Push me over the edge: GTX970 or R9 390?

C

c3k

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Folks,

I've got a budget of $329. ;)

I need to replace my HD6870 gpu. The two cards in the running are an R9 390 or the GTX 970. The rig is currently running a 1080p screen, but I'd like to get it ready for a possible 2560x1440 by Christmas.

Reasons for:

GTX 970: I already own one, so I once it becomes obsolete, I can just SLI it with the other one.

R9 390: It does a better job at 2560x1440 than the GTX 970.

Reasons against:

GTX 970: I don't like SLI or Xfire, so that's really just grasping for a positive. The GTX 970 won't be enough for 2560x1440 when I eventually upgrade my monitor.

R9 390: What a power hog! Plus, I'm still on a 1080p so the GTX 970 would be plenty for what I actually have.


So...I'm brand agnostic. Push me towards one or the other. Or, I'll just flip a coin and forever wonder "what if"!! ;)

Thanks,
Ken
 
Are you interested in FreeSync/G-Sync? If so, look at which monitors might be for you first. For now, the choice of monitor will lock you into one of the GPU vendors' variable refresh technology.
 
I'd say go with the 970. mine works just fine at 1440.:) and also you'll get driver updates every month with support for the latest games. + the excellent performance efficacy of maxwell.
*push*
 
chithanh said:
Are you interested in FreeSync/G-Sync? If so, look at which monitors might be for you first. For now, the choice of monitor will lock you into one of the GPU vendors' variable refresh technology.
Click to expand...

I'm not really interested in FreeSyng/G-Sync. I'm still about 6 months out from the monitor purchase. From what I've seen, there are good ones (IPS, 30") for both technologies.

But that's a good point for someone who is locked in or has a preference.
 
Geforcepat said:
I'd say go with the 970. mine works just fine at 1440.:) and also you'll get driver updates every month with support for the latest games. + the excellent performance efficacy of maxwell.
*push*
Click to expand...

LOL! I've got a 970 driving dual 1920x1200 screens and, yeah, I like it.

1920x1200x2= 4.6 Million pixels
2560x1440 = 3.7 Million pixels

(If I get a second 970, then in a year or so I can double them up in SLI when I get a newer card for one of the machines. But the 390 has 8 Gb of ram. 8. Not 3.5 + .5. ;) )
 
Hard to say, based on everything you've mentioned, seems like you're best off with the 390.

From my understanding of looking at some reviews, the 390 has slightly better performance than the 970, will probably perform better in 1440p and up, has more RAM. My co-worker says he hasn't noticed any stuttering or performance impact with the whole 970 3.5GB RAM thing but who knows.

Seems like they've closed the efficiency gap some in regards to power used and resultant heat output.

With a second 970 it does leave the option for SLI if you ever decide to give it another go. Another thing to consider is the savings from looking for a used 970 if you're willing to hunt around.

I found someone on Craigslist with a used 290X Lightning but he wants like $290 for it whereas I'm reaching out to some other people to see if they'll part with their 970 for $240ish give or take.
 
Well as you stated the R9 390 is better than the 970, but you can SLi the 970 at a later date. I would go with the 970 for the SLi in the next year or so.
 
He could also consider buying a 390, sell his 970, and then grab another 390 later on when there's used ones or lower prices and crossfire those as the R9s do better in high res and will have 8GBs to work with.

It'll up his cost some though to go that route.
 
Are factors like power consumption and noise significant factors for you? You mention running multiple cards: would you have to upgrade your PSU to SLI 2x 970? To XF 2x 390?
 
Noise is a factor, but I'm looking at the MSI versions of both the cards, and they have reviews which show that they are quiet enough for my purposes. (I have the MSI GTX970 and I love how quiet it is.) I didn't see any MSI 390 dba numbers which which looked too high compared w/the 970.

Power doesn't matter for now. (The current GTX 970 rig has a Seasonic X750; the HD6870 has a Seasonic X650. If I have to upgrade PSUs, then so be it. The cost of a new PSU isn't a budget factor.)

And, yeah, I know that the 650 is a bit light for a 390. I've got a spare 750 kicking around I could always toss in.
 
Since you already have experience with the 970....would it not be more interesting to play with something totally different? That alone would be enough to steer me to the 390...But i also really like that MSI 390 ever since someone posted that youtube vid review a while back
 
I like my sapphire 390. Noise wouldn't be an issue if I didn't keep trying for higher clocks. I've never owned a card this big. It is fucking rad, I could brain people with it. Benchmark scores are on par with my now dead pitcairn 7870's x2, or better. Frames seem to have smoothed out as well. Metro, battlefield, and the like seem to play nice with it. Fans can turn off, but I set up a custom profile, I don't like the temps changing that much too quickly, makes me wonder how much wear and tear is added.
 
