980ti vs RX480 Sapphire Nitro

[cctaylor88]

I'm more than ready for an ascension of my GPU (currently running a GTX760). I have an LGUC88-B which has freesync, originally I was planning on getting a RX480 Sapphire Nitro, but after looking at the debacle that is trying to purchase a 1080/70... I don't want to wait 6 months etc to purchase a 480 at MSRP (as in I won't be overpaying just to have one). And then there is the fact that we don't have a confirmed date of availability.

My question is would I be better suited to purchase/wait for a 480 Sapphire Nitro to hopefully utilize freesync or should I drop the money and get a 980ti without FS obviously. Now, I will admit I have never experienced freesync in action so its possible that I "don't know what I'm missing" but looking at benches the 980ti seems to be a much more powerful card when compared to the 480... but I won't get to utilize freesync. Thoughts?

 

[R0H1T]

The 480 will not be overpriced, if anything it might be closer to the stock 480 MSRP, & that's cause the 1060 is launching soon. As for availability, that's anyone's guess but it'll get better soon enough.

 

[redzo]

980ti is more than 30% faster than the rx480.
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/RX_480/24.html

Since this is not multi-gpu, I believe that higher frame rate matters more than lower frame rate + free-s/g-s.

For example, consider gta v performance at 1440p:
https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/RX_480/15.html

rx480 scores 48.6, while the 980 ti sits back and relaxes at 68fps. Crysis 3, same story.

Is free-s more important than a perfect 60? I personally do not think so.

 

[MangoX]

The RX480 and 980TI are in a totally different class, the 980ti being 2 tiers higher (or can we say, the highest?). If you're looking at the 980ti because of availability issues with the 1070/1080 then I can feel you. If you can get the 980ti at a good price then would do it.

As for the RX480 Nitro, it depends how long you can wait. No AIB cards have been released yet, and availability is also sketchy. The 980ti is available and in stock now.

As for FS, higher FPS over vertical sync any day.

 

[VulgarDisplay]

The RX480 and 980TI are in a totally different class, the 980ti being 2 tiers higher (or can we say, the highest?). If you're looking at the 980ti because of availability issues with the 1070/1080 then I can feel you. If you can get the 980ti at a good price then would do it.

As for the RX480 Nitro, it depends how long you can wait. No AIB cards have been released yet, and availability is also sketchy. The 980ti is available and in stock now.

As for FS, higher FPS over vertical sync any day.

Freesync is different than vertical sync.

Op wait for someone who has actually tried a variable refresh rate monitor to chime in before doing anything.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

 

[cctaylor88]

Freesync is different than vertical sync.

Op wait for someone who has actually tried a variable refresh rate monitor to chime in before doing anything.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

While I understand what you are saying the whole "variable refresh rate monitor" is pretty foreign to me. This is my first 34" monitor and I have never used free/gsync so I don't really know what it has to offer in person. Watching videos can only do so much. Isn't v-sync like a universal thing?

 

[Nhirlathothep]

they re on totally different levels: gtx 980ti is far far far better than amd 480, no comparison.

i prefer 1 980ti than 2 x 480

but at the price of a new 480 you can buy only a used 980ti

 

[Yakk]

If possible you should really take time to see a demo adaptive sync displays for yourself. You'll instantly see the difference and what its worth to you, describing it won't relay the difference. Personally I think they are worth it.

For the GPU, it will depend on your gaming choices here too, the 480 will be slower in old DX11, but rivals the performance of a 980ti looking forward in DX12 & Vulkan as can be seen in Warhammer and Doom.

Then you have to factor in the respective adaptive sync price differences.

 

[therealnickdanger]

V-Sync is a universal method of locking the frame rate to the static refresh rate of a screen. 60fps = 60Hz. It can be done with any GPU on any display.

FreeSync/G-Sync are the proprietary methods of locking frame rates to the dynamic refresh rates of monitors that support either technology. 45fps = 45Hz, 32fps = 32Hz, 97fps = 97Hz, and so on. As the frame rate of the game fluctuates, so does the screen refresh.

FreeSync/G-Sync monitors also typically have an effective range of frequencies and anything outside of that results in stuttering like a normal monitor. The ranges can be very large (30Hz-144Hz) or very narrow (45Hz-60Hz).

Personally, I would not buy a new monitor right now. We're on the verge of having new DP1.3/1.4 displays, more HDMI 2.0 displays, HDR displays, and improvements to both FreeSync and G-Sync.

As others have pointed out, 980Ti/RX480 are in totally different classes and not really comparable. I personally haven't seen any used 980Tis for less than $400, so that's still 2X the price of an RX480. If you have that kind of money, I would wait for a non-Founders Edition 1070.

