Graphics Card Update: RX480 8GB Which model to buy?

[achtung_kid]

Hi All,

I am looking to upgrade my graphics card from a Radeon 6950 (ooooold!) to an RX 480 8GB. I have done a good bit of reading and I am quite sure this is the GPU that I want: I know it is nearly as on par as possible with the GTX 1060, but I have seen in this review (see below) that the 480 tends to fare better in DX12 and/or Vulkan games and I think that little bit of potential gain in the future makes the difference for me. I currently game at 1080p, but will likely be upgrading to a 1440p monitor with 18months. Here are my system specs:

MSI P67A-GD80
i5 2500K OC at 4.0GHz
16GB Patriot Viper RAM
120GB OCZ Agility 3 SSD - boot drive
275GB Crucial MX300 SSD
500GB Seagate HDD
Corsair TX 750W PSU

I realize also that my CPU is aging...but from the reading I have done, it shouldn't be a bottleneck for me while gaming. I am hoping to be able to get another 3 years of gaming out of the system and I plan the RX 480 to be a part of that, and perhaps even carryover to a new machine if I continue PC gaming.

Anyways, the average price for these cards in the Canadian market seems to be ~330$CAD before tax. I have found these two cards for a decent chunk less:

Powercolor Red Devil: 270$ after a 30$ MIR
https://www.newegg.ca/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16814131694

MSI Stock Radeon: 285$
http://www.canadacomputers.com/product_info.php?cPath=43_1200_557_558&item_id=098087

Are either of these worth buying? I have read a lot of negative reviews about Powercolor's quality & warranty. The MSI card is also a stock option, but does have some raised clock speeds. As I said, any advice on which, if either I should buy would be great. I don't have to buy right now, so I can sit tight for a few weeks and wait for a different sale.

Best thanks in advance!

 

[Hellfire13]

PowerCooler is not too bad, but MSI is ofcourse slightly better in terms of cooling and performance. Doesnt matter which one you get, they are all more or less on par. One of the better variants is Sapphire Nitro, and its also clocked significantly higher than the rest. But it is also a few dollars above the ones you have listed... https://ca.pcpartpicker.com/product/RKX2FT/sapphire-radeon-rx-480-8gb-nitro-oc-video-card-11260-01-20g

The other factor is, 480 is excellent for 1080p gaming. But it might struggle a bit, if and when you go for 1440p. Also varies from game to game. With your current config, i should say, you can still extract 2 or 3 yrs on 1080p gaming with the rx480. Switch to a a better and recent config after that and raise to 1440p with something like a GTX 1080 or Vega maybe.

 

[zpak477]

Stay at 1080p if you're going for an RX 480 with AMD since its boost clocks are set to stay at its rated boost clock as long as thermals allow, to get over that number you have to manually overclock, but it really comes down to clock speeds and cooling when deciding and also looks if you're into that.