GTX 970 or R9 390 please help!

[treewilly]

Hello, I am due an upgrade from my R7 265.
I have two cards in my sight right now, and it is the GTX 970 and the R9 390.
What I have come to understand is that the R9 390 is more expensive than the 970, yet right now, there is a great deal on Amazon for an XFX R9 390, and was wondering if I should go ahead and buy this one, or spend a bit more and get a different brand, maybe the 970? I also know that the 970 has the 3.5GB GDDR5 issue, so I don't know if it is still a worthy card.
I play at 1080p 60Hz
Thanks!

Link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-Graphics-Card-GDDR5/dp/B00ZCBDUXQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1438375492&sr=8-2&keywords=r9+390

 

[fudgecakes99]

You cannot measure noise with one non reference card. They're are different setups different pcb's. Sure i'll give you the 970 is better at oc'ing and even that it does in fact use less wattage. If op plans on ocing then 970 all the way, i don't think he does. That said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNKQj39Gkk. That 8 gigs of vram and updated architecture goes a long way and the 390 is visibly better than a 290. Granted theirs a 60+ premium on a 390 over a 290.

At 1080p trends show that vram consumption is growing gradually. But it is. For now though 3.5 gigs of vram is completley viable especially at 1080p. But personally i'd like having the extra headroom of 8 gigs. especially when the price difference is so minimal.

Honestly, i think people who favour the 970 by arguing that even 3.5GB is more than enough "for today" either own the card and/or just love Nvidia so much that they're simply blind to reality. I'm sure this has been discussed a million times already.

Sure VRAM isn't everything(certainly not nothing) and the two cards are very similar, with 390 usually being a bit more expensive, but at least AMD isn't deceiving people and hoping they don't find out, at least they're up-front about their product. What Nvidia did with the 970 is just unacceptable, they lied, regardless of that lie not really affecting the product performance, as its defenders argue. They should've just said "this is practically a 3.5GB card and here's how", or better yet, avoid this stupid design altogether, screw their marketing. I've relied on Nvidia for GPU so far, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna blind myself to other options when i'm in the market for a new one. Overall the 390 pretty much wins in this case.

I"d reword that paragraph immediately sure, it may seem like someone is more biased towards nvidia but nvidia has a great track record, and right fully so. They've over the years continued to produce excellent cards. Everyone's notion of a perceived value can be different and not be wrong. We're all just trying to show all the relative perspectives of video cards. Bating people into gpu wars doesn't help anyone it sure as heck doesn't help op. All it does is bring out the worst in people. That said this 970 vs 390 as cards are incredibly similar. Think of it less like 2 scoops of an ice cream you love to one scoop of either vanilla or chocolate. Some people like vanilla some people like chocolate both are delicious in their own right it's just preference. I happen to love chocolate chip cookie dough.

 

[faraway]

You cannot measure noise with one non reference card. They're are different setups different pcb's. Sure i'll give you the 970 is better at oc'ing and even that it does in fact use less wattage. If op plans on ocing then 970 all the way, i don't think he does. That said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNKQj39Gkk. That 8 gigs of vram and updated architecture goes a long way and the 390 is visibly better than a 290. Granted theirs a 60+ premium on a 390 over a 290.

At 1080p trends show that vram consumption is growing gradually. But it is. For now though 3.5 gigs of vram is completley viable especially at 1080p. But personally i'd like having the extra headroom of 8 gigs. especially when the price difference is so minimal.

Honestly, i think people who favour the 970 by arguing that even 3.5GB is more than enough "for today" either own the card and/or just love Nvidia so much that they're simply blind to reality. I'm sure this has been discussed a million times already.

Sure VRAM isn't everything(certainly not nothing) and the two cards are very similar, with 390 usually being a bit more expensive, but at least AMD isn't deceiving people and hoping they don't find out, at least they're up-front about their product. What Nvidia did with the 970 is just unacceptable, they lied, regardless of that lie not really affecting the product performance, as its defenders argue. They should've just said "this is practically a 3.5GB card and here's how", or better yet, avoid this stupid design altogether, screw their marketing. I've relied on Nvidia for GPU so far, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna blind myself to other options when i'm in the market for a new one. Overall the 390 pretty much wins in this case.

