390X or 980 for the long run?

jbc029 said:
Frankly, if you're capping yourself at 1080p/60Hz, you shouldn't be considering anything over a 970/390. It's just tossing away a *lot* of money for almost no gain. If you aren't capping at 60Hz, then I still couldn't see recommending anything between the 970/390 and the Fury/980Ti.
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I agree... if you only play Fall Out 4.
 
Vittra said:
Just for some context, I noticed you mentioned CAD pricing. That means you're in Canada, and with our exchange rate the way it is currently, both the new and used markets are an absolute mess.

If you think buying new so close to new tech is a mistake in the US, amplify that significantly here. You are, sadly, best off going used. Go specifically for brands that have RMA depots here in Canada and warranty by serial if a receipt isn't available - that would be be Asus and MSI.

If you want something to tide you over to Arctic Islands/Pascal when buying new will make more sense, look for a used 290x at no more than $275 CAD (keep in mind warranty will be short on these now, and possibility of them being mined on), or a 970 for no more than $350 CAD. A used GTX 980 will run $500, and a 390 will be the same.
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Thanks for these price reference. They will help me find good deals.

Thanks for all the replies, I'll go for a used one and wait for the next gen before dropping serious money.
Now, I'll search for a GPU that can run Fallout 4 at High@1680x1050 (will save a bit more than if I aim for Ultra on my 1080p TV) and wait 6+/- more months before the real upgrade.
 
arthur_tuxedo said:
My guess is that the 980 will perform better in 5 years since NVidia is known for better driver support. I'm still wringing the last drops of blood out of a GTX 460 and I really can't complain about the way it performs. Also, given the thrashing they've been taking at the hands of NVidia and Intel, there's a not-insignificant chance that AMD as we know it won't be around in 5 years.

Even so, have you considered picking up something like a GTX 970 and setting aside the savings to upgrade in 3 years rather than 5? I doubt that after 3 generations the difference between 980 and 970 will amount to much (after all, would it matter whether you were running a GTX 580 or 570 in today's games?), and being able to upgrade sooner will make those last 2 years a lot better.
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I went from a 460 to a 660 then to a 760. The 660 to 760 wasn't really needed just didn't like the gigabyte design. However there was a huge difference 460 to 660. If you could even find a 670 or 680 on the cheap on trade in the forums you'd probably pee your pants with delight. Of course if all you're playing is battlefield 3 or left4dead you're probably still fine.
 
SpongeBob said:
I went from a 460 to a 660 then to a 760. The 660 to 760 wasn't really needed just didn't like the gigabyte design. However there was a huge difference 460 to 660. If you could even find a 670 or 680 on the cheap on trade in the forums you'd probably pee your pants with delight. Of course if all you're playing is battlefield 3 or left4dead you're probably still fine.
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I thought about picking up something along the lines of a 760, 670, or 680 but I think I'm going to wait for Pascal's 960 equivalent. I'm staying at 1200P for at least a couple more years so assuming a level of performance between the 970 and 980, that should tide me over until 4K can be pulled off with a single mid-range card. In the meantime, I've had to run newer games on medium settings but it hasn't gotten to the point where they look downright ugly so I'm good for now.
 
Compare 290x and 780ti performance nowadays. 780ti was released 200$ more than 290x.
Anyone who's telling you get a 980 is deliberately giving you false information.
 
Depends if AMD is still around in so many years which is really quite up in the air.

First off let me stay that Techspot is an Nvidia biased cesspool so don't pay any of their benchmarks any mind. All things equal the 390x is a hands down more powerful card whose raw power and 8GB should easily bury a 980 now and in the future no worries, but then again it should be considering its power consumption(not the reason I know the 980 is a less powerful card, just saying) and assuming it gets support from AMD.

The problem is what I mentioned originally; AMD is not a healthy company and honestly if I was in the market for a video card right now; I would buy Nvidia because I know they will be around long enough to give me driver updates until my next upgrade.
 
Dainas said:
but then again it should be considering its power consumption
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This has never been an issue my entire life building gaming pc's until Nvidia noticed their cards consume less power this generation. Now it's a fact spouted by every moron like it matters. The difference in the end is like 50w more. Do you know how much wattage a basic space heater takes? 2000w in some cases, for a tiny head-sized space heater.

The real fuckup was the r9 290's reference cooler piece of shit, other than that this whole power consumption/heat is a fabricated issue.
 
^ Completely agree, unless you have to buy a new power supply, only pussies care about power consumption. This was discussed in an earlier topic.
 
Got a deal on a GTX 760 2GBDDR5 and a R9 280 3GBDDR5 at the same price 225$CAD.
They look similar on some benchmarks, which is better?
 
Dainas said:
First off let me stay that Techspot is an Nvidia biased cesspool so don't pay any of their benchmarks any mind. All things equal the 390x is a hands down more powerful card whose raw power and 8GB should easily bury a 980 now and in the future no worries, but then again it should be considering its power consumption(not the reason I know the 980 is a less powerful card, just saying) and assuming it gets support from AMD.
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Is HardOCP also an Nvidia biased cesspool then?

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/10/26/xfx_r9_390x_double_dissipation_core_edition_review/1
 
MrPatate said:
Got a deal on a GTX 760 2GBDDR5 and a R9 280 3GBDDR5 at the same price 225$CAD.
They look similar on some benchmarks, which is better?
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R9 280 without a doubt.
Btw I bought a r9 290 (used) with 2 year warranty In store replacement for $200 CAD in Calgary.
 
Dainas said:
Depends if AMD is still around in so many years which is really quite up in the air.

