[SOLVED] What card is better?

[Daniel Boone3]

I have 2 graphic cards I can choose from and I cannot get a clear answer because one card is not a standard card.

One is the link below, not a regular r9 380

STRIX-R9380-DC2OC-4GD5-GAMING - Support

www.asus.com

One is
https://www.zotac.com/dk/product/graphics_card/gtx-960-2gb-2#overview

What card should I install?

 

[cryoburner]

For gaming, the R9 380 should in most titles be the faster card, even for a model with the same amount of VRAM. If the one you are looking at has 4GB of VRAM, while the GTX 960 only has 2GB, then the 380 would likely fare a lot better in modern AAA games, as 2GB generally isn't enough to run many recent titles smoothly. The 960 should draw less power under load though, and in turn put out less heat, so if you have a low-capacity power supply it might be worth considering.

As for getting down to comparisons of one specific brand against another, the Strix line from Asus is generally considered more of a premium brand, while Zotac is generally more of a lower-end brand. Anecdotal comparisons from someone having problems with their card from a particular brand probably don't mean much, as it's possible to find examples of people having problems with any given model of graphics card on the market.

 

[FarmerFran]

I had nothing but problems with my STRIX, so for me the 960 all day long and twice on Sunday.

 

[cryoburner]

For gaming, the R9 380 should in most titles be the faster card, even for a model with the same amount of VRAM. If the one you are looking at has 4GB of VRAM, while the GTX 960 only has 2GB, then the 380 would likely fare a lot better in modern AAA games, as 2GB generally isn't enough to run many recent titles smoothly. The 960 should draw less power under load though, and in turn put out less heat, so if you have a low-capacity power supply it might be worth considering.

As for getting down to comparisons of one specific brand against another, the Strix line from Asus is generally considered more of a premium brand, while Zotac is generally more of a lower-end brand. Anecdotal comparisons from someone having problems with their card from a particular brand probably don't mean much, as it's possible to find examples of people having problems with any given model of graphics card on the market.

 

[Zerk2012]

For just performance their really close. I would use the 4GB card.

 

[Daniel Boone3]

I am grateful for all responses so far. I have had the r9 380 for a few years now with no problems but I have the Zotac and wanted to know if I should use it to replace the Asus. When I look for comparing these 2 specific cards I get results on r9 380 and gtx 960 but not these exact cards. I also know the r9 380 is not a regular card because its upgraded from the factory.

 

[cryoburner]

You are probably better off sticking with the R9 380. The GTX 960 would be at best a sidegrade, and most likely a slight downgrade, especially if your 380 happens to be a model with more VRAM. The R9 380's architecture has generally been shown to hold up a little better in newer games. Even when testing models that both had 4GB of VRAM, Hardware Unboxed found the Radeon card to be faster in nearly all newer titles when they retested the cards last year...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6QzVMtq65-4


As for factory-overclocked models, they may perform a little better than the stock performance of the reference models, but it's usually a fairly small difference, typically not much more than 5% or so.

 

[Math Geek]

yah you may see a couple fps difference but nothing to make it worth spending money on such old tech.

you can get a lot of performance for $160 or so from a new card that will beat either of those any day. save up a few more bucks and get a true upgrade you'll be happy with. for instance i bought a 1650 super not too long ago for $160 which is about the same as an older 980. $200 gets you a 1660 with 6gb of vram.

i'd not spend a dime on such an old card. sit back and see what you can get with the next round of holiday sales.

what kind of budget are you looking at anyway?