GTX 970 or R9 390

[alexblair]

I am looking to buy a graphics card for $1000 Gaming & Video Editing PC. I am deciding between the GTX 970 or the R9 390. Which is best for 1080p and 1440p, and which is best for video editing?

 

[N3rdR4ge]

r9 390 is better all around.

the gtx 970 has less than half the usable vram at 3.5gb
when it uses its last 3.6-4.0gb, the card will have performance issues.
even in the same scenario at below 3.5gb, the r9 390 still will give you a few more frames.
vram is most important at higher resolutions, but those cards are optimal at 1080p. 1440p needs a lot of power. im running 1440p with a 980 ti around 40-50fps ultra with aaa titles. expect to dip below 30 with the same settings on a 970/390.

 

[blobbyblarker]

Personally i would go with the 970 because i have had better support with programs using nvidia cards. BUT both cards perform very similarly.

 

[N3rdR4ge]

i havent had a amd card since the 290, but i hear the support has gotten a lot better. nvidia does have some nice features like hairworks though. some games like to favor nvidia tech too.

 

[blobbyblarker]

i havent had a amd card since the 290, but i hear the support has gotten a lot better. nvidia does have some nice features like hairworks though. some games like to favor nvidia tech too.

It's a never ending battle for support lol
Nvidia Adobe Support
AMD Adobe Support

 

[RTW970]

It depends because you said 1080p AND 1440p. If it was just one, I could recommend one instantly. For 1080p, I would have recommended the GTX 970 because the 3.5-4 GB of VRAM is all you need. I have an MSI GTX 970 in my rig and once overclocked, I can run everything on Ultra in GTA V and using MFAA, I could get up to x4 as well and all other NVIDIA features turned on at 55-60FPS in 1080p. But for 1440p, I would recommend an MSI R9 390 because the extra VRAM is much more important in the higher resolutions. As long as you have a good power supply, you should be fine with an R9 390 for 1440p.

 

[coozie7]

An old dilemma.
For 1440 rez the R9 390 aces the GTX970, but not by that much, at 1080 the situation is reversed. In a FEW cases, under extreme load the GTX970 can run into problems at 1440 rez when it starts to use the slow 500Mb of video memory, but the chances are you'll never see any issues, neither card is really fast enough to run 1440 rez with much AA enabled-and it's largely the AA which eats into the VRAM and causes the 'issue'.

Don't think the amount of VRAM is going to help with your video editing-plenty of system RAM and a good SSD will be of great help here, but not video card memory-but I could be incorrect so check your video editing software documentation. Also, older releases can be limited to Nvida CUDA or AMD Direct Compute GPU acceleration, and with some of that stuff being so expensive this may tip your decision one way or the other, because for gaming they're only a thick hair apart.

Recent changes to AMDs power saving features have helped reduce power consumption but Nvidia still rules here which means their cards demand less ventilation and can run off a slightly cheaper PSU.

My advice: Get whichever one suits your tastes or has the longest warranty, the 3.5Gb VRAM issue on the GTX970 is a massive non event and the difference in cost of powersupplies is also small: 550W for the GTX970, 650W for the R9 390 while the cooling issues on the R9 390 are is big as the VRAM issue is on the GTX970: microscopic.

 

[alexblair]

Never mind, I will buy an NVIDIA 1070.