$350 Budget - Buy or wait?

[killmurer]

Hello everyone,

I'm new to this forum.

I'm looking to upgrade my GPU from a 7850 which I gave away to a friend.
Budget is around $350. But I'd really like to keep it below $300.
I'm willing to wait month or so.

I see the 290's have gone up in price a bit.
Are they still the best deal? (I missed the black friday deals.)
Are there any good deals on 970s? I'm kind of wary to buy NVDIA at this point. I've seen the 6970, 7970 age and they seem to have done quite a bit better than NVDIA.

Also is the $320 after MIR 290x lightning worth it?

My system currently
i5 3570K
PSU: Antec 620M HCG.

Would my PSU be enough for a single 290x?
Would it be safe to OC the GPU on my PSU.

Thanks!

 

[tential]

Probably should have asked about that before you gave away your GPU?

If you plan on gaming you NEED a gpu.

If you don't, I'd wait for the AMD R9 380x/GTX 980Ti to come out.

 

[killmurer]

Perhaps I should've rephrased. I only do some light gaming. 4 hours or so a week. I am fine with not gaming for 1-2 months.

Is there a rumored date for next-gen GPUs? Another option is to get a cheap one off of e Bay and use that till the next-gen launches.

 

[boozzer]

Perhaps I should've rephrased. I only do some light gaming. 4 hours or so a week. I am fine with not gaming for 1-2 months.

Is there a rumored date for next-gen GPUs? Another option is to get a cheap one off of e Bay and use that till the next-gen launches.

if you are fine with not gaming for 2 months, I would wait. if the leaked pics are true, huge performance gains. I would wait if I were you.

 

[wand3r3r]

The new gpus (390/x) will be more than $350, historically speaking. I would guess $400-450 for the 390.

I'd either go with a $250 290 (when they are available if not atm), or wait and spring for the 390 if you can afford it.

 

[Insomniator]

I find it hard to believe a $250 290 or $300 290x will be beat anytime soon (within a year?).

New GPU's will certainly be more expensive, unless AMD really goes nuts with undercutting.

 

[tential]

The new gpus (390/x) will be more than $350, historically speaking. I would guess $400-450 for the 390.

I'd either go with a $250 290 (when they are available if not atm), or wait and spring for the 390 if you can afford it.

R9 390 might hit clos eto $350. Even if at $400, I mean he can save $50 dollars in 2 months right?

Even then, those cards get released, and Nvidia and AMD's other cards will change in price. So I'd still wait it out.

I wouldn't have given the other card away though -.-

 

[killmurer]

Well, I can afford all GPUs on the market. My friend couldn't in his current circumstances. That's why I gave my 7850 away. With the light gaming I do, I personally cannot justify spending more that $350 on a GPU. $300 is my personal sweet spot.

Would my PSU be able to handle an OCed 290x? I hope I can wait this out though.

 

[daveybrat]

Wait for the new Nvidia GTX 960 cards that will be released soon. They consume very little power and your 620Watt is plenty for it.

Also it should land between $199-$269 range more than likely. I'm currently waiting for one myself to upgrade to.

P.S....same as you i only game a few hours a week if that, so i'm looking for a more 'frugal' GPU purchase.

 

[Keysplayr]

This sounds like a good plan. That is if the imminent 960 release rumor buzzing around is true.
If you would like to stay exclusively with AMD then there are some great deals on 280x or 290.

 

[Danrr]

I'll wait for the GTX 960 release, then AMD hopefully cut the price of the 270/280 and then I will make the decision.

Personally I will probably change to the green side to see what it feels like, I have been an AMD owner like always.

 

[ShintaiDK]

You can just as well buy now.

 

[netxzero64]

go for the GTX 970, bang for the buck card.

 

[raghu78]

OP I suggest you wait till Feb. the R9 380X is expected to launch first followed by the R9 390 and R9 390X. So you might get your wish with the pricing of R9 380X at USD 299 - USD 349.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I think it would make sense to go $35 over budget and get one of the lower end GTX 970's at $335 shipped (they're still amazing cards). If you're absolutely committed to $300 then your best bet is the Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 for $300 shipped, and then a $20 mail in rebate. If your power supply isn't too old, it should be fine with a Tri-X R9 290 (Antec HCG620 is a great PSU), as the absolute peak that GPU spikes at is 336W power usage while gaming, according to the Tom's Hardware review. Either way though, these GPUs are both massive overkill for light gaming.

There is no way the GTX 960 is going to be more powerful than the R9 290, so I wouldn't wait for it. As for the R9 380x in February, is there a good source on this? Besides, if that is supposed to beat a GTX 980, I can't imagine it releasing at only $350.

 

[netxzero64]

^ no source for any 3xx cards yet. We will have to wait and see. obviously and expectedly, it should outperform the current maxwell lineup as it would really dissapoint if it wouldn't right?

 

[SteveGrabowski]

^ no source for any 3xx cards yet. We will have to wait and see. obviously and expectedly, it should outperform the current maxwell lineup as it would really dissapoint if it wouldn't right?

You think so? I would hope the 390x would, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the 380x as a more power efficient answer to the 290x.

