at the same level. Vram is important for higher resolutions.

Driver related arguments are normally rollocks IMO.

TheDoctor · Jul 14, 2014

ICDP said:
So many uninformed posts from Nvidia fans in this thread it isn't even funny. ANYONE who compares a GTX770 to an R9 290 and believes it is even close is a fool... PERIOD. I cannot be nice about this, especially when it comes to them giving advice that will cost someone hundreds of dollars/euros/pounds listening to their idiotic advice. The constant talk of poor or unstable AMD drivers is clearly uninformed and based on nothing but conjecture ans wishful thinking. For every issue they can report I can do the same with Nvidia driver problems.

Oh yes I can report a horrible problem with a Nvidea driver that stopped the fans running on my GFX card which then cooked the card and took out the PSU.

I use a GTX 750 Ti in my HTPC and a Radeon 7850 in my main PC and I can say that both companies put out good products but at the mid end part of the market AMD is certainly is better for price over performace.

Aleksej · Jul 14, 2014

ICDP said:
So many uninformed posts from Nvidia fans in this thread it isn't even funny. ANYONE who compares a GTX770 to an R9 290 and believes it is even close is a fool... PERIOD. I cannot be nice about this, especially when it comes to them giving advice that will cost someone hundreds of dollars/euros/pounds listening to their idiotic advice. The constant talk of poor or unstable AMD drivers is clearly uninformed and based on nothing but conjecture ans wishful thinking. For every issue they can report I can do the same with Nvidia driver problems.

To the OP. An R9 290 should be compared to a GTX780, NOT a 770. Nvidia GTX780 is a brilliant card as is an R9 290. If you do go for an R9 290 stay away from the reference one with the truly horrible cooler. AMD really messed up with that cooler IMHO. Both Nvidia and AMD GPU drivers are stable and should cause no problems.

I am currently using an R9 290X in Elite and it is running at 2560x1440, max details at ~80 FPS, dropping to ~55 FPS in the Space stations. In contrast my spare GTX680 (which a GTX770 is a re-brand with faster VRAM) is getting ~25% less performance.

Here is a review of an R9 290 with GTX770 in there for comparison.
http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...741-xfx-r9-290-double-dissipation-review.html

As far as prices go the GTX770 is $70 (Aus) cheaper than an R9 290 and a GTX780 is $110 (Aus) more expensive than R9 290 for similar performance. Clearly the GTX780 is way overpriced compared to the R9 290 so stay clear of it. Also bear in mind that the R9 290 comes with 4GB VRAM and with the extra ~20%-25% performance over GTX770, it will be far more future proofed.

The GTX770 is a decent card but its price/perf compared to R9 290 in Australian is poor.

There are 4GB versions of GTX770 and they are still cheaper than R9 290. But performance wise these are GTX770->R9 290->GTX780.

However more VRAM is required for larger resolutions.

Inferno · Jul 14, 2014

Thanks for the answers guys, wow some strong opinions here.

Gedemon said:
At 5760x1080 and high quality, the frame rate is around 80 fps on my 290x (tested in quiet mode, so near a 290 in performance) but it can drop to 30 fps in asteroid fields. I hope that there'll be some optimization in this area (or that CF will be supported).

Cheers for the info, this is what I was after. Something on the 770 at 5760x1080 would be great now.

ICDP said:
To the OP. An R9 290 should be compared to a GTX780, NOT a 770. Nvidia GTX780 is a brilliant card as is an R9 290. If you do go for an R9 290 stay away from the reference one with the truly horrible cooler. AMD really messed up with that cooler IMHO. Both Nvidia and AMD GPU drivers are stable and should cause no problems

The comparison was more from a price point of view. Where I source my parts from has these 2 cards closer in price that the 780.

Aleksej said:
Be wary when you create threads like this. People will mostly say the same brand that they own. It's like asking someone with a PS4 if you should buy a PS4 or an Xbone. They're gonna say PS4.

Yeah I know what youre saying, but I was really looking for some feedback on performance from these cards at 5670x1080 from owners.