I"d reword that paragraph immediately sure, it may seem like someone is more biased towards nvidia but nvidia has a great track record, and right fully so. They've over the years continued to produce excellent cards. Everyone's notion of a perceived value can be different and not be wrong. We're all just trying to show all the relative perspectives of video cards. Bating people into gpu wars doesn't help anyone it sure as heck doesn't help op. All it does is bring out the worst in people. That said this 970 vs 390 as cards are incredibly similar. Think of it less like 2 scoops of an ice cream you love to one scoop of either vanilla or chocolate. Some people like vanilla some people like chocolate both are delicious in their own right it's just preference. I happen to love chocolate chip cookie dough.

If you read my post carefully, you'd see i've said nothing about one brand being better or worse, nor have i supported any "gpu war", i also said that the two are very similar, anyways my previous post's still in there😛

I just stated my annoyance at Nvidia's arguably deceitful trick in this particular comparison. I've also, as i said, used mostly Nvidia cards in the past. Don't get fanboying, it's dumb if you ask me. But i also don't like being humbugged, that's just me though.

 

[renz496]

heheh pop corn time 😀

 

[fudgecakes99]

You cannot measure noise with one non reference card. They're are different setups different pcb's. Sure i'll give you the 970 is better at oc'ing and even that it does in fact use less wattage. If op plans on ocing then 970 all the way, i don't think he does. That said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNKQj39Gkk. That 8 gigs of vram and updated architecture goes a long way and the 390 is visibly better than a 290. Granted theirs a 60+ premium on a 390 over a 290.

At 1080p trends show that vram consumption is growing gradually. But it is. For now though 3.5 gigs of vram is completley viable especially at 1080p. But personally i'd like having the extra headroom of 8 gigs. especially when the price difference is so minimal.

Honestly, i think people who favour the 970 by arguing that even 3.5GB is more than enough "for today" either own the card and/or just love Nvidia so much that they're simply blind to reality. I'm sure this has been discussed a million times already.

Sure VRAM isn't everything(certainly not nothing) and the two cards are very similar, with 390 usually being a bit more expensive, but at least AMD isn't deceiving people and hoping they don't find out, at least they're up-front about their product. What Nvidia did with the 970 is just unacceptable, they lied, regardless of that lie not really affecting the product performance, as its defenders argue. They should've just said "this is practically a 3.5GB card and here's how", or better yet, avoid this stupid design altogether, screw their marketing. I've relied on Nvidia for GPU so far, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna blind myself to other options when i'm in the market for a new one. Overall the 390 pretty much wins in this case.

I"d reword that paragraph immediately sure, it may seem like someone is more biased towards nvidia but nvidia has a great track record, and right fully so. They've over the years continued to produce excellent cards. Everyone's notion of a perceived value can be different and not be wrong. We're all just trying to show all the relative perspectives of video cards. Bating people into gpu wars doesn't help anyone it sure as heck doesn't help op. All it does is bring out the worst in people. That said this 970 vs 390 as cards are incredibly similar. Think of it less like 2 scoops of an ice cream you love to one scoop of either vanilla or chocolate. Some people like vanilla some people like chocolate both are delicious in their own right it's just preference. I happen to love chocolate chip cookie dough.

If you read my post carefully, you'd see i've said nothing about one brand being better or worse, nor have i supported any "gpu war", i also said that the two are very similar, anyways my previous post's still in there😛

I just stated my annoyance at Nvidia's arguably deceitful trick in this particular comparison. I've also, as i said, used mostly Nvidia cards in the past. Don't get fanboying, it's dumb if you ask me. But i also don't like being humbugged, that's just me though.

Listen i'm not gonna start an argument like this just realize the way you worded it makes it very hostile and knowing the mods here they won't tolerate it, so for your own good. Change the paragraph. Or get banned either way you were warned.

 

[fudgecakes99]

heheh pop corn time 😀

Caramel or butter?

 

[spentshells]

In this situation I can easily see wanting to stay with AMD. The 265/7850 was a reall winner in price performance when they were selling for around 150. ( I picked up 2 @ 150, mostly for the free games.) the performance at the time was nothing short of impressive.


In all reality though, a 390 over a 970 isn't really a good option, especially when the 290 is 250 dollars. 8Gb cards at 1080P is a bit much for most anyone but the craziest amount of mods.

Get a 290 or the better choice which I feel is a 970.

