GTX 960 4gb or the R9 280x

naseem142

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Jan 30, 2015
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first of all , i am planing to replace my older GTX 750 Ti 2gb to a better card and i took a LONG time researching the perfect fit and i found out about the 4gb GTX 960 , it seemed the perfect one until i read about it that the 4gb is useless and can't be used? I didn't get it , because i saw videos of the GTX 960 performing on GTA V with used 2.8gb VRAM while performing almost the same as a 280x but a few frames less.

For the price , the 960 4gb costs $314 due to tax , and the r9 280x costs $298 so the difference is not huge, i also have enough budget to get the 970 from amazon but since i'm not in the US , some sellers do not ship to my location not even amazon. I only found an offer for $440 which is no deal , there was an offer for a used one that i can afford but does not ship.. So if anybody knows a non shady website that i can buy the 970 in case it's the better option i would be grateful.

But for 280x that i don't like about is the power consumption and high heat that some people complain about , and it's summer here and it gets as hot as hell in here , don't want to reach too much high temps.. And i like the graphics card to be quiet. And i'm liking this 750 ti being quiet and efficient at the same time.

So i need help from you guys to help decide whether i choose the gtx 960 4gb or the r9 280x ( which model should i get if so ) , or help me find a store which ships internationally so i can buy the 970 which i think is the best option.

Thank you! :)
 
Solution
The RAM issue was that the last 500Mb was slow and rubbish, meaning the card can be considered to have 3.5Gb, but I think this was only for the 970, not the 960. Either way, 3Gb is just enough for cards this powerful.

It is close, but IIRC, the 280x is 10-15% faster. I've got the XFX DD and OC to ~1160Mhz. It does run warm, but only because the 9xx cards run so cool.
280x is better than the 960 from becnchmarks. And yes, whatever you read indicating the 4 gigs cant be used is true toa degree. The 960 has a 128 bit memory interface for the VRAM. This is way to small for the VRAM so it is a waste of money to get a 4 gig card. I'd look into the 960 2 gig version or a 280 which runs a bit cooler.
 


Where do you live?
You should find a local store because they buy in bulk and often have cheaper prices.
Also, the R9 280x will perform much better than the 960 although it is more hot and power-hungry.
But, the cheaper 960s only have 2gbs of gddr5
 
The RAM issue was that the last 500Mb was slow and rubbish, meaning the card can be considered to have 3.5Gb, but I think this was only for the 970, not the 960. Either way, 3Gb is just enough for cards this powerful.

It is close, but IIRC, the 280x is 10-15% faster. I've got the XFX DD and OC to ~1160Mhz. It does run warm, but only because the 9xx cards run so cool.
 
Solution
So how do i start? Many said that 960 was bad because of it's 128bit interface. Funny thing is if this was AMD card that 128bit will be touted as efficient design instead being bad (hint: 5770) 😛

Well that aside personally i don't see much of a problem with 960 128bit interface. What really matters was the total bandwidth instead of individual spec like memory interface size. Just look at TPU review of 960. Be it at 1080p or 4k the performance difference between 960 and 680 are about the same (960 is about 5% behind 680 regarless of resolution). So personally i don't think the low bandwitdth of 960 is a total negative on the card. So when that low bandwidth become a problem? Most likely when the provided bandwidth are not enough for the game. Nvidia try to solve this bandwidth issue by making their card to use available bandwidth more efficiently (that's the compression thingy that we always hear about). As for 2GB vs 4GB i don't think they relate to the card's bandwidth. That is separate issue entirely.

So in 960 vs 280x in general 280X will win the raw performance battle. But if the game did favors nvidia cards more then the scale would tip to nvidia side. And there is also new games that favoring new architecture from both nvidia and AMD. GTAV is an exanple to this. In test done by HardOCP 960 and AMD 285 have quite significant performance advantage over 280X (when VRAM are not limiting factor)

Personally i have hard time to pick between 960 and 280 non x. In general 280 are slower than 960. The extra 1gb only an advantage if the the game really use a lot of VRAM. Just wonder why nvidia did not make 960 into 192 bit card and pit 3GB as standard config. That way it is more easier picking up 960 hahaha :lol:
 


I live in israel , but the store prices are not cheaper at all. It's either same price or higher , and in this case the cards i chose are $100 more than the ones i want to order + tax so i save a good amount.
 
And mostly i will be using 1080p gaming only nothing like 4K or even 1440p , and i have a seasonic 520w which should be enough for either card , but the fact that i am so close of getting a 970 yet shipping stops me.. So you guys are suggesting the 280x so i guess i'll go with that, But which model should i choose for best cool temps and lowest noise from your experience?

Thanks a lot!
 


I've got the Sapphire 280X Tri-X Vapor-X and I love it. Runs really cool even with overclocking. No coil whine and if you leave the fan speed on auto they are very quiet. The 3GB is great for dual screen and running games at 1080p with High/Ultra settings. The GTX 960 is a great card for people in a budget but overall the 280X is a better card.

Sapphire: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202137&cm_re=sapphire_r9_280x_vapor_x-_-14-202-137-_-Product
Gigabyte: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125726&cm_re=gigabyte_r9_280x-_-14-125-726-_-Product

The Gigabyte R9 280X is actually cooler but I'm not sure about the noise. But, of course, get the GTX 970 if you can find shipping.

The 4GB GTX 960 is primarily aimed at SLI setups with 2 cards - you double the GPU processing while maintaining 4GB of memory. It actually rivals the performance of a single GTX 970.