GTX 760 4GB SLI or MSI R9 390 8G

Christian Pratt

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Sep 29, 2014
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I'm looking to upgrade my graphics performance. So the question is, do I buy another 760 for a 2 way sli setup? Or would it be better to buy the MSI R9 390 8G for overall performance?
 
Solution
Tough call....

SLI on average gives you about 75% scaling but up to 96% in the more demanding games.

perfrel_1920.gif


So with the 760 you could expect it to score about 105% in the above table.... and as high as 118% on the more demanding games. That would compare to 99% for the 390 and the 103% for the 970. If you have the 4 GB 760, from a "bang for the buck" standpoint, you get more performance for less than half the cost of the 390 or 970.

If you have 2 GB, you will be somewhat constrained settings wise in a small number of the most recent games.

As for the 970 versus 390, the 970 in a heartbeat at up to 1440p. The cost difference is about $10 between...
While I run a multi GPU solution that works well for me, it doesn't always for everyone and generally a single GPU is the best way to go in terms of both support and compatibility. Overall the 390 will be a little faster and has better support for new DX12 features as well.
 
Tough call....

SLI on average gives you about 75% scaling but up to 96% in the more demanding games.

perfrel_1920.gif


So with the 760 you could expect it to score about 105% in the above table.... and as high as 118% on the more demanding games. That would compare to 99% for the 390 and the 103% for the 970. If you have the 4 GB 760, from a "bang for the buck" standpoint, you get more performance for less than half the cost of the 390 or 970.

If you have 2 GB, you will be somewhat constrained settings wise in a small number of the most recent games.

As for the 970 versus 390, the 970 in a heartbeat at up to 1440p. The cost difference is about $10 between comparable / same manufacturer cards. But the 970 is 4% faster out of the box at 1080p and that leads grows substantially if you use afterburner. The 390 can be overclocked about 8% whereas the 970 can go 17%.

If money is not really an issue, the 4 GB 970 makes the most sense ... it's performance overclocked will becomparable to the 760s overclocked in SLI. The 390 will be slower than either of those and the 8GB will do nothing for you at resolutions up to 1440p. If money is an issue, then there's certainly no problem with 4GB 760s as they will be comparable tot he 970 and faster than the 760 in most games. If you have 2 GB, some of today's games, especially poor console ports like the new AC) may require you to reduce settings. However, much less so than is of reported in form posts. Here's some comparisons between 2 GB and 4GB

http://alienbabeltech.com/main/gtx-770-4gb-vs-2gb-tested/3/
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/gigabyte_geforce_gtx_960_g1_gaming_4gb_review,12.html
https://www.pugetsystems.com/labs/articles/Video-Card-Performance-2GB-vs-4GB-Memory-154/

Here's what Guru3D said about 2 GB versus 4GB in SoM which is oft used as an example of why you **need** 4 GB.

What is interesting to see is that the 4GB version utilized over 3GB memory here, the 2GB version obviously can only utilize 2GB. That has no effect on FPS or game rendering experience whatsoever though.

You will get very similar fps when lack of memory is an issue. But in a game like Thief for example, the benchmark runs smoothly 95% of the way but at beginning and end there is a slight stutter when the VRAM has to swap out to memory.... but again, this is at 1440p. At 1080p, it's pretty hard to produce such an effect.

In short ....

-8 GB doesn't bearing on the conversation; 4 GB is more than enough up to 1440p. Few said it better than here:

-The 3 links above show the impact of 2 GB versus 4 GB. In the great majority of games, it's not going to be an issue; in some, you may have to reduce settings.

-It's strictly a money decision between the twin 760s and the other two cards if they are both 4 GB. Performance wise ...

Twin 760s scores 118% before overclocking, 125% after
The 970 scores 103% before overclocking, 121% after
The 390 scores 99% before overclocking, 107% after




 
Solution