 

[renz496]

i agree that 290 will be better choice due to price. as for VRAM, that 8GB most likely useless at 1080p. yes there are game that use boat load of VRAM but how many are they? no need to go far. just think how many games can where 4GB is not enough on 1080p? some said it might benefit when future games use more VRAM but when that arrive i think cards like 390 will face another problem; raw power. i mean just look at the original titan. it has 6GB VRAM. did it gave the card advantage on VRAM hog games?:

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_Titan_X/9.html

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/NVIDIA/GeForce_GTX_Titan_X/23.html

look at 4K numbers. the answer is there.

but, but, but DX12...... :lol:

 

[Mousemonkey]

You cannot measure noise with one non reference card. They're are different setups different pcb's. Sure i'll give you the 970 is better at oc'ing and even that it does in fact use less wattage. If op plans on ocing then 970 all the way, i don't think he does. That said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNKQj39Gkk. That 8 gigs of vram and updated architecture goes a long way and the 390 is visibly better than a 290. Granted theirs a 60+ premium on a 390 over a 290.

At 1080p trends show that vram consumption is growing gradually. But it is. For now though 3.5 gigs of vram is completley viable especially at 1080p. But personally i'd like having the extra headroom of 8 gigs. especially when the price difference is so minimal.

Honestly, i think people who favour the 970 by arguing that even 3.5GB is more than enough "for today" either own the card and/or just love Nvidia so much that they're simply blind to reality. I'm sure this has been discussed a million times already.

Sure VRAM isn't everything(certainly not nothing) and the two cards are very similar, with 390 usually being a bit more expensive, but at least AMD isn't deceiving people and hoping they don't find out, at least they're up-front about their product. What Nvidia did with the 970 is just unacceptable, they lied, regardless of that lie not really affecting the product performance, as its defenders argue. They should've just said "this is practically a 3.5GB card and here's how", or better yet, avoid this stupid design altogether, screw their marketing. I've relied on Nvidia for GPU so far, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna blind myself to other options when i'm in the market for a new one. Overall the 390 pretty much wins in this case.

I"d reword that paragraph immediately sure, it may seem like someone is more biased towards nvidia but nvidia has a great track record, and right fully so. They've over the years continued to produce excellent cards. Everyone's notion of a perceived value can be different and not be wrong. We're all just trying to show all the relative perspectives of video cards. Bating people into gpu wars doesn't help anyone it sure as heck doesn't help op. All it does is bring out the worst in people. That said this 970 vs 390 as cards are incredibly similar. Think of it less like 2 scoops of an ice cream you love to one scoop of either vanilla or chocolate. Some people like vanilla some people like chocolate both are delicious in their own right it's just preference. I happen to love chocolate chip cookie dough.

If you read my post carefully, you'd see i've said nothing about one brand being better or worse, nor have i supported any "gpu war", i also said that the two are very similar, anyways my previous post's still in there😛

I just stated my annoyance at Nvidia's arguably deceitful trick in this particular comparison. I've also, as i said, used mostly Nvidia cards in the past. Don't get fanboying, it's dumb if you ask me. But i also don't like being humbugged, that's just me though.

Listen i'm not gonna start an argument like this just realize the way you worded it makes it very hostile and knowing the mods here they won't tolerate it, so for your own good. Change the paragraph. Or get banned either way you were warned.

Please leave it up to the Mods to decide whether something is banworthy or not.

 

[faraway]

You cannot measure noise with one non reference card. They're are different setups different pcb's. Sure i'll give you the 970 is better at oc'ing and even that it does in fact use less wattage. If op plans on ocing then 970 all the way, i don't think he does. That said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNKQj39Gkk. That 8 gigs of vram and updated architecture goes a long way and the 390 is visibly better than a 290. Granted theirs a 60+ premium on a 390 over a 290.

At 1080p trends show that vram consumption is growing gradually. But it is. For now though 3.5 gigs of vram is completley viable especially at 1080p. But personally i'd like having the extra headroom of 8 gigs. especially when the price difference is so minimal.

Honestly, i think people who favour the 970 by arguing that even 3.5GB is more than enough "for today" either own the card and/or just love Nvidia so much that they're simply blind to reality. I'm sure this has been discussed a million times already.

