What gpu should I upgrade to from a radeon r9 280x?

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cosmicbatz

cosmicbatz

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Here's my current PC:
http://ca.pcpartpicker.com/p/C8KrP6

I'm looking to upgrade my gpu for about 400 bucks (CANADIAN dollars and that's not including tax). I currently have an r9 280x and sure it's good, but I want more power to be able to run the witcher 3 at some decent framerates(and a couple other games on ultra). I was thinking about the gtx 970 but I'm not sure that it's really worth it. What do you guys think is a good upgrade? I could always sell my current gpu for a higher end one. Also, if you really think I should save up more money and go for a higher end card then I will but Canada's economy is shit right now so it's hard for someone my age. :(
 
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JackNaylorPE
The 970 is currently the most most prevalent discrete GPU hitting steam servers .... that's pretty amazing considering that it's still in the middle of it's run and there's a reason for it. The price performance ratio is something we haven't seen in a long time. With speeds faster than the 780, it went on sale for $80 less than it's predecessor the $400 770.

When comparing AMD and vVidia cards, there are two very different comparisons to be made:


GTX 970 vs R9 390 or 390x "out of the box"
GTX 970 vs R9 390 or 390x "overclocked"

For the GTX 970 vs R9 390 "out of the box" it's a split decision. The 970 is about 4% faster @ 1080p and the 390 is about 1% faster at 1440p.

For the GTX 970 vs R9 390 "overclocked" the 970 not only takes...
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inerax

inerax

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I purchased 1 970 and it was amazing... would go back in a heart beat. Only change I made was a 2nd 970.

I would go with the 970. Great card and you can upgrade to a 2nd 970 down the road for ever better performance :)
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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The 970 is currently the most most prevalent discrete GPU hitting steam servers .... that's pretty amazing considering that it's still in the middle of it's run and there's a reason for it. The price performance ratio is something we haven't seen in a long time. With speeds faster than the 780, it went on sale for $80 less than it's predecessor the $400 770.

When comparing AMD and vVidia cards, there are two very different comparisons to be made:


GTX 970 vs R9 390 or 390x "out of the box"
GTX 970 vs R9 390 or 390x "overclocked"

For the GTX 970 vs R9 390 "out of the box" it's a split decision. The 970 is about 4% faster @ 1080p and the 390 is about 1% faster at 1440p.

For the GTX 970 vs R9 390 "overclocked" the 970 not only takes down the 390, it also takes down the 390x. This is because the R9 cards are very aggressively clocked in the box and therefore have very little overcloking headroom. The R9s do 4- 7% ... the GTX 17 - 31% .

So when overclocked, the 970 tops the 390x .... and I'd call the 1440p battle a virtual ties as the 970 only wins by b1.6%.

All data above from Techpowerup.... yu can see the numbers here:

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2726233/gtx-970-390.html#16279031


 
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Traciatim

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I second the 970, it's probably the best choice in this price range, but it's really hard to get one under 400 bucks in Canada. Though NCIX does have a decent deal on for this card:

http://www.ncix.com/detail/gigabyte-geforce-gtx-970-oc-6d-102012-1021.htm

The free shipping would really help out keeping it reasonable. They usually have similar deals each week though so no rush to buy that specific one.

On the AMD side the price range would be a 390, which is pretty much the same price and still a nice powerful card. Stepping down from those are a pretty big step down to the 960 or 380 which I don't think are a big enough change from your existing card to bother since you'll see similar performance anyway.

Your machine is actually pretty decent already. What are you seeing performance problems in that you want to sink 400 bucks in to it? If you look at TechSpot's review of the 970 in an average of 8 games the 970 was about 48% faster than a 280x, which is a pretty hefty increase. Though in the games you play if you are having slow performance problems you might want to take a look at something like MSI Afterburner and watch your GPU usage when you have low frame rates. If you notice a trend of the GPU usage dropping when the frame rate is low there might actually be something else slowing the machine down. I just want to make sure you are upgrading the right thing for what you are trying to fix.

Edit: Also, if you are willing NCIX has an outlet store with a few 970's that are generally open box items or similar types of things:

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Gigabyte-GTX-970-G1-1329MHZ-4GB-Video-Card-102011-3-/311438179898?hash=item4883297e3a
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/ASUS-GeForce-GTX-970-Strix-OC-1253MHZ-4GB-Video-Card-102345-4-/400989602953?hash=item5d5cd7c489
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Gigabyte-GeForce-GTX-970-OC-1216MHZ-4GB-Video-Card-103049-3-/400989604904?hash=item5d5cd7cc28


 
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cosmicbatz

cosmicbatz

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Yeah , I checked a while ago and my gpu goes full force in graphics intensive games. Thanks for the links. I will probably buy from the ebay link now.
 
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cosmicbatz

cosmicbatz

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LOL. Who knows, it may happen someday.
 
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JackNaylorPE

JackNaylorPE

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But what reasoning leads to the conclusion that performance would be any different on 9xx ? At this point an argument could by made that AMD has an advantage with asynchronous compute but it's too early to say as everything is still in its infancy. That argument has been made before; last time we heard this argument was that Mantle was "going to change everything" ... and it didn't quite pan out.

DX12-High.png


The two cards were within 5% on average in TPUs testing and AMD even led on a few titles....

bioshock_2560_1440.gif


despite all the techno babble about AC, the fps numbers as we see above just aren't supporting the argument.... and it's certainly not offsetting the 26% overlcocking difference between the 980 Ti (31%) and the Fury (5%)
 
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Stefan_10

Stefan_10

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Ok , hi , got to ask . Have you upgraded and are you happy with it ? I'm in the same spot :D
I might go for 980x since i can find them 'second hand' but with warranty and in box at about 300-400 euros .
 
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cosmicbatz

cosmicbatz

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[/quotemsg]

Ok , hi , got to ask . Have you upgraded and are you happy with it ? I'm in the same spot :D
I might go for 980x since i can find them 'second hand' but with warranty and in box at about 300-400 euros .
[/quotemsg]

No, I haven't upgraded. The economy in Canada has gone to shit, so everything is 1.5-2x more expensive here now. So a 970 costs for me in Canada what a 980 would cost for people in the US.
 
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Stefan_10

Stefan_10

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Oh damn , sorry to hear that . My r9 280x has gone to shit , can't play games because I get vertical lines and it crashes . A new 970 in Romania , second hand , would be about 300 euros , so I might get one sooner or later . But ah , this season I was too jolly and i've got no money right now y-y
 
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