GTX 970 or R9 390?

[TheCyanNerd]

Building a new PC, and I'm now choosing the graphics card.

I've heard that the R9 390 has more VRAM and better performance, but my current build has only a 500W PSU. I could also put the saved $20 into a silent cooler (I need my build whisper quiet).

So, GTX 970 or R9 390? (Future System Specs below)

-i5-4460
-GTX 970 or R9 390?
-AsRock H97 Anniversary Edition LGA 1150
-Cooler Master HyperX 212 Evo
-7 GB of RAM (DDR3, taken from an older system)

 

[bignastyid]

Whats the make and model of the PSU? Running a 390 on a 500w unit is asking for trouble, and if its not a good psu then you may not even want to run the 970 with it.

 

[rstoledo]

I would say that the R9 390 performs better at the end at a higher TDP cost, depending on the PSU you have, that might become a problem. (a better insight into it here

Also, how did you got 7gb of ram ? 4gb +2gb+1gb ?

 

[JackNaylorPE]

The 970 beats the 390 hands down.... performance, power, noise.

At stock speeds, the difference is small but the R9's have very limited overclock ability (just 7%). With the 970s typical OC of 17%, it makes the 970 14% faster when both over clocked at 1080p.... the 970 also tops the 390 and 390x at 1440p, tho at 1440p it's less then 1% over the 390x according to TPUs numbers.

VRAM is a non-issue below 4k resolution and you're not going to drive 4k satisfactorily w/ any single GPU.
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/213069-is-4gb-of-vram-enough-amds-fury-x-faces-off-with-nvidias-gtx-980-ti-titan-x

 

[TheCyanNerd]

The 970 beats the 390 hands down.... performance, power, noise.

At stock speeds, the difference is small but the R9's have very limited overclock ability (just 7%). With the 970s typical OC of 17%, it makes the 970 14% faster when both over clocked at 1080p.... the 970 also tops the 390 and 390x at 1440p, tho at 1440p it's less then 1% over the 390x according to TPUs numbers.

VRAM is a non-issue below 4k resolution and you're not going to drive 4k satisfactorily w/ any single GPU.
http://www.extremetech.com/gaming/213069-is-4gb-of-vram-enough-amds-fury-x-faces-off-with-nvidias-gtx-980-ti-titan-x

That's pretty much all I need to know. Won't be overclocking. Probably will get a better power supply but for now I believe it will be sufficient.

 

[TheCyanNerd]

I would say that the R9 390 performs better at the end at a higher TDP cost, depending on the PSU you have, that might become a problem. (a better insight into it here

Also, how did you got 7gb of ram ? 4gb +2gb+1gb ?

3gb (why not 4?) + 4gb.

 

[rstoledo]

I would say that the R9 390 performs better at the end at a higher TDP cost, depending on the PSU you have, that might become a problem. (a better insight into it here

Also, how did you got 7gb of ram ? 4gb +2gb+1gb ?

3gb (why not 4?) + 4gb.

He stated he has 7gb of ram, so I was wondering how the OP did it, since with that he would not be able to get out of single channel usage on any mobo.