Sure VRAM isn't everything(certainly not nothing) and the two cards are very similar, with 390 usually being a bit more expensive, but at least AMD isn't deceiving people and hoping they don't find out, at least they're up-front about their product. What Nvidia did with the 970 is just unacceptable, they lied, regardless of that lie not really affecting the product performance, as its defenders argue. They should've just said "this is practically a 3.5GB card and here's how", or better yet, avoid this stupid design altogether, screw their marketing. I've relied on Nvidia for GPU so far, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna blind myself to other options when i'm in the market for a new one. Overall the 390 pretty much wins in this case.

I"d reword that paragraph immediately sure, it may seem like someone is more biased towards nvidia but nvidia has a great track record, and right fully so. They've over the years continued to produce excellent cards. Everyone's notion of a perceived value can be different and not be wrong. We're all just trying to show all the relative perspectives of video cards. Bating people into gpu wars doesn't help anyone it sure as heck doesn't help op. All it does is bring out the worst in people. That said this 970 vs 390 as cards are incredibly similar. Think of it less like 2 scoops of an ice cream you love to one scoop of either vanilla or chocolate. Some people like vanilla some people like chocolate both are delicious in their own right it's just preference. I happen to love chocolate chip cookie dough.

If you read my post carefully, you'd see i've said nothing about one brand being better or worse, nor have i supported any "gpu war", i also said that the two are very similar, anyways my previous post's still in there😛

I just stated my annoyance at Nvidia's arguably deceitful trick in this particular comparison. I've also, as i said, used mostly Nvidia cards in the past. Don't get fanboying, it's dumb if you ask me. But i also don't like being humbugged, that's just me though.

Listen i'm not gonna start an argument like this just realize the way you worded it makes it very hostile and knowing the mods here they won't tolerate it, so for your own good. Change the paragraph. Or get banned either way you were warned.

Oh, you way past "start an argument" phase, but whatever. You have an issue with what i said, just say it, don't hide behind arguments like "mods r gonna ban ya". I did not insult anyone or anything like that, but apparently you want it to look like that. I ain't changing anything. Have a nice day.

 

[Mousemonkey]

You cannot measure noise with one non reference card. They're are different setups different pcb's. Sure i'll give you the 970 is better at oc'ing and even that it does in fact use less wattage. If op plans on ocing then 970 all the way, i don't think he does. That said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNKQj39Gkk. That 8 gigs of vram and updated architecture goes a long way and the 390 is visibly better than a 290. Granted theirs a 60+ premium on a 390 over a 290.

At 1080p trends show that vram consumption is growing gradually. But it is. For now though 3.5 gigs of vram is completley viable especially at 1080p. But personally i'd like having the extra headroom of 8 gigs. especially when the price difference is so minimal.

Honestly, i think people who favour the 970 by arguing that even 3.5GB is more than enough "for today" either own the card and/or just love Nvidia so much that they're simply blind to reality. I'm sure this has been discussed a million times already.

Sure VRAM isn't everything(certainly not nothing) and the two cards are very similar, with 390 usually being a bit more expensive, but at least AMD isn't deceiving people and hoping they don't find out, at least they're up-front about their product. What Nvidia did with the 970 is just unacceptable, they lied, regardless of that lie not really affecting the product performance, as its defenders argue. They should've just said "this is practically a 3.5GB card and here's how", or better yet, avoid this stupid design altogether, screw their marketing. I've relied on Nvidia for GPU so far, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna blind myself to other options when i'm in the market for a new one. Overall the 390 pretty much wins in this case.

I"d reword that paragraph immediately sure, it may seem like someone is more biased towards nvidia but nvidia has a great track record, and right fully so. They've over the years continued to produce excellent cards. Everyone's notion of a perceived value can be different and not be wrong. We're all just trying to show all the relative perspectives of video cards. Bating people into gpu wars doesn't help anyone it sure as heck doesn't help op. All it does is bring out the worst in people. That said this 970 vs 390 as cards are incredibly similar. Think of it less like 2 scoops of an ice cream you love to one scoop of either vanilla or chocolate. Some people like vanilla some people like chocolate both are delicious in their own right it's just preference. I happen to love chocolate chip cookie dough.

