[PC Gaming] Any opinions on Radeon 290X vs waiting for GTX 780ti (also Mantle vs PhysX)?

So my old desktop has been starting to show signs of impending death lately. This is basically alright with me, since this machine itself was an "emergency buy" that I picked up when my laptop suddenly conked out on me 4 years or so ago. I have been looking forward to getting a custom rig with Windows 7, rather than something off-the-shelf with Windows Vista (shudder).

I feel reasonably certain about all my other components... but the one I'm really indecisive about is what video card to go with. All I know is I prefer to stick with a single GPU, which seems to leave me choosing between the 290X and the yet-to-be-released 780ti.

One thing I've heard is the 290X runs extraordinarily hot at 95C. There seems to be debate on whether or not that's actually a problem, given that you can tweak settings to run it cooler and louder if you wish.

And as always I hear that Radeon drivers are terrible compared to GeForce ones, though I've also heard this has gotten better lately.

There are also differing opinions about the 780ti, regarding whether it will actually beat the 290X in many cases, or if the 290X will actually stay king of the hill even after the 780ti releases.

I also keep hearing contradicting stories about how much PhysX and Mantle will or won't matter.

Can anyone shed some light on this stuff for me? I am not very knowledgeable about PC hardware and could use some expertise. But for now the pull is pretty strong to order now, with the 290X, as the 780ti may not be out for as much as another month.

Anyway... for the sake of this debate, assume cost is no object between the two cards. Also, I run one monitor for gaming (1920x1200), with a second 1920x1080 that I occasionally watch movies on while gaming (I never plan to actually game on two screens).



Also, if you're a junkie on giving PC component advice:
*I figured I would go with 16GB of 1866 RAM. But, I hear that speed comes at the cost of latency. What are the practical pros/cons of 1600 vs 1866 vs 2133?
*For soundcards... pros/cons of ASUS Xonar DX vs Creative Sound Blaster Z, under the assumption that I will stick with 2.1 speakers and/or headphones, and that I care more about music quality than gaming audio?



Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

Thanks for that input... I forget what exact product it was, but I did get myself some seriously nice $300 headphones a few months back. I am positive I could tell the difference in quality on headphones, though I would probably need to upgrade my speakers.

I've heard some people say Xonar is better for music and SB is better for gaming, but that sounds so oversimplified I'm not sure I'm ready to believe it...

Also, totally hear you on buying a more mid-range graphics card and upgrading more frequently. I just find upgrading a pain so I like to do it as little as possible, so that's why I want to buy high-end.

 

That's interesting to hear about the drivers!

"Best value" seems pinned pretty squarely on the 290X from what I've read, as the 780ti is rumored to launch at $100 more for roughly the same performance. I do wonder about how hot the 290X runs, though.

The point about all the next-gen systems using AMD GPUs occurred to me as well. I mentioned that to a friend of mine who is sort of a techy who keeps up on these things a bit, and he seemed to think that wouldn't matter. He also kept talking about how important PhysX was. It almost sounded Nvidia fanboy-ish except that I know he runs an AMD card right now.

Grrr. Tough decision. If the 290X didn't run so hot I think I would've ordered one already.

 

Thanks for the input, though I don't consider myself to be short on cash for this purchase. My preference is to splash on something really nice and keep it for an incredibly long time with minimal upgrades. I know buying mid-range and then upgrading when the need arises is the smarter and more cost-efficient path... but I'm just lazy enough not to be smart in this instance.

 

Is there somewhere that CONFIRMS Q1 for sure though?

I was interested in this as soon as you posted it, but when I Googled it, there appeared to be nothing but speculation. If you go back far enough people thought it might even be late this year. Now the general consensus seems to be "first half of 2014."

Would be nice to wait, but I'm not sure how much longer my current computer is going to survive. And really, tech is always going to get better. Waiting a month is one thing, waiting 6 months is another...

Great info on the RAM. I can probably just go with the 1600 for less money, then, if it will give me the same performance anyhow.

Do you have any experience with the Sound Blaster Z? I have a Xi-Fi Xtreme Audio, haven't been that impressed, but I'm told the Z is a whole different animal... that it's not massively inferior to the Xonars like my current card is for music. I also think I saw somewhere that Creative had some feature that made the gun sounds in Battlefield sound a bajillion times better or something, and that might be the PC game I play the most in the near future.

Either way though I don't think I can go too wrong on the sound card...