R9 380 2GB or GTX 960 4GB

[JohnVentura]

Hello everyone,

I am currently trying to decide between this two cards:
R9 380
GTX 960

Given the fact that, from what I have seen, R9 380 outperforms GTX 960, but the latter uses less power and has more overclockability.

Also the 2GB extra vram might come in handy, though I use 1080p for gamming.

What're your thoughts, knowing that the R9 390 is only 9€ cheaper?

Thanks in advance!

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

The 380 is the stronger of the two, but the 390 blows them both out of the water, particularly given the meanial price difference. Just make sure that you have a good PSU.

However, if it were me, I'd look at a used GTX 970, which trades blows with the 390, but runs considerably quieter and cooler.

 

[king3pj]

I would not buy a card with 2GB of VRAM in 2016. The only exception would be if you are working on a tight budget in the 750Ti/950 range and don't mind playing with lowered settings.

Games are asking for more than 2GB of VRAM now even at 1080p.

 

[JohnVentura]

Now the difference is in the ~25€ (the 380 2GB is cheaper than the 960 4GB).

Still worth the money going for the 960?

 

[Nodyjoe]

The only time you would use more than 2gb of Vram is if the textures are EXTREMELY High, the only game so far that requires so much Vram is Shadow of Mordor, and maybe Witch( as i do not own this game i am unsure) but the 380 i would say is better considering the 960 has a bandwidth limit on the Vram, or you could wait 4 months and get a 14nm card.

 

[king3pj]

The only time you would use more than 2gb of Vram is if the textures are EXTREMELY High, the only game so far that requires so much Vram is Shadow of Mordor, and maybe Witch( as i do not own this game i am unsure) but the 380 i would say is better considering the 960 has a bandwidth limit on the Vram, or you could wait 4 months and get a 14nm card.

I have plenty of games that use more than 2GB of VRAM. It's not just Shadow of Mordor. I have confirmed this with HWInfo running while I play games. Some games list 3GB in the recommended specs too.

You would be able to play all these games with 2GB but you would likely have to turn some settings down.

 

[Nodyjoe]

The only time you would use more than 2gb of Vram is if the textures are EXTREMELY High, the only game so far that requires so much Vram is Shadow of Mordor, and maybe Witch( as i do not own this game i am unsure) but the 380 i would say is better considering the 960 has a bandwidth limit on the Vram, or you could wait 4 months and get a 14nm card.

I have plenty of games that use more than 2GB of VRAM. It's not just Shadow of Mordor. I have confirmed this with HWInfo running while I play games. Some games list 3GB in the recommended specs too.

You would be able to play all these games with 2GB but you would likely have to turn some settings down.

True, but it also depends on Res and 1080 the max Vram i have used is 1.5 and that is with max settings... the setting that uses the most Vram is textures, so if he were to turn them down from max to High Vram wouldnt be an issue. I have yet to see a game other than mordor that asks for more than 2 gb of vram.

 

[bicycle_repair_man]

GTA V and Arkham Knight are two games I own that require a lot of VRAM, besides Shadow of Mordor.

At any rate, as graphics technology advances, games are going to need more and more VRAM, even at 1920x1080 resolution.

I wouldn't buy a GPU with anything less than 4GB of VRAM today.