i3-4130 with a R9 390

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MagicalShrimp2

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I want to upgrade my graphics card from my original r9 270. I have been looking for different GPUs that are also available at local stores and have decided on either a GTX 970 or a R9 390. I don't exactly know when I will be getting them but I do want to make sure that it will work. I've figured out that the GTX 970 should work with my i3 4130 because I have seen many others with similar builds like mine. Although recently I have seen the 390 and wanted to know if it would still work and run well with my i3. I will upgrade to an i5 later on but for now I only wish to upgrade my GPU. The main reason why I decided to create my own question here is because I haven't seen any similar builds online and am worried that they would not work.

My question is whether or not the R9 390 will still work with the i3 4130 as well as it would with the GTX 970?

If needed here is a link to my current pc: http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/z7qCQ7
 
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Robert Cook
both will work with the i3 just fine, there might be some bottle necking but not much, and once you get the i5 they will work even better. but why get a 390 when you can get a R9 290X? it is a better card and 89 GB of VRAM is not useful unless you plan to do 3 way crossfire.
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Robert Cook

Robert Cook

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both will work with the i3 just fine, there might be some bottle necking but not much, and once you get the i5 they will work even better. but why get a 390 when you can get a R9 290X? it is a better card and 89 GB of VRAM is not useful unless you plan to do 3 way crossfire.
 
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MagicalShrimp2

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Main reason for me getting a 390 instead of the 290 is mainly because I have a computer store that sells the 390. Sadly it doesnt have any 290s anymore. To be honest I also like to believe that it'll be more "future proof" with 8gb of VRAM but that really isn't a major offset for me. I'd be perfectly fine with the r9 290x but I prefer to be able to buy it from the store just in case something were to break as it would be both easier and cheaper to get it fixed/replaced rather than ordering it from online.

Also would I really need a 750w PSU right now with the i3 4130 and a 390. Just because I wanted to just buy the 390 for now. According to the pcpartpicker site, which could be wrong, it does say it would only use about 450 watts or less.
 
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Robert Cook

Robert Cook

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yes, 750 is rather much for a R9 390, but it is always good to avoid running a power supply at 85%+ load continuously. so, 650 would be rather tight, and 700 would be ideal, but there are not many 700 watt PSUs for some reason. that is reason enough to get the R9 390. a close by trusted store is always good.
 
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MagicalShrimp2

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Then I guess I have another question. Considering my PSU is only 1 year old now would I still be able to run it for another year or so with the 390 installed? It's not that I don't want to get a new PSU considering mine is non-modular and just a cable mess in my case but rather about how much it costs. While PSUs are a lot cheaper compared to the GPU I'd rather still wait a while after I get the 390 before I go and buy a new PSU.
 
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boosted1g

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As stated by others there will be some bottlenecking by the i3 in cpu intensive games. Now not enough to make the 390 not worth it, and of course these problems will go away when you can upgrade the CPU.

Make sure the power supply is a quality model, just because someone put the numbers 7-5-0 on a power supply shaped box in no way means it is capable of outputting that kind of power. You want to stick with something from xfx, seasonic, superflower, or evga (b2/g2/gs series). This provide you with good power for this PC and even your next PC.
 
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MagicalShrimp2

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Well I guess I'll need to get a new power supply as well. Any good recommendations? Also I assume there aren't any precautions when swapping out a PSU other than it being unplugged right?
 
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dlaynd

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Two options to consider:

1. If you are willing to get a new PSU (750W) then go with R9 390
2. If you are not willing to spend ~$100 on PSU then go with GTX 970.


They are almost identical performance wise and price wise.

On one hand R9 390 comes with 8GB vram vs 4GB vram on GTX 970. However, these cards are not good for 4K gaming anyways (as some people already pointed out) so 8GB is basically useless unless you will pair it with another 390 (you'll need PSU 850W min with gold rating to run 2x 390s, however, it is better to get 1x GTX 980 instead of 2x R9 390 anytime), assuming you are or will be a happy owner of 4K display. Technically 8gb of vram is just a marketing stunt. Even for 2K gaming 8GB will not give you any advantage.
 
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MagicalShrimp2

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The only thing that made me change my mind was reading about the DX12 comparison of AMD and Nvidia. Apparently (I'm not sure if this is actually true) AMD cards received a big boost but what caught my eye is that the Nvidia cards like the 970 actually dropped some frames. Like I said I'm not too sure about which one to get and still need to think about spending another 150$ or so on a PSU (I am from Canada so sadly those 84$ prices don't count for me) Right now I am thinking of getting the 970 considering the impact of DX12 vs DX11 was only about 5-10 frames in the game that they benchmarked it in and assuming drivers would also optimize it more.
 
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