Yeah...ALL those are great reasons for the 390. OpenCL? Bah, the only good it'll do me is to know the 390 does it better than the 970. ;) And as for double precision, I only go with triple precision or better. ;)

But... the 970 could be used at EOL to SLI with my other one and extend that rig a bit longer without having to buy another card.
 
You need to have issues with 970 to even consider a 390. SLi the 970s and game on at 1440p. Thats what I had been doing for past 8 months.
 
I was just in the same situation deciding between those 2 cards. I ultimately went with the 970... My reasoning? You can get them for about $60 cheaper used from someone here on hardforum. So that's what I did. So in a couple years when i want to upgrade again, I will just buy another 970 which will be super cheap by then and the SLI performance of the 970s appears to be pretty decent.
 
poetic332 said:
I was just in the same situation deciding between those 2 cards. I ultimately went with the 970... My reasoning? You can get them for about $60 cheaper used from someone here on hardforum. So that's what I did. So in a couple years when i want to upgrade again, I will just buy another 970 which will be super cheap by then and the SLI performance of the 970s appears to be pretty decent.
Click to expand...
Getting another 970 in a couple years to go SLI would be a pretty dumb thing to do at that time. Just a mid range card then will be as fast or faster than 970 SLI, have more vram, have newer architecture with more features, and no multi card issues to worry about.
 
I'd advise against the 390x since a) it's $100+ more expensive than a 290x and 970 and b) you won't see any difference vs a 290x or 970 if you're playing at 1440p. There's really no point to a 390x for you.

Why not go with a 290x with good aftermarket cooling? You'll save $100+ over a 390x and many are coming with a free game. If you're playing at 1080p (and 1440p later), you really don't need more than 4GB VRAM and you won't see a difference.

Or even better, like poetic suggests, get a used 290x or 970 for even cheaper.
 
c3k said:
Noise is a factor, but I'm looking at the MSI versions of both the cards, and they have reviews which show that they are quiet enough for my purposes. (I have the MSI GTX970 and I love how quiet it is.) I didn't see any MSI 390 dba numbers which which looked too high compared w/the 970.

Power doesn't matter for now. (The current GTX 970 rig has a Seasonic X750; the HD6870 has a Seasonic X650. If I have to upgrade PSUs, then so be it. The cost of a new PSU isn't a budget factor.)

And, yeah, I know that the 650 is a bit light for a 390. I've got a spare 750 kicking around I could always toss in.
Click to expand...

I would never buy a 970, but your circumstance might warrant it. SLI hasn't performed too good as of late, The 970 and 980 suffer from lots of dropped frames. It's your brand choice though. If I were going with an AMD GPU, Hawaii or Fury, I would only buy an AMD specific vendor. The coolers from Sapphire, XFX, and Powercolor are specifically engineered for AMD chips. The MSI, Asus, Gigabyte coolers are actually Kepler/Maxwell coolers that have been pressed into service and don't match up well physically with Hawaii, and aren't as efficient at cooling it.
 
for me I already own a Gigabyte GTX 970 G1 version, bought it before that 3.5GB vRAM fiasco was unleashed, had few regrets but now I can definitely stick with it (temps and power efficiency) and might SLI in the future, who knows DX12 might finally be able to stack VRAM so that'll be 3.5+3.5=7GB vRAM for the LOLs
 
Relayer said:
I would never buy a 970
Click to expand...

I was kind of the same for a bit. The whole 3.5GB fiasco and Nvidia's other proprietary non-sense put a bad taste in my mouth.

At the same time, it just seems like for the money, the 970 is the way to go at this point as a used 290X Lightning is going for more than a good used 970. However, that's just me with my budgetary constraints.

Otherwise, I'd definitely go AMD this round and the next few as well.
 
To me the most important question that hasn't been answered yet is what games do you play? The minimum framerates with Mantle enabled in Battlefield, Dragon Age, & Civ BE are dramatically higher on a 290/390 than they are on the 970 or 980 (Regardless of CPU). I feel that difference when playing BF4 online. I really do love Mantle and I'd like to stab Direct X guys at Microsoft in the face for taking so long with DX12.

That being said, I think the Fury is a piece of shit because it doesn't have HDMI 2.0. My next card will be a 980 TI.

