GTX 970 or R9 390 in exchange for GTX 960 2gb

[sr2002]

So I recently purchased a 960 GB SSC version and as soon as I bought it, I saw threads talking about the 2gb ram and how it might be low for future games. Also I saw a lower prices on some cards that were previously expensive.

I saw the GTX 970 at about 300$ + 25$ rebate on Newegg
R9 390 for 300 ish dollars
And a 960 4GB version for 179$ (20$ cheaper than what I paid for the 2gb version just 4 days ago).

I'd like some recommendations as to will investing 100$ extra dollars on a 970 to get 1.5GB extra ram + faster bus be beneficial for upcoming games ? (What about the 960 + 4gb version)
Also, recommendations on the R9 380/390 in comparison to the 970/960 (As I heard the radeons consume a lot of power).

Also any thoughts on whether I should wait till Black friday? Do these cards historically see any significant discounts or is it usually just the entry level ones?

My constraints: I'm putting this card in a Dell server with a EVGA 550GS PSU. The maximum length of the card cannot exceed the length of the EVGA ACX 2.0 Cooler length (10.5"). So I cant fit any of the massive 3-fan R9 390s.
Also since the case is a mid tower with one 90mm fan, I dunno if any of the Radeons would be able to dissipate enough power.

 

[Adel Medhat]

I would recommend waiting for the 380x coming out later this fall or winter. For the $300 range, the 390 is easily better than the 970 at the moment with the only downside of heat dissipation. The 380x can run well with this setup and if you want to compare it to a GTX card it'll probably be close to the 970.

If you would like to stick with the green side you can wait till sales start popping up Thanksgiving time and see if you can snag the 970 below 300 (not a $10 discount though). And buying a 960 4GB doesn't give much of a difference in performance to a 2GB unless you play open world games that use up a lot of VRAM and the smaller bus on the 960 won't be that efficient with the 4Gb.

 

[jerrie86]

I got 970 for $250 few days ago from Newegg ( New Zotac branded ). I will say wait for right price to pop up and get it then.
I use Slickdeals.net to put a deal alert on anything which has gtx in it and I get alerted right away when it will go on sale.

Pros of 970 over 390:

lower power consumption
Less heat
as comparable to 390 at 1080p

pros of 390 over 970:

extra 4gb VRAM
more FPS on 1440p and 4k res

BF deals are often hyped and seeing last few years deals, I wouldn't hold my breath on that.

 

[sr2002]

You're right, thats what I was thinking of doing, just wait till thanksgiving.

My only problem with the Radeons is that historically I've seen them to be very power hungry and hot running, so thats the only reason I'm a little afraid to consider them. Also, I saw all the R9 390s and almost all of them have massive coolers that won't physically fit my motherboard.
Here is the picture of my current EVGA 960 with the backplate:

As you can see there is probably a 1mm gap between the ram latches and the card and the hard drive cage is only about 0.5cm away.
This is another reason I'm only consider EVGA ACX 2.0 based cards because I know they will definitely fit (EVGA doesnt seem to make Radeons)

 

[Adel Medhat]

That is an extremely tight fit, lucky you have air for the GPU to intake. If you will wait, check out the 380x specs if it releases before thanksgiving and see how it performs compared to a 970. Also EVGA is a NVIDIA only maker, like how Sapphire or XFX make AMD cards only.