If you read my post carefully, you'd see i've said nothing about one brand being better or worse, nor have i supported any "gpu war", i also said that the two are very similar, anyways my previous post's still in there😛

I just stated my annoyance at Nvidia's arguably deceitful trick in this particular comparison. I've also, as i said, used mostly Nvidia cards in the past. Don't get fanboying, it's dumb if you ask me. But i also don't like being humbugged, that's just me though.

Listen i'm not gonna start an argument like this just realize the way you worded it makes it very hostile and knowing the mods here they won't tolerate it, so for your own good. Change the paragraph. Or get banned either way you were warned.

Oh, you way past "start an argument" phase, but whatever. You have an issue with what i said, just say it, don't hide behind arguments like "mods r gonna ban ya". I did not insult anyone or anything like that, but apparently you want it to look like that. I ain't changing anything. Have a nice day.

ENOUGH, this ends now. You have had your say, aired your opinion. stated how you feel, leave it there.

 

[Bossyfins]

On another note, OP, it is your decision now .-.

 

[fudgecakes99]

You cannot measure noise with one non reference card. They're are different setups different pcb's. Sure i'll give you the 970 is better at oc'ing and even that it does in fact use less wattage. If op plans on ocing then 970 all the way, i don't think he does. That said, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BVNKQj39Gkk. That 8 gigs of vram and updated architecture goes a long way and the 390 is visibly better than a 290. Granted theirs a 60+ premium on a 390 over a 290.

At 1080p trends show that vram consumption is growing gradually. But it is. For now though 3.5 gigs of vram is completley viable especially at 1080p. But personally i'd like having the extra headroom of 8 gigs. especially when the price difference is so minimal.

Honestly, i think people who favour the 970 by arguing that even 3.5GB is more than enough "for today" either own the card and/or just love Nvidia so much that they're simply blind to reality. I'm sure this has been discussed a million times already.

Sure VRAM isn't everything(certainly not nothing) and the two cards are very similar, with 390 usually being a bit more expensive, but at least AMD isn't deceiving people and hoping they don't find out, at least they're up-front about their product. What Nvidia did with the 970 is just unacceptable, they lied, regardless of that lie not really affecting the product performance, as its defenders argue. They should've just said "this is practically a 3.5GB card and here's how", or better yet, avoid this stupid design altogether, screw their marketing. I've relied on Nvidia for GPU so far, but that doesn't mean i'm gonna blind myself to other options when i'm in the market for a new one. Overall the 390 pretty much wins in this case.

I"d reword that paragraph immediately sure, it may seem like someone is more biased towards nvidia but nvidia has a great track record, and right fully so. They've over the years continued to produce excellent cards. Everyone's notion of a perceived value can be different and not be wrong. We're all just trying to show all the relative perspectives of video cards. Bating people into gpu wars doesn't help anyone it sure as heck doesn't help op. All it does is bring out the worst in people. That said this 970 vs 390 as cards are incredibly similar. Think of it less like 2 scoops of an ice cream you love to one scoop of either vanilla or chocolate. Some people like vanilla some people like chocolate both are delicious in their own right it's just preference. I happen to love chocolate chip cookie dough.

If you read my post carefully, you'd see i've said nothing about one brand being better or worse, nor have i supported any "gpu war", i also said that the two are very similar, anyways my previous post's still in there😛

I just stated my annoyance at Nvidia's arguably deceitful trick in this particular comparison. I've also, as i said, used mostly Nvidia cards in the past. Don't get fanboying, it's dumb if you ask me. But i also don't like being humbugged, that's just me though.

Listen i'm not gonna start an argument like this just realize the way you worded it makes it very hostile and knowing the mods here they won't tolerate it, so for your own good. Change the paragraph. Or get banned either way you were warned.

Please leave it up to the Mods to decide whether something is banworthy or not.

i'm just letting this guy now people have been banned for dumber stuff. He can do with that information as he or she wishes.

 

[B-man33]

Hello, I am due an upgrade from my R7 265.
I have two cards in my sight right now, and it is the GTX 970 and the R9 390.
What I have come to understand is that the R9 390 is more expensive than the 970, yet right now, there is a great deal on Amazon for an XFX R9 390, and was wondering if I should go ahead and buy this one, or spend a bit more and get a different brand, maybe the 970? I also know that the 970 has the 3.5GB GDDR5 issue, so I don't know if it is still a worthy card.
I play at 1080p 60Hz
Thanks!

