AMD Radeon R9 300 Series MegaThread: FAQ and Resources

[Eggz]

Let's be real. It's all a bit outlandish.

 

[turkey3_scratch]

GTX 980 IMO one of the worst value cards. If not the worst.

 

[17seconds]

GTX 980 IMO one of the worst value cards. If not the worst.

Pretty much neck and neck with the Fury.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/R9_390_Nitro/25.html

 

[jerdle]

You posted the 1080p chart. If you're buying a 980 or Fury / Nano, chances are pretty good you're going above 1080p - where it keeps improving for the Radeons.

 

[jimmysmitty]

The R9 nano would be closer to a gtx 980 than an R9 Fury. The nano is weaker than the fury, stronger than the 980 and sells for $499.99.

The Fury's sitting @ $509.99 after rebates and $529.99 before rebates...

I don't count rebates since they are not applicable on all sites or to all people.

Let's be real. It's all a bit outlandish.

As I said a 9700Pro was $500 in 2003. Top end GPUs normally are. Hell people complain at a $400 dollar CPU when a Pentium 75MHz was $2000 dollars new. If anything we are getting better.

You posted the 1080p chart. If you're buying a 980 or Fury / Nano, chances are pretty good you're going above 1080p - where it keeps improving for the Radeons.

Actually a 980 is only good till 1440P, even then 1080P is preferable for that. For 1440P you want a Fury X or 980Ti and for 4K, well lets wait till Pascal and Polaris for that.

 

[-Fran-]

Plus, I would imagine that chart is pre-lowering the MSRP.

Cheers!

 

[Eggz]

Let's be real. It's all a bit outlandish.

As I said a 9700Pro was $500 in 2003. Top end GPUs normally are. Hell people complain at a $400 dollar CPU when a Pentium 75MHz was $2000 dollars new. If anything we are getting better.

Part of the reason to spend on the top stuff is to contribute to driving prices down. The more who can that do, the better for everyone else. The other reason is obviously to have the top stuff because have it's fun to play with

 

[loki1944]

hit and miss just like it's name. but mostly that site exist to satisfy the fantasy of rabid AMD fanboy. heard that some people got ban in their forum just because their line of thinking does not align with them.

Well that's good to know. Although, I haven't owned a Radeon card since it was still with ATI, I have to admit, that I really want to see AMD succeed this year in a huge way for GPUs... we really need the competition. Price of a 980 is just outlandish.

A R9 Fury, the GTX 980s direct competition, is $549 right now (depends on the model) and the 980 is $499. Not sure how outlandish the price is since the 980 is a top end GPU and I remember paying $500 for a Radeon 9700Pro that would be made to look like a calculator GPU compared to a 980.

Direct competition for the 980 is the 390X performance wise.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-radeon-r9-390x-review

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_390X_Gaming/35.html

Plus you can find the 390X for $100+less than a 980.

 

[jimmysmitty]

hit and miss just like it's name. but mostly that site exist to satisfy the fantasy of rabid AMD fanboy. heard that some people got ban in their forum just because their line of thinking does not align with them.

Well that's good to know. Although, I haven't owned a Radeon card since it was still with ATI, I have to admit, that I really want to see AMD succeed this year in a huge way for GPUs... we really need the competition. Price of a 980 is just outlandish.

A R9 Fury, the GTX 980s direct competition, is $549 right now (depends on the model) and the 980 is $499. Not sure how outlandish the price is since the 980 is a top end GPU and I remember paying $500 for a Radeon 9700Pro that would be made to look like a calculator GPU compared to a 980.

Direct competition for the 980 is the 390X performance wise.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-radeon-r9-390x-review

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_390X_Gaming/35.html

Plus you can find the 390X for $100+less than a 980.

I guess it depends on the review. I have seen some 980/Fury reviews that show them right next to each other. Might be the highly OCed 980s that keep up with the Fury.

Either way the price is not as bad as people make it to be. People want more for less but they keep getting it. A HD6450 has the same power as top end GPUs that used to cost $500 dollars.

Pricing is not going to change either. I am willing to bet that top end Polaris and top end Pascal are going to be very close in performance and will probably have the top end start at either $550 or $650 and unless one is drastically lower in performance, they will both be priced similarly.

 

[loki1944]

hit and miss just like it's name. but mostly that site exist to satisfy the fantasy of rabid AMD fanboy. heard that some people got ban in their forum just because their line of thinking does not align with them.

Well that's good to know. Although, I haven't owned a Radeon card since it was still with ATI, I have to admit, that I really want to see AMD succeed this year in a huge way for GPUs... we really need the competition. Price of a 980 is just outlandish.

A R9 Fury, the GTX 980s direct competition, is $549 right now (depends on the model) and the 980 is $499. Not sure how outlandish the price is since the 980 is a top end GPU and I remember paying $500 for a Radeon 9700Pro that would be made to look like a calculator GPU compared to a 980.

Direct competition for the 980 is the 390X performance wise.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-radeon-r9-390x-review

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_390X_Gaming/35.html

Plus you can find the 390X for $100+less than a 980.

