Bought the Acer XR341CK - Which GPU to power it

Michael_13

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Sep 3, 2015
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The monitor is a FreeSync monitor but that still doesn't completely answer the question as it future proofs me for a 2017 AMD card that beats the GTX 980ti but currently 980TI is the king of the hill. So with that being said.

R9 Fury X for 600$
or
GTX 980ti Platinum Matrix for 650$
or
Some other card?

What say you?
 
Solution
I strongly recommend waiting for an AMD Polaris GPU with at least 8GB VRAM. Unfortunately not quite sure how much performance these will get.
http://wccftech.com/amd-polaris-10-gpu-specs-leaked/

So we MAY see an R9-490X with similar performance to the Fury X but with 8GB of VRAM?

Maybe at least wait another month for more info?

Why?
NVidia-> no Freesync support (and asynchronous mode is awesome for gaming)

Fury X-> only 4GB VRAM. Not enough for many future games.

Other:
If you really need to buy now I can only recommend a good R9-390X 8GB card. You get Freesync and have enough VRAM. It will use a LOT more power than Polaris (which is up to 2.5X more efficient). My room gets hot so for me it's not an option.

You could then SELL the...
Its silly to get a high end NVidia GTX 980ti when you just purchased a high end AMD Compatible FreeSync Gaming Monitor.
Also when DirectX 12 Games become more numerous assuming you have Windows 10 the performance difference between AMD and NVidia shrinks considerably.
 


It's not silly to consider both options when their price is really close, one is the best single GPU available arguably (matrix model) other allows me to FreeSync but I may need to lower settings to get a stable 60fps

Also the GSync version is 450$ more than I paid... That's ridiculous at least I'm future proofed with a monitor that pushes out 80hertz
 
I strongly recommend waiting for an AMD Polaris GPU with at least 8GB VRAM. Unfortunately not quite sure how much performance these will get.
http://wccftech.com/amd-polaris-10-gpu-specs-leaked/

So we MAY see an R9-490X with similar performance to the Fury X but with 8GB of VRAM?

Maybe at least wait another month for more info?

Why?
NVidia-> no Freesync support (and asynchronous mode is awesome for gaming)

Fury X-> only 4GB VRAM. Not enough for many future games.

Other:
If you really need to buy now I can only recommend a good R9-390X 8GB card. You get Freesync and have enough VRAM. It will use a LOT more power than Polaris (which is up to 2.5X more efficient). My room gets hot so for me it's not an option.

You could then SELL the card and get a Vega which will hopefully be 25% to 50% faster than the Fury X?
 
Solution
I believe ultimately, that's the answer. To go with the 390X Devil. This is why I always ask, it allows me to consider all available options through other peoples perspective aside from mine.
 
Update:
When you look at the link I gave which is just educated guessing anyway, you have to remember that:

a) Polaris is a different architecture so you can't compare core counts directly

b) frequency should be higher with 14nm according to AMD

c) future DX12 games should utilize the newer architecture better than the older R9-300 series. So even if performance is SIMILAR to say an R9-390X you might see big boosts in some games in a manner similar to how ASync Compute can make a difference.
 
I was in exact same boat - I too have a Acer XR341CK - I was running Crossfire 280X's - which of course later find out are not Free Sync Compatible. With me playing The Division the micro-shuttering was unplayable, I had to disable 1 card which solved the issue but then I had to lower the settings to get 30fps. I just got a damaged box MSI 390X off of amazon for $345 put it in the XR34 recognized and started running with the Free Sync. The difference is worth it until Polaris comes, but now I'm not waiting every single day for when will Polaris be available.
 


Nice glad you got your issue fixed. Got my a water cooled 390X off Newegg for near 400$. Code just ended though so...
 


1) I thought Crossfire worked with Freesync since about July 2015?

2) Crossfire in "The Division" was added:
http://www.tweaktown.com/news/50680/new-radeon-crimson-drivers-enables-crossfire-xcom-2-division/index.html

*I'm not saying it works okay, but maybe investigate that further and see if it's smooth for other people, and if so maybe you can fix your issue and go back to your Crossfire setup.

(Probably a few game updates coming which may help)

SLI got over 80% scaling in some situations for The Division.
 
Freesync works with crossfire, it's the gcn 1.0 architecture of 280x/7970 that doesn't work with freesync.

OP: Great pick on GPU, you can always get a 2nd 390x down the road, doesn't even have to be liquid cooled since the top GPU tends to be the hotter one.