 

[Headfoot]

It's not going to take 6 months to see 480 availability.... you can already buy them today if youre quick. So that's just not true.

980 Ti is going to be faster than the 480. I would also suggest seeing freesync in action to judge it for yourself. Your monitor has a fairly limited freesync range if I remember correctly but it can be modded to support a broader range.

 

[Hail The Brain Slug]

This one is available to order right now and amazon says it will ship tomorrow.

If you miss it or the brand or 8GB model doesn't strike your fancy, register for the alerts for the ones you are interested in here. You'll likely have an opportunity to buy any given model within a day or two based on how the availability has been.

 

[Bacon1]

I just picked up a Fury Nitro for under $350 (due to amazon cash promos). Its got similar power to a 980 ti (especially in future games), but cheaper and will support my 34" Freesync monitor. So that is another option.

 

[redzo]

I just picked up a Fury Nitro for under $350 (due to amazon cash promos). Its got similar power to a 980 ti (especially in future games), but cheaper and will support my 34" Freesync monitor. So that is another option.

Let's keep our feet on the ground and don't fool ourselves. 980ti offers great performance consistency now as it is without the uncertainty of tomorrow. Even if as you say, the fury x is its worthy contender.

Edit:
cctaylor88 free-s and g-s are meant for those particular cases where the minimum fps goes bellow your display refresh rate, otherwise fps is king. If min fps >= refresh rate then it becomes useless. free-s/g-s is useless when a gpu spits frames like crazy.
Yeah, owning a free-s or g-s display will turn itself useful maybe 1 or 2 years from now(?), when a fury x or 980ti won't be able to keep up minimums according to your display refresh rate, but glorifying a feature like this(g/f sync) against consistent high min fps is plain stupid.

 

[Bacon1]

Let's keep our feet on the ground and don't fool ourselves. 980ti offers great performance consistency now as it is without the uncertainty of tomorrow. Even if as you say, the fury x is its worthy contender.

Edit: cctaylor88 free-s and g-s are meant for those particular cases where the minimum fps goes bellow your display's refresh rate, otherwise fps is king. If min fps >= refresh rate then it becomes useless. free-s/g-s can't become useless when a gpu spits frames like crazy.

https://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/RX_480_CrossFire/images/perfrel_3840_2160.png

https://tpucdn.com/reviews/AMD/RX_480_CrossFire/images/perfrel_2560_1440.png

Since the one I bought is stock OC'd Fury, it falls between Fury Air and X perf wise, which is more or less equal to the 980 TI @ 1440+ (I have ultrawide 1440 which is between 4k and 1440p).

So just saying that it is a great alternative if you want more performance but still keep AMD features (better DX12 / Vulkan and Freesync)

Re: Your edit. You can limit frames using afterburner or other applications to cap at the freesync top range to prevent tearing. If you don't care about tearing then sure run unlimited. You'll save on power by capping as well (GPU doesn't need to run 100%)

 

[redzo]

...
So just saying that it is a great alternative if you want more performance but still keep AMD features (better DX12 / Vulkan and Freesync)
...

I didn't say that you've made a bad purchase decision or that you didn't make your(g00d) point about AMD features, but 980ti performance is at is, now and consistent.

 

[Bacon1]

I didn't say that you've made a bad purchase decision or that you didn't make your(g00d) point about AMD features, but 980ti performance is at is, now and consistent.

Sure, and the Fury line is the same performance as the 980 Ti which was my point, and that is with mostly DX11 games. DX12 / Vulkan have shown huge gains for AMD cards which will make them even faster.

 

[Ferzerp]

Honestly? I'd rather have a *sync implementation (assuming that AMDs is as good as my gsync one. I've never seen it in action though), in a 45 vs 60 fps scenario. It really is a huge difference.

I'm not sure where my exact threshold is, but acceptable FPS is *much* lower for me with gsync than without it.

 

[Ferzerp]

Sure, and the Fury line is the same performance as the 980 Ti which was my point, and that is with mostly DX11 games

No, no it isn't.

 

[crisium]

To me personally, on a 144Hz display Freesync is a marginal benefit since the screen refreshes so fast anyway that I cannot really notice tearing. I find frametimes far more important, as low frame rates feel so unresponsive to me that I cannot stand it. So I would rather play at 70FPS non-Freesync vs 45FPS Freesync, personally. On a 144Hz display anyway. Of course 70FPS Freesync feels the best though (I have tested on/off) but it's not massive.

With a 60Hz display like you have I don't know what you should do. This is where adaptive sync really matters since the refreshing is so slow, but at the same time the raw performance of the 980 Ti is impressive.

A Fury makes sense, actually. I think Freesync on a 