should Upgrade now to a rx 480 or later

[Soul of Nahte]

right now I have a r9 280x oc'd on a water block, and it runs great. but I was thinking of future proofing and was wondering if I should buy a rx 480 now or wait until the rx 390 inevitably comes out and buy that, wanted the internets opinion

 

[timeconsumer]

Buying a upgrade to a good GPU to future proof doesn't really make any sense. If what you have is still working really well for you, continue to use it. When performance starts to fall off, then buy a new GPU. By that time you may be upgrading to a GTX 1170 or an RX 590, who knows when you'll run out of satisfactory performance. Especially if you're buying a new, untested GPU. There could be major flaws and bugs that cause headaches and driver issues for months, let someone else deal with that and enjoy your 280x.

 

[photonboy]

The RX-480 would be a waste of money then.

I'll find the link but I believe it sits in between an R9-290 and R9-390.

Future proofing?
Why do that when there's minimal benefit today? Wait and buy something when the games come out and it makes a difference. Prices will be cheaper by then anyway.

I think you mean the RX-490, and yes I'd wait for something like that.

 

[photonboy]

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/amd-radeon-rx-480-polaris-10,4616-7.html

The performance varies quite a bit depending on the game.

I was wrong before. It looks like the R9-390X is the best comparison (but again it VARIES so much partly due to the reduced anti-aliasing capability... read the article), but if the R9-280X is heavily overclocked it won't be much of an upgrade to the RX-480 though as I said.

I'm sure you can estimate.

 

[InvalidError]

My thumb rule for upgrading: if you need to ask if you should upgrade, you don't need to.

The rationale? If performance is getting sluggish to the point where you really get the itch to upgrade, you won't be asking if you should upgrade, you will be asking what you should upgrade to. If there is nothing worth upgrading to, then people will tell you so.

 

[Soul of Nahte]

that actually makes alot of sense