[UPGRADE]GTX 780ti Ref vs 290 Tri-X

[JisusKraist]

Hey guys, im planning an upgrade next month incoming. And I have budget for one of this two graphics cards. In one side a Zotac GTX 780ti Reference and in the other Sapphire 290(non-x) Tri-X which is pretty nice.

Prices in my country are:
780ti Reference 880U$S
290 Tri-x 650U$S

What are your thoughts, for now I'm sticking to the 780ti but maybe im just beeing whimsical, what do you think pips?

Thanks!

 

[Anazarr]

Well, i'll mention what everyone else might do - You pay the extra 230$ for a cooler, quieter better OC card - with just overall better performance, or do you want to settle for a slightly cheaper card and hope that the Tri-X cooler can do what the MSi Lightning did?

 

[SeekaX]

depends what you are going to use it for. if you are about price performance then the 290 will be the better choice. if you want the master piece, get a 780ti.
if you are tending to the 780ti even though you know the performance differences then you will get one anyways, the heart wants what it wants.

 

[Anazarr]

depends what you are going to use it for. if you are about price performance then the 290 will be the better choice. if you want the master piece, get a 780ti.
if you are tending to the 780ti even though you know the performance differences then you will get one anyways, the heart wants what it wants.

^^^ +1

 

[SieB]

I have the Tri-X and it is a really good card, very quiet and temps are nice and low. 74*c is the hottest my card has gotten during gaming, some games it is around 65*c.
I did a review of it here if you want to check it out.
http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=59441

The 780Ti is the faster card but 90% of the time where it is faster you wouldn't notice the difference at 1080p unless you had FRAPS running. If you want the fastest go for the 780Ti but the Tri-X is good for the money.

 

[remember300]

depends what you are going to use it for. if you are about price performance then the 290 will be the better choice. if you want the master piece, get a 780ti.
if you are tending to the 780ti even though you know the performance differences then you will get one anyways, the heart wants what it wants.

or if your from the UK quote JC "POWER more POWER!!" lol
but i agree, once your set on a on a choice its hard to break out of it.

 

[NeverBackDown]

If you want quiet than the Tri-X cooler is one of if not the quietest on the market. Also has a better price performance ratio. Though seems like you could get the 290x version with the price difference to the 780ti. I would get the 290 simply because i like to get the most from my money.

 

[JisusKraist]

The main point that I'm concerned is, how good is the reference cooler and the Zotac branch are in case of the 780ti, because I know that 780ti tend to Oc pretty darn well, but does the reference OC well too?

About the 290 tri-x both of my friend have them, we did a xfire last weekend, it's a pretty good card, and I have to admit that Sapphire went serious with the dissipation design, it has dissipation almost in the pci-e connector...

So thats the main point, I can go with the money till the 780ti REFERENCE, not AMP! or something like that, but I'm concerned about the OC with reference blower in the 780ti.

Thanks for all the advises

 

[NeverBackDown]

the stock cooler is actually pretty good. You can set the temp target and the card will boost itself up the its most stable point within the temp target. OC'ing it more just increases temps but can easily be offset if you turn up the fan speed. Those coolers are more on the quiet side according to other review sites.

 

[SeekaX]

The main point that I'm concerned is, how good is the reference cooler and the Zotac branch are in case of the 780ti, because I know that 780ti tend to Oc pretty darn well, but does the reference OC well too?

About the 290 tri-x both of my friend have them, we did a xfire last weekend, it's a pretty good card, and I have to admit that Sapphire went serious with the dissipation design, it has dissipation almost in the pci-e connector...

So thats the main point, I can go with the money till the 780ti REFERENCE, not AMP! or something like that, but I'm concerned about the OC with reference blower in the 780ti.

Thanks for all the advises

the reference cooler is very good on the 780ti. it's quiet, cool, looks very good and even offers some headroom for overclocking.
check out the review here
the overclocking results are outstanding for a reference cooler.

 

[barnsley]

Zotac are also a decent brand if you're at all worried about RMA etc.

The Sapphire is a beast however the 780ti is the faster card.

 

[JisusKraist]

I can get the 290X Tri-X for the same price of the 780ti Reference, still the 780ti its a faster card, isn't it ?

Thanks!

 

[SeekaX]

I can get the 290X Tri-X for the same price of the 780ti Reference, still the 780ti its a faster card, isn't it ?

Thanks!

a 780ti ref blasts a 290x tri-x.

 

[NeverBackDown]

780ti reference is equal to a 290x Tri-X card. Both OC like beasts too. It becomes game dependent with these cards.. anything like a DCU2 or Twin Frozer 780ti will edge out just about any 290x. You would need a 290x Lightning to keep up with those other cards.