First off let me stay that Techspot is an Nvidia biased cesspool so don't pay any of their benchmarks any mind. All things equal the 390x is a hands down more powerful card whose raw power and 8GB should easily bury a 980 now and in the future no worries, but then again it should be considering its power consumption(not the reason I know the 980 is a less powerful card, just saying) and assuming it gets support from AMD.

The problem is what I mentioned originally; AMD is not a healthy company and honestly if I was in the market for a video card right now; I would buy Nvidia because I know they will be around long enough to give me driver updates until my next upgrade.
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Seriously, how can people even think a 290x(390x) is close to a 980? If the 390x will be within 5% (playing catch up) with the 980, you can overclock them both. I think 70 - 100 is the max OC you will get on the 390x, while you will get a much heavier on the 980.

Was someone comparing the 290x to the 980 when it came out? NO. Don't know why are they comparing the 390x to the 980...
These cards should be 970 competitors imo.
 
I like how I'm trolling by posting benchmarks from recent games where 980 underperforms compared to the 290x and even 390, but this shit above isn't trolling. Straight out of tumblr.

Btw, the point about the power consumption thing is that it's insignificant amounts on your power bill compared to the difference in price.
 
Just grab a new 390, they're on sale now for $400 CAD. 390X is a waste at $115+ more minimum. Or go for a used 290/X. You live in Canada (like me) so you're probably paying at most 10-12 cents per KW. Unless you're folding or mining 24/7/365 power consumption doesn't matter. An overclocked $400.00 390 can keep up with a stock $600+ Geforce 980. The extra 4GB may come in handy for upcoming games, or for resale value as well if you plan on dropping it for a next gen card. People love MOAR GIGABYTES.

Stick with MSI or Asus for RMA purposes as someone else mentioned (great advice).

Our dollar is only getting weaker and with (sorry for the politics) the TPP favouring the US it'll likely stay that way or get even worse.

The 970 is also a decent buy but not as future proof. Great for small for factor PC's though. I own both a 970 and 390. The 970 cost me a few bucks more but uses a lot less energy. I don't care about the consumption difference, I care about being able to cram the 970 into a tight space.

Also Freesync can't be overlooked, it's an awesome feature and you'll save a few hundred dollars over a Gsync display for effectively the same experience.

As for AMD going out of business, very unlikely. People have been saying this since the Bulldozer was released. If anything they may get bought out and usually with buyouts they leave alone the working parts of the company (like the GPU division at AMD) to continue doing what they do best. This is really a non issue.
 
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After reading through this thread I'm still on the fence between these two cards. I have zero allegiance to either red or green team. I'd like to upgrade my crossfire 7870 Ghz editions as they are struggling to play the latest games at anything above medium settings at 1440p. I've seen both cards available right at (or even slightly under) $400 USD.

Basically is it going to boil down to:
  • FreeSync vs Gsync
  • Driver quality
  • Game bundle
 
MrPatate said:
Hi,

I'm hesitating between the 390x and the GTX 980. I'll play at 1080p(maybe 1200p if I upgrade my screen to 16:10 someday, but not more), will never SLI/Crossfire and will keep it for around 5 years.

In some bench the 980 is better, in others the 390x is better. Both can run anything at 1080p over 60FPS easily right now. But in the long run(4-5years) which should be better? Nvidia's got great drivers, AMD has more VRAM and bit more power(I might be wrong on that part).

Please, factual answers would be appreciated, "fanboy-ism" isn't helping anyone.

Thanks
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If you are planning on doing a monitor upgrade in those 5 years or even think you may want to at 1440p or above, get an 980 Ti and be happy with that. Then you will have at least 6GB of Vram and future games will play better when they need more VRam and more GPU power.

Out of those two though, I prefer the 390x because I prefer AMD. However, the 980 will be good to as long as you can get a good price on one. :)
 
HotBBQ said:
After reading through this thread I'm still on the fence between these two cards. I have zero allegiance to either red or green team. I'd like to upgrade my crossfire 7870 Ghz editions as they are struggling to play the latest games at anything above medium settings at 1440p. I've seen both cards available right at (or even slightly under) $400 USD.

Basically is it going to boil down to:
  • FreeSync vs Gsync
  • Driver quality
  • Game bundle
Click to expand...

Really, at that point, it is going to come down to Freesync or Gsync. Game bundles are about the same nowadays and driver quality is going to largely depend on your underlying hardware. I think you would be happy with either one but, whatever monitor you get, that will decide the card you get. :)
 
HotBBQ said:
After reading through this thread I'm still on the fence between these two cards. I have zero allegiance to either red or green team. I'd like to upgrade my crossfire 7870 Ghz editions as they are struggling to play the latest games at anything above medium settings at 1440p. I've seen both cards available right at (or even slightly under) $400 USD.

Basically is it going to boil down to:
  • FreeSync vs Gsync
  • Driver quality
  • Game bundle
Click to expand...

Gsync vs Freesync

Driver quality

NVIDIA game bundles

I think AMD is offering Star Wars Battlefront, but the reviews of that game a pretty bad.
 
HotBBQ said:
After reading through this thread I'm still on the fence between these two cards. I have zero allegiance to either red or green team. I'd like to upgrade my crossfire 7870 Ghz editions as they are struggling to play the latest games at anything above medium settings at 1440p. I've seen both cards available right at (or even slightly under) $400 USD.

Basically is it going to boil down to:
  • FreeSync vs Gsync
  • Driver quality
  • Game bundle
Click to expand...

upgrade your CPU First.. major issue for any recent card in the market even at 1440P..
 
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