The 590 is a dual GPU card and top-end for that gen (launched at $700 in Mar '11) and is losing to what is effectively a 280x (the 7970 GE, launched Jun '12 for $500, now $250-$300). And that's not taking into account any SLI issues or games defaulting to a single GPU.
Thanks, I just pointed out when it launched and how much it costs in my previous post.
Uh... yeah. "Losing".By 2 FPS. 3.85%. The 280X is slower than the 7970 GE by 1% so let's call it a 2.85% difference between the 590 and 280X. The 280X was $300 at launch (most of them still are $300) and is virtually the same (ok, ok, < 3% faster) as a card that was released over 2.5 years earlier. Thanks for proving my point again though.
I'm pulling this one out of my butt but I'm guessing there are limited issues nowadays from the 590 because the drivers were fixed rather quickly for it from what I recall.
Witcher 3 is likely going to butt-fuck that 290/280X/770 andwilltax the 780 Ti. It is unlikely he'll be able to play it comfortably at 1080p on Ultra (or possibly even high settings). The money isn't being thrown away. The card will likely last 1.5 years longer, we've established that. Yes, joeboo's advice is solid. He normally has good advice. With current games at 1080p a 780 Ti is overkill in the fact that you can comfortably get 60+ FPS easily in nearly every game, sure 'nuff (and you can't say the same for the 290, COH2 as an example). Trust me, I know. I have a 780 Ti myself and I game at 1920x1200. But that will only last for a few more months once the next generation of games start popping up. I just happen to disagree with him on this one because of that fact.
Nothing that would improve his in game FPS. He just purchased a new monitor but I have no idea of his other peripherals.
Well, sounds silly... But the hyperthreading thing may start becoming important once next gen consoles really take off. If he went R9 290 and went balls out on a top of the line i7 he probably wouldn't need a new CPU for like 6 years... Maybe longer. Then in 2 years sell the 290 for $150 and put it towards whatever $mid-enthusiast ($350) value card exists at that time.
There are a few games that support hyperthreading now. For example, Crysis 3, which shows a 2 FPS difference between an i5-2500k and i7-2600K. Andthis chartshowing a 1 FPS difference between a i5-3470 and i7-4770k at 1080p, medium-high settings, AA on low.Here is anothershowing a measly 4 FPS between an i5-3470 and i7-3770k at 1920x1200 on Medium settings. I've heard conflicting things on WATCH_DOGS using HT but it is an AAA game that was released already 6 months into the next gen consolesand doesn't see an improvement by getting a CPU with hyperthreadingor upgrading from an i5 to i7. I'll test the game tonight with HT and without HT just for fun.
Twitch streaming + gaming would benefit, correct. Encoding while gaming would benefit, yes. Simply watching a video while gaming would be negligible difference. And the GPU would still give a greater benefit still in all but a couple games.
