R9 390x vs GTX 980

[_ cF]

Alright, so which card is better? From many sites, it does seem that the GTX 980 always pulls out just a bit head but for the extra cost of about an extra 80 dollars. Which graphics card is truly better for the money? I really would love some unbias answers and for everyone to support their argument with clear-cut facts. In addition, if anyone doesn't mind, could you explain to me the pros and con of AMD and NVIDIA? NVIDIA seems better, but AMD also is good at times.

 

[Rhezner]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzBMkrAbHlQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhA2eCOEjHo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYQT8udtuWM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0YOdL4A0lg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkmLf0WjGjo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHlN8s7ENuo

They are actually pretty close in performance with the 390x pulling ahead of the 980 in some games.

the 390x is cheaper and has twice as much vram and a huge memory bus which is nice for high res textures and future games.

the gtx 980 consumes way less power and is less hot, it probably overclocks way better too.

Ive also heard that will release some drivers that will improve performance even further.

so i did some math and if you ran both cards on max load for 1 year in an area that costs about 15cents per kilowatt hour, the r9 390 would cost $100 - $200 more in power (depending on which benchmark you take numbers from) than the gtx 980. Obviously this is an unrealistic scenario but it is good to know. Check how much electricity is in your region.

The two cards would probably end up costing about the same if you take power for a few years into account, you would have to do quite a bit of gaming though. Like 4 hours a day for 3 years with 15 cent per kilowatt hour with the highest benchmark numbers.

they use about the same power idle depending on which benchmark you look at.

I would personally go with the 390x as games are increasing in texture resolution and the 390 is better in 4k, and amd will release new drivers.

P.S. my current card is a gtx 970 so i am not an amd fanboy.

 

[17seconds]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/R9_390X_Gaming/30.html

 

[Rhezner]

its a bit of a different story for high resolution gameplay. As well as future games that have higher resolution textures.

 

[Karadjgne]

When you get 2 cards that are relatively equivalent as far as capability goes, invariably the amd card will perform better at higher resolutions like 4k, but the nvidia card will beat it at 1080p.

A lot also depends on the game. TPU also did a test on the new WoW expansion, and at 4k, the r9 270x got higher fps than a gtx970.

All things being somewhat equal, its less of a question as to which card is better, and more of a question of preference. If you prefer Eyefinity, you'll want team Red, if you prefer physX and shadowplay, you'll want team Green. If none of that affects you, you'll want team Wallet.

 

[17seconds]

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/MSI/GTX_980_Ti_Gaming/27.html

 

[iCompute-doU]

As a perspective moving away from numbers and looking at just my personal experience:

AMD runs hotter, their driver updates work less often (the first time), and have a shorter lifespan while performing better at higher resolutions.

NVidia cards are more expensive, perform less effectively at higher resolutions, and come with much less VRam than the Team Red counterpart at a similar price/performace level while also maintaining an extremely low TDP.

At the moment, I'm team Green when it comes to surround gaming at 1080p; best bang for the buck.

 

[Karadjgne]

http://www.techpowerup.com/mobile/reviews/Gigabyte/GTX_960_G1_Gaming/25.html

 

[Mugglensu1984]

So considering 1080p gaming, the R9 390X is the obvious choice since its much cheaper than a GTX980.
On the other hand, factoring in the more expensive PSU requirement for the 390X... here the GTX980 seems cheaper (and greener)

 

[Rhezner]

So considering 1080p gaming, the R9 390X is the obvious choice since its much cheaper than a GTX980.
On the other hand, factoring in the more expensive PSU requirement for the 390X... here the GTX980 seems cheaper (and greener)

it wont really be cheaper as you would have to game a lot on it and your electicity bill would have to be above average to break even

 

[17seconds]

Here's today's review from HardOCP comparing the MSI 390x Gaming versus a stock/reference GTX 980. It focuses a lot on overclocking performance. Of course, a custom GTX 980 would be even more impressive versus the 390x.
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2015/07/06/msi_radeon_r9_390x_gaming_8g_overclocking_review#.VZrd_vlVhBc

Overclocking Performance
While the overclock is impressive for the GPU this video card is based on, overall it did not improve performance by a large margin. When we look at the overclocked GeForce GTX 980 reference card, it was much faster than the overclocked MSI R9 390X GAMING 8G in most games. There is a clear performance lead with the GTX 980 overclocked well ahead in most games.

AMD Radeon R9 390X Summary
Now however, in mid-2015 the AMD Radeon R9 390X is only just barely competition for NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 980. When overclocked it cannot keep up with the massive overclock potential on the GeForce GTX 980. Even though AMD Radeon R9 390X overclocks a lot better than Radeon R9 290X, it isn't quite enough to compete with the large overclock potential on GeForce GTX 980.

The Bottom Line
The reference cooled GeForce GTX 980 can overclock in-game from 1240MHz to 1516MHz, a clock increase of 276MHz. The AMD Radeon R9 390X, as much improved as it is, cannot come near that overclock. The Radeon R9 390X overclock is tame compared to GeForce GTX 980.

 

[Karadjgne]

wonder what that'll look like when Gen2 390x arrive