I guess it depends on the review. I have seen some 980/Fury reviews that show them right next to each other. Might be the highly OCed 980s that keep up with the Fury.

Either way the price is not as bad as people make it to be. People want more for less but they keep getting it. A HD6450 has the same power as top end GPUs that used to cost $500 dollars.

Pricing is not going to change either. I am willing to bet that top end Polaris and top end Pascal are going to be very close in performance and will probably have the top end start at either $550 or $650 and unless one is drastically lower in performance, they will both be priced similarly.

HardCop did a comparison of MSI 390x vs Asus Fury; 390X was giving the Fury a run for its money. http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/07/13/msi_r9_390x_gaming_vs_asus_strix_fury_review/8#.VrUfN_krJhE

guru3d's review http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/asus_radeon_r9_390x_strix_8g_review,13.html

shows the regular 390X neck to neck with the reference 980 @1440p.

 

[-Fran-]

The 390X is the underdog, but it's keeping up with the 980 at least in performance.

I would say neither is a bad purchase, but the 390X is a better value IMO. And the 970 is the best value in that performance range.

Cheers!

 

[Neur0nauT]

I'll be honest. I think the 390X was a solid purchase. Simply because it is future-proofed for a few years. It runs hot, uses more power than it should, but it gets the job done.

 

[renz496]

Nah to me none of gpu this gen really future proof. Even with DX12 we see nvidia lack in one aspect and AMD in another aspect.

 

[-Fran-]

Nah to me none of gpu this gen really future proof. Even with DX12 we see nvidia lack in one aspect and AMD in another aspect.

Well, considering DX9c is still the most widely used graphical API out there and that is what? 11 years old now? Well, just wiki'ed it: released 2004, holy damn!

DX12 still is winding up and slowly at that. Consoles have been out for more than 1 year now and we haven't seen games that fully use the extended API. Most of the games are DX9c with a few DX12 features.

My point of all of what I'm saying is simple: Once DX12 gets a hold of the market, then we might prolly see it stay around for 10 years, just like we've seen DX9c.

Now, that doesn't mean AMD and nVidia won't make their GPUs better at DX12, but it does not mean that they will change everything once a new API comes out. Refrasing: My 4890 would still be used if AMD wouldn't have stopped making new drivers for it. I have friends still using the 5800 series with no issues!

Cheers!

 

[renz496]

Speaking of the API itself....well if your game have no problem with the older API there is no need to force to yourself using newer API. Especially with DX12 when graphically wise everything that can be done with DX12 can be done with DX11. So if your your game doesn't get bottleneck by DX11 probably better stay with DX11 rather that add more burden.

 

[deaftpunk]

Guys I ordered a Gigabyte AMD R9 380 G1 graphics card, which drivers should I install when it arrives? The ones on gigabytes site or AMD's site?
Gigabyte: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5462#dl
AMD: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+7+-+64

I downloaded both and they look like different drivers, any help?

 

[jerdle]

download off amds website

 

[cdrkf]

Guys I ordered a Gigabyte AMD R9 380 G1 graphics card, which drivers should I install when it arrives? The ones on gigabytes site or AMD's site?
Gigabyte: http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=5462#dl
AMD: http://support.amd.com/en-us/download/desktop?os=Windows+7+-+64

I downloaded both and they look like different drivers, any help?

JerdIe is correct, use the drivers direct from AMD. The ones supplied with the card will be the driver available at the time the card was produced. As the R9 380 has been out for quite a while now they are guaranteed to be out of date.

 

[yumri]

hat i don't get is why compare the GTX 980 (the worst nVidia card for your money in the GeForce series) to anything on the AMD side but not he GTX 980ti the card anyone with a brain would buy instead of a GTX 980?
also the R9 390X is a top end flagship card so why compare a flag ship to a no longer flag ship card?

 

[jimmysmitty]

hat i don't get is why compare the GTX 980 (the worst nVidia card for your money in the GeForce series) to anything on the AMD side but not he GTX 980ti the card anyone with a brain would buy instead of a GTX 980?
also the R9 390X is a top end flagship card so why compare a flag ship to a no longer flag ship card?

The 390X is not the flagship card, that would be the Fury X. The 390X is now a high end GPU.

And technically the 980Ti is not the flagship, the Titan X is even though that is a waste of money.

 

[renz496]

980ti is nvidia flagship for 900 series. Titan X is kind of special kind of cards that usually dub as 'prosumer' card. Hence when ever nvidia have new game bundle the titan series never got included.

 

[jimmysmitty]

980ti is nvidia flagship for 900 series. Titan X is kind of special kind of cards that usually dub as 'prosumer' card. Hence when ever nvidia have new game bundle the titan series never got included.

That is why I said "technically" since it is not but kind of is since it is the top of the line GPU you can get in the consumer space from nVidia.

 

[Juan_WF]

I can buy a 390x for 390€ but my psu is a corsair vx550v.

Can i run it with undervolting while get money to buy a better psu?

 

[Bossyfins]

Wouldn't trust it.

 

[jimmysmitty]

Wouldn't trust it.[/quotemsg'

I wouldn't do it because that GPU is pretty high power even if under volted but that PSU is a older model from Corsair that was better quality.