 

[ocre]

I think it would make sense to go $35 over budget and get one of the lower end GTX 970's at $335 shipped (they're still amazing cards). If you're absolutely committed to $300 then your best bet is the Sapphire Tri-X R9 290 for $300 shipped, and then a $20 mail in rebate. If your power supply isn't too old, it should be fine with a Tri-X R9 290 (Antec HCG620 is a great PSU), as the absolute peak that GPU spikes at is 336W power usage while gaming, according to the Tom's Hardware review. Either way though, these GPUs are both massive overkill for light gaming.

There is no way the GTX 960 is going to be more powerful than the R9 290, so I wouldn't wait for it. As for the R9 380x in February, is there a good source on this? Besides, if that is supposed to beat a GTX 980, I can't imagine it releasing at only $350.

but it could shake up the market depending on how nvidia tries to play that hand

I think the gm204 so far was such a smash hit they could just release a gtx960 that is meh. Unless they really are going after AMDs jugular. That i kind of doubt.

 

[RussianSensation]

Asus R9 290 DCUII is $240.
http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=14-121-842

I don't see how a 970 is worth $330-350, not after the performance of recent games. I would get a 290, then resell it in 12-15 months, take $90-110 savings and put it towards a much faster next gen card. Doubtful that a 960 will beat a $240 after-market 290. After all an after-market 290 = 290X and that competes very well against a 970. Also, 290 has 4Gb of VRAM something I doubt the 960 will have.

History proves time and time again that when 2 cards perform nearly the same, but one costs a lot less, it's better to take the savings and put it towards your next upgrade. This has been true for 20+ years of GPU upgrades.

In 2 years from now, both the 970 and 290 will be similarly "too slow" for next gen games if you want to think about it another way. There is not futureproofing factor in the 970.

 

[netxzero64]

You think so? I would hope the 390x would, but it wouldn't surprise me to see the 380x as a more power efficient answer to the 290x.

It would raise my eyebrow if the 380x does not match the 980s performance. What I don't like is the power consumption as I believe AMD is going for raw power on this.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

but it could shake up the market depending on how nvidia tries to play that hand

I think the gm204 so far was such a smash hit they could just release a gtx960 that is meh. Unless they really are going after AMDs jugular. That i kind of doubt.

Releasing the 970 at $330 instead of $400 was definitely going after AMD's jugular at the high end of the market. Can't see why they wouldn't want to complete the job at the middle end too. If the 960 comes out with 780 level performance it won't beat the 290, but it'll be close enough that the worries about power, heat, as well as the better free game selection (I'd much rather have one of FC4 or AC Unity over the 4 free AMD games) would likely make the 960 the go-to 1080p card. Then the only market AMD would have is the low end gaming market with the R9 270/270x.

 

[gradoman]

go for the GTX 970, bang for the buck card.

I'd say the 290 is the best bang for your buck. I got one of these DD edition cards for $180. Now I see the reviews and I'm shocked ; Had no idea it was that good.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ouble_dissipation_edition_review#.VIiUbh7F-30

That said, if the OP can just wait a while -- you might as well wait and see what's out next year.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I'd say the 290 is the best bang for your buck. I got one of these DD edition cards for $180. Now I see the reviews and I'm shocked ; Had no idea it was that good.

http://www.hardocp.com/article/2014...ouble_dissipation_edition_review#.VIiUbh7F-30

$180? How did you get an XFX R9 290 for that without a gun and ski mask?

 

[RussianSensation]

H^ but if 300 series is a class above 900 series, it won't matter how 960 stacks up against a 1 year old 290. AMD made enough money on 290s to coast to 300 series. What people on our forums don't understand is that AMD is able to compete with 970/980 with old series. If 390X is only 30% faster than a 290X, it's game over for the 960/970/980 because they will place every card with either more performance at the same price or undercut NV with similar performance on the mainstream.

It's not only about the 300 series but GM200 series. Right now a 980 is not a $550-600 card, no matter how the marketing at NV spins it. It's really a $429-449 card and the real $600 card (GM200) just hasn't been launched since NV knows they can milk GM204 against 1 year old tech. For how many months now did NV not have anything worth buying on the desktop below $330? A long time now, and it will continue for all of December 2014 too.

By end of 2014 AMD could have easily released a 1.15Ghz 290X with water cooling but they didn't even bother. This shows that 390 series is a bigger departure in performance from 290X than only 15%. AMD saw what 680->780/780Ti did to their strategy last gen. They can't be dumb enough to release 390/390X to compete with 970/980 or they will have no single chip card to compete with 780/780Ti successors.

Whenever AMD is behind and they release new cards, they tend to force MUCH bigger changes in price/performance in the market and price drops for NV. R9 290 $399 vs. $650 780 and more VRAM to boot. All 970 did was undercut 290 by only $70 but 11 months later. When 300 series launches, all cards like 960/970/980 will need price cuts. Remember when AMD coasted with X1800 series for 4 months and then out of nowhere X1900 came out and laid waste to all 7800 series cards. Can't underestimate AMD when NV is using its next gen parts against AMD's last gen. When 7000 series came out, NV's 500 series was all but worthless overnight, yet 290/290X are still holding up. Even if 960 is close to 290, it's not really ground breaking considering how cheap the 290 is and how old it is!

 

[gradoman]

$180? How did you get an XFX R9 290 for that without a gun and ski mask?

LOL, man! A miner was selling his mining gear for a song. You can find some really good deals in the FS/FT with warranty coverage even.