Link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-Graphics-Card-GDDR5/dp/B00ZCBDUXQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1438375492&sr=8-2&keywords=r9+390

Honestly, I don't know much about the R9 390, I do own a GTX770 and I feel my 2GB of V-RAM is not enough to run all the latest games in ultra in 1080p with out any frame drops with V-SYNC turned on (everything must be ultra #PCmasterRACE XD )

Let me ask you this, do you make use of Shadowplay to record your games? Do you want to stream to Twitch? If not, go for the R9 390, I think that 8GB of V-RAM will be very handy at a later stage, also I believe AMD said something about revolutionary drivers which will improve memory speed or memory usage or something like that? I might be wrong, please correct me if I am, I think AMD is the better choice here especially if you are only going to game with this card, you can always buy DXtory and OBS if you want to start recording or streaming your gameplay, so shadowplay is like a extra feature you don't really need but is awesome to have. And it is only 3.5GB on the GTX 970.... Hope this helps

 

[renz496]

Hello, I am due an upgrade from my R7 265.
I have two cards in my sight right now, and it is the GTX 970 and the R9 390.
What I have come to understand is that the R9 390 is more expensive than the 970, yet right now, there is a great deal on Amazon for an XFX R9 390, and was wondering if I should go ahead and buy this one, or spend a bit more and get a different brand, maybe the 970? I also know that the 970 has the 3.5GB GDDR5 issue, so I don't know if it is still a worthy card.
I play at 1080p 60Hz
Thanks!

Link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-Graphics-Card-GDDR5/dp/B00ZCBDUXQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1438375492&sr=8-2&keywords=r9+390

Honestly, I don't know much about the R9 390, I do own a GTX770 and I feel my 2GB of V-RAM is not enough to run all the latest games in ultra in 1080p with out any frame drops with V-SYNC turned on (everything must be ultra #PCmasterRACE XD )

Let me ask you this, do you make use of Shadowplay to record your games? Do you want to stream to Twitch? If not, go for the R9 390, I think that 8GB of V-RAM will be very handy at a later stage, also I believe AMD said something about revolutionary drivers which will improve memory speed or memory usage or something like that? I might be wrong, please correct me if I am, I think AMD is the better choice here especially if you are only going to game with this card, you can always buy DXtory and OBS if you want to start recording or streaming your gameplay, so shadowplay is like a extra feature you don't really need but is awesome to have. And it is only 3.5GB on the GTX 970.... Hope this helps

that was about new HBM. due to HBM implementation limited to 4GB only they talk about how to maximize VRAM usage. i don't think it is really new. nvidia has been doing it much earlier than AMD but with GDDR5 instead probably since Kepler generation. 970 is the more recent example. older cards like GTX660 also have that optimization. i've seen it myself when at the same setting my 660SLI will use less VRAM than my 960. like 970, 660 also have weird memory config though in 970 case it is much more complex.

 

[Paul Alex Cazacliu]

All I can say it's that I just had exactly the same dilemma, and the balance was outweighed by the 970, and not any kind of 870, but the very MSI nVidia GeForce GTX 970 GamingTWIN FORZ IV. It's a bit more expensive than the other 970 models, but it's delivers the best gaming experience for it's money.

 

[B-man33]

Hello, I am due an upgrade from my R7 265.
I have two cards in my sight right now, and it is the GTX 970 and the R9 390.
What I have come to understand is that the R9 390 is more expensive than the 970, yet right now, there is a great deal on Amazon for an XFX R9 390, and was wondering if I should go ahead and buy this one, or spend a bit more and get a different brand, maybe the 970? I also know that the 970 has the 3.5GB GDDR5 issue, so I don't know if it is still a worthy card.
I play at 1080p 60Hz
Thanks!