 

[Vlada011]

GTX780Ti much better OC than any variant of R9-290X everybody know that.
Simply chip work on lower temps and R9-290X looks like AMD push him little more to oppose to NVIDIA Titan and to win over GTX780. But with GTX780Ti simply no chance. Even AMD should be same as GTX780, only they push card more.
With GTX780Ti on 993MHz Base clock and 1137MHz Boost I had same or 1-2% less results in test than reference R9-290X. Off course AMD could easy win with some non reference cards, but their card are not overclocked something special out of box, reference 1000MHz, Matrix Platinm 1050MHz, simply because no space. Some GTX780Ti models came 200MHz fabric overclocked, 4x more than AMD. Clock difference after serious OC is unthinkable, matchless with R9-290X...GK110 2880 CUDA OC like beast, litteraly, but Radeon something little, even models with waterblock came with 60MHz more out of box, funny. I think R9-290X Lightening is highest OC out of box 80MHz... Because Hawaii is not incredible overclocker.
But GK110, probably best NVIDIA overclocker ever.
Can you imagine that satisfaction when you know your card is 200MHz faster than reference model, out of box without OC...and she must be stable because that is fabric specification and you didn't OC. Even on reference clock GTX780Ti is beast but that feeling when you play games with 200MHz faster card is excellent. We push card before few years lot for 200MHz.

 

[SieB]

GTX780Ti much better OC than any variant of R9-290X everybody know that.
Simply chip work on lower temps and R9-290X looks like AMD push him little more to oppose to NVIDIA Titan and to win over GTX780. But with GTX780Ti simply no chance. Even AMD should be same as GTX780, only they push card more.
With GTX780Ti on 993MHz Base clock and 1137MHz Boost I had same or 1-2% less results in test than reference R9-290X. Off course AMD could easy win with some non reference cards, but their card are not overclocked something special out of box, reference 1000MHz, Matrix Platinm 1050MHz, simply because no space. Some GTX780Ti models came 200MHz fabric overclocked, 4x more than AMD. Clock difference after serious OC is unthinkable, matchless with R9-290X...GK110 2880 CUDA OC like beast, litteraly, but Radeon something little, even models with waterblock came with 60MHz more out of box, funny. I think R9-290X Lightening is highest OC out of box 80MHz... Because Hawaii is not incredible overclocker.
But GK110, probably best NVIDIA overclocker ever.
Can you imagine that satisfaction when you know your card is 200MHz faster than reference model, out of box without OC...and she must be stable because that is fabric specification and you didn't OC. Even on reference clock GTX780Ti is beast but that feeling when you play games with 200MHz faster card is excellent. We push card before few years lot for 200MHz.

Overclocking comes down to silicon lottery, my 290 will do 1250/1600 easy.
If I had it on water i'm pretty sure I could get it to 1300 and possibly more on the mem.

I don't know what it is with most reviewers who got sent 290s but if you look on forums at what "most" people are getting, they are getting at least 1200-1200+ on the core easy, on both ref and non ref cards.
You also can't compare Nvidia and AMD clock for clock, an AMD card at 1200mhz is not the same as a Nvidia card at 1200mhz and vice versa.

Anyway, unless you are buying a card especially for overclocking then whether you get a good overclocking card or not doesn't really matter. For gaming there isn't much gain to be had out of overclocking and the added heat and noise isn't really worth it. And with a 290/x, 780/Ti there really isn't any need to overclock for gaming anyway.

 

[JisusKraist]

Overclocking comes down to silicon lottery, my 290 will do 1250/1600 easy.
If I had it on water i'm pretty sure I could get it to 1300 and possibly more on the mem.

I don't know what it is with most reviewers who got sent 290s but if you look on forums at what "most" people are getting, they are getting at least 1200-1200+ on the core easy, on both ref and non ref cards.
You also can't compare Nvidia and AMD clock for clock, an AMD card at 1200mhz is not the same as a Nvidia card at 1200mhz and vice versa.

Anyway, unless you are buying a card especially for overclocking then whether you get a good overclocking card or not doesn't really matter. For gaming there isn't much gain to be had out of overclocking and the added heat and noise isn't really worth it. And with a 290/x, 780/Ti there really isn't any need to overclock for gaming anyway.

It's no just about the gaming, it's about "how far I can push it" just for self satisfaction, I have a 4770k@4.6 and is not like I need that overclock, I guess most of you'll understand what im saying.

I think im going with the 780ti and try to squeeze the last mhz of that reference design, cheers pips, thank you all.

 

[SieB]

It's no just about the gaming, it's about "how far I can push it" just for self satisfaction, I have a 4770k@4.6 and is not like I need that overclock, I guess most of you'll understand what im saying.

I think im going with the 780ti and try to squeeze the last mhz of that reference design, cheers pips, thank you all.

Get what you want dude I was aiming that at Vlad. Whether you get a 290 or 780Ti though there is no guarantee that you will get a good overclocker. It's always nice to have a card that does overclock well but when it comes to gaming it doesn't make much difference even if you do have a good clocker.