advice on gpu upgrade

Hello, I have been following this forum on pretty much a daily bases for about 7 years now. I have learned much from the posters on this great site so thank you! I built a system about 2 months ago which most of it is new and in my signature. I currently have a 28" i-inc 1920x1200 monitor that served me well but just isnt cutting it anymore. With plans to get a 2560x1440 display, I know the r9 380 4gb card isnt going to cut the mustard. I really dont want to spend more than $350 for a new card but would go as high as 400 if it were going to make a difference. I am looking at the r9 390 8gb. Nividia dosnt seem like the gtx970 is quite as fast and less memory 4gb and 500mb being a slower speed so Ive heard. Steer me in the right direction. Thanks again, Ryan

Both are solid cards for 1440p gaming at around $325. They are pretty close, but you will have to check out specific games to see what is better. If you ever plan to add a card, say for 4k gaming, I would get the 8 GB 390. You could probably find a used 2nd one for cheap in a year. Just make sure you have a strong power supply.

390 8gb will be better choice between the two. It will be more future proof if you decide to go that route.

bought the sapphire 390 Nitro, cool, silent and fast.
I game with 2560x1440p and it tears trough that resolution.
My old 290 gave up and the new 390 updated is night and day from that one.

If you are OK buying used a 980 GTX for around 350-400 is a good deal.
Otherwise you are better off with AMD and 390X 8 GB or something.

970 GTX was a great card, however, for 1440P more ram is beneficial and also the card value is destroyed by the ability to purchase a 290X brand new for 250 bucks.

Thank you very much for the replies. I was looking at the msi gaming r9 390 as that is the brand of my 380 card. I was also looking at the asus strix model. Which way would you guys go? Pretty similar in specs but the asus card is quite a bit longer. I guess better cooling maybe?

MSI gaming.

MSI gaming +1

msi before asus for the 390 would be my vote.
the cooler from msi seems better as a consensus.

Thank you everyone. I ordered a MSI r9 390 gaming card. This is the first time that I feel that I have a pretty high card coming to the house. I remember when I installed a Nividia 8800 gt back when it was new and could do pretty well on the games back then. Had a gtx 260, and then a HD 5850 that was pretty good but I think this will be awesome. Now its time to look for a good display!

Hold on to your panties after installing the card.

KickAssCop said:

Hold on to your panties after installing the card.

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I would change pants personally.

Im hoping to score one of these myself
But that msi card is seriously nice...enjoy it, cause i know i would

Going to back up what a couple others have already suggested: get a 290x for $260.

Why on earth would you pay $300 for what is effectively a 290 with a mild overclock and 4GB more of VRAM (which you'll never need if you're playing at 1440p) when you can but what is effectively a 390x with less memory?

Edit: I see OP has already bought a 390. It's still a good card: you just could have had better for less money.

My AMD card has been great - there was a gap between driver updates when a lot of games released late last year through the beginning of this hear but they've picked up the pace and I've seen a beta driver about once a month. Overall, I'm more than pleased.

You should have jumped on the xfx 8gb 290x card a couple of weeks ago. But even now that would probably be in your price range and better than the 390 if not slightly. The MSI is by no means a bad card though.

I have had the new card for 24 hours now and I can say I am more than pleased. Does run a tad warmer than the r9 380 but I new that would be the case. Set up a fan profile through afterburner and now everything is cool! Thanks again for the help everyone!

I would say stay away from the 390/x unless you are looking to crossfire. The 290/x performs just as well, and is technically the exact same card.

If you don't crossfire, you don't have to worry about the 8GB because a single Hawaii architecture card cannot utilize 8GB of VRAM efficiently. It's just not powerful enough by itself. It's been stated in reviews and the like.

If you do crossfire, then I think the 8GB may be worth it, but you may be better off going one higher tier up to the Fury cards (or even Fury X).

As for brand, MSI always seem to be at the top of the charts or close second in all categories (core overclock, cooling, noise, etc.), so I would recommend the MSI just as others have.

Another thing going for MSI is if you ever wanted to move on to other cards, they offer warranty that follows the card, and do not ask for receipt. This means it calls for a slightly higher value on the used market.

Kaisei said:

I would say stay away from the 390/x unless you are looking to crossfire. The 290/x performs just as well, and is technically the exact same card.

If you don't crossfire, you don't have to worry about the 8GB because a single Hawaii architecture card cannot utilize 8GB of VRAM efficiently. It's just not powerful enough by itself. It's been stated in reviews and the like.

If you do crossfire, then I think the 8GB may be worth it, but you may be better off going one higher tier up to the Fury cards (or even Fury X).

As for brand, MSI always seem to be at the top of the charts or close second in all categories (core overclock, cooling, noise, etc.), so I would recommend the MSI just as others have.

Another thing going for MSI is if you ever wanted to move on to other cards, they offer warranty that follows the card, and do not ask for receipt. This means it calls for a slightly higher value on the used market.

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I read the whole thread and this is the worst advice you can give someone. Tell him to raise his budget and get 4gb card instead of 8 and when he doesn't even require more power? Also 8GB on Hawaii is somehow not relevent because its not fast enough?

we are talking about physical size of memory not memory bandwidth that GPU cant keep up with. I am glad he already bought the card. I would recommend 390 and 390x over Gtx 970 and 980 because of dx12 and simply bang for buck. Fury? Hell no as much as I want to like those cards, yes they are fast but not worth the premium with less memory. I am waiting for HBM2 and next gen cards for real high end.

NKD said:

I read the whole thread and this is the worst advice you can give someone. Tell him to raise his budget and get 4gb card instead of 8 and when he doesn't even require more power? Also 8GB on Hawaii is somehow not relevent because its not fast enough?

we are talking about physical size of memory not memory bandwidth that GPU cant keep up with. I am glad he already bought the card. I would recommend 390 and 390x over Gtx 970 and 980 because of dx12 and simply bang for buck. Fury? Hell no as much as I want to like those cards, yes they are fast but not worth the premium with less memory. I am waiting for HBM2 and next gen cards for real high end.

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You're crazy and in your own crazy world. He needs the power if he's looking to play 1440p games. You think the vram is more important than a more powerful card? Yea, you go wait for HBM2, then when that comes out, HBM3 or something else will be announced then you can wait for that too. smh.

Kaisei said:

You're crazy and in your own crazy world. He needs the power if he's looking to play 1440p games. You think the vram is more important than a more powerful card? Yea, you go wait for HBM2, then when that comes out, HBM3 or something else will be announced then you can wait for that too. smh.

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No I don't think that. Are you like blind and ignorant and not seen any reviews? Seriously? Have you seen if Fury gives you much performance bump other than 4k? How many games do you see the 390 and 390x struggle? So you want him to spend another 350 dollars for what? That power he is never going to use? I am not the crazy one here. To recommend someone a card double their budget is insane just because you want him to go with what you like rather than what he need!

No I am not going to recommend fury at $650 to someone who is looking at cards around 3-400 dollar range. Fury is the worst bang for your buck! I am AMD fan and have never had much nvidia but I wouldn't recommend Fury to my enemy! How future proof is he with 4gb? Please give me that scenario if you are really all about power! Fury doesn't have much advantage other than 4k and that wont even last long and you can already see from review here at HARDOCP how it starts to show it's limits in memory hungry games.

Like I said he is already happy with 390 he got, and I am sure alot of people here will agree with me. Whether I like amd or not, wrong is wrong and right is right. I am not too ignorant to see that AMD lost its performance/dollar advantage with Fury. So it is hard to recommend. For his needs thats plenty of power.

OP never asked for assistance on Fury. Anyways I am done. Good luck to you!