I think this may be one of the best PC gaming hardware articles ever written (6 months of daily testing on a variety of hardware!):
http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Systems/Quad-Core-Gaming-Roundup-How-Much-CPU-Do-You-Really-Need
 
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Watch the f/s forums and buy a used 980, I picked mine for below your budget amount. You may have to pony up another $20 or so but it will be well worth it over the 390 and 970.
 
^^^
Yeah, it would be. Heck, if I do that, I may drop that one into my current #1 rig (gtx970 driving dual 1920x1200).

Meanwhile, that $329 itch is starting to burn. ;)
 
My vote goes to the R9 390.

However, if you're willing to get a used card, get a 980.
 
People are still expecting like $400 for a used 980, unless he manages to snag one at $350 or waits it out a bit for prices to drop a little on the used market.
 
iDShaDoW said:
People are still expecting like $400 for a used 980, unless he manages to snag one at $350 or waits it out a bit for prices to drop a little on the used market.
Click to expand...
EVGA B-Stocks them for around $380.
But they also do the 970 around $250 at the same time, so...
 
970 is much better, the AMD cards don't overclock very well whereas the 970 does.
 
get the 390. Don't bother wasting money on crossfire OR sli with this generation of cards, hold back your REAL expense until next year when the true arrival of next gen gpus arrive. The 390 will tide you over until then, a single card.
 
if you're not going SLi right now, with this purchase, then do not buy based on that decision. There is a strong possibility you will change your mind in the future.
 
I just purchased the MSI r9 390 from the egg. $299US after $20US MIR.

This will replace an HD6870. I hope I see a boost. ;)

Tipping points:

1. My GTX970 is in a different rig. I've never had much joy with multiple cards (back in the day, I rocked a pair of...something, and also an additional, 3rd card. 3dfx voodoo II? Shrug.) Planning to have two rigs, each with a GTX970, and then SLI'ing them when they get too old (and replacing one with a newer card) is really not going to happen.

2. My HD6870 rig already has the AMD drivers on it. Yeah, DDU solves all, but it's still an easier plug and play swap instead of wiping and adding new drivers.

3. I want competition to Nvidia. Sorry, I like Nvidia and don't want to support a "loser", but a monopoly would be bad. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Plus, the 390 is a darn good card. (Equal to, or better than, the 970 in most performance tests, even if it uses a little more power.)
If I went Nvidia with this rig, it'd be 3 out of 3 current rigs running Green.

4. I beta test for a game company. It's nice being able to compare Nvidia to AMD and showing the differences, instead of hoping someone can replicate what I'm doing. Shrug.

5. 8Gb is more than twice as good as 3.5Gb. ;)

6. Winter is coming. Go AMD. ;)

7. Having AMD and Nvidia allows me to bitch about ALL the drivers.

Thanks for the input, opinion, and advice. It helped push me into a choice.

Ken
 
c3k said:
I just purchased the MSI r9 390 from the egg. $299US after $20US MIR.

This will replace an HD6870. I hope I see a boost. ;)

Tipping points:

1. My GTX970 is in a different rig. I've never had much joy with multiple cards (back in the day, I rocked a pair of...something, and also an additional, 3rd card. 3dfx voodoo II? Shrug.) Planning to have two rigs, each with a GTX970, and then SLI'ing them when they get too old (and replacing one with a newer card) is really not going to happen.

2. My HD6870 rig already has the AMD drivers on it. Yeah, DDU solves all, but it's still an easier plug and play swap instead of wiping and adding new drivers.

3. I want competition to Nvidia. Sorry, I like Nvidia and don't want to support a "loser", but a monopoly would be bad. I'm putting my money where my mouth is. Plus, the 390 is a darn good card. (Equal to, or better than, the 970 in most performance tests, even if it uses a little more power.)
If I went Nvidia with this rig, it'd be 3 out of 3 current rigs running Green.

4. I beta test for a game company. It's nice being able to compare Nvidia to AMD and showing the differences, instead of hoping someone can replicate what I'm doing. Shrug.

5. 8Gb is more than twice as good as 3.5Gb. ;)

6. Winter is coming. Go AMD. ;)

7. Having AMD and Nvidia allows me to bitch about ALL the drivers.

Thanks for the input, opinion, and advice. It helped push me into a choice.

Ken
Click to expand...

Enjoy!
 
I'm currently in this same debate. I'm leaning towards the XFX 390 but I keep reading review about the "subpar" AMD drivers, especially with Windows 10.

Can anyone here comment and alleviate my worries about the 390?
 
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