Link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/XFX-Radeon-Graphics-Card-GDDR5/dp/B00ZCBDUXQ/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1438375492&sr=8-2&keywords=r9+390

Honestly, I don't know much about the R9 390, I do own a GTX770 and I feel my 2GB of V-RAM is not enough to run all the latest games in ultra in 1080p with out any frame drops with V-SYNC turned on (everything must be ultra #PCmasterRACE XD )

Let me ask you this, do you make use of Shadowplay to record your games? Do you want to stream to Twitch? If not, go for the R9 390, I think that 8GB of V-RAM will be very handy at a later stage, also I believe AMD said something about revolutionary drivers which will improve memory speed or memory usage or something like that? I might be wrong, please correct me if I am, I think AMD is the better choice here especially if you are only going to game with this card, you can always buy DXtory and OBS if you want to start recording or streaming your gameplay, so shadowplay is like a extra feature you don't really need but is awesome to have. And it is only 3.5GB on the GTX 970.... Hope this helps

that was about new HBM. due to HBM implementation limited to 4GB only they talk about how to maximize VRAM usage. i don't think it is really new. nvidia has been doing it much earlier than AMD but with GDDR5 instead probably since Kepler generation. 970 is the more recent example. older cards like GTX660 also have that optimization. i've seen it myself when at the same setting my 660SLI will use less VRAM than my 960. like 970, 660 also have weird memory config though in 970 case it is much more complex.

Ah ok, thank you

 

[Paul Alex Cazacliu]

The amount of the VRAM it's NOT all that matters. It's also how one it's using it, and nVidia it's by far superior to AMD, who's so stubborn in using the older architecture, same as in it's CPUs, which even now, cannot allow the PCI-E 3.0 data transfer rate, supported only by the 22nm Intel CPUs. Also nVidia has lot's of extra very appealing to the eyes features, such as nVidia PhysX and nVidia 3D Vision. AMD cannot be associated with efficiency ...

 

[fudgecakes99]

The amount of the VRAM it's NOT all that matters. It's also how one it's using it, and nVidia it's by far superior to AMD, who's so stubborn in using the older architecture, same as in it's CPUs, which even now, cannot allow the PCI-E 3.0 data transfer rate, supported only by the 22nm Intel CPUs. Also nVidia has lot's of extra very appealing to the eyes features, such as nVidia PhysX and nVidia 3D Vision. AMD cannot be associated with efficiency ...

To an extent it isn't. But when you go above 1080p higher resolutions, it does. Sure 8 gigs of vram is overkill. But that still doesn't change the fact that in non synthetic benchmarks. The 390 does outperform the 970 by a margin in most games. Not including nvidia optimized games. The drawback being the 390 is going to run hotter and use more power. Each card has its cons. It really comes down to personal preference.

 

[andreii707]

Please don't tell me about RAM usage efficiency when only 3.5 of the card's 4GBs run at the intended speed. Sure it's a great card, I am not arguing with that. The GTX 970 is as I said more efficient as far as temperatures and power consumption go but it's not a huge difference. And to be honest, the fact that AMD's older architecture competes with Nvidia's newer one at more or less the same price is quite a feat.

 

[Mousemonkey]

Please don't tell me about RAM usage efficiency when only 3.5 of the card's 4GBs run at the intended speed. Sure it's a great card, I am not arguing with that. The GTX 970 is as I said more efficient as far as temperatures and power consumption go but it's not a huge difference. And to be honest, the fact that AMD's older architecture competes with Nvidia's newer one at more or less the same price is quite a feat.

That depends on how you look at it, the 7950 cost a bit more in it's day than a 960 does now and yet what was once the 970 of it's day is a no longer competitive at that level so your comment does not hold true mate.

 

[sora]

OCing a 390/x isn't going to be easy. They are practically at their limits.

They still are great cards for the price though!

 

[renz496]

Personally i'm not sure how to say 390X/390 pricing as great when 290X/290 (8GB model) can be had for much cheaper. In the end AMD price cuts really going against their strategy since they were using rebrands (almost all) for their next series. Probably 390X/390 price is great when they never cut 290X/290 price. Looking back 970 really did hit AMD hard with their price. While at the same time nvidia leisurely sell 980 at 550.

 

[fudgecakes99]

Personally i'm not sure how to say 390X/390 pricing as great when 290X/290 (8GB model) can be had for much cheaper. In the end AMD price cuts really going against their strategy since they were using rebrands (almost all) for their next series. Probably 390X/390 price is great when they never cut 290X/290 price. Looking back 970 really did hit AMD hard with their price. While at the same time nvidia leisurely sell 980 at 550.

but your paying the premium price for the increase in performance. Heck i've seen a 290 outperform the 970 in some games, so really it is a bit egregious to price both cards so high. But it is what it is.

 

[spentshells]

KILL THIS THREAD OMG.

 

[fudgecakes99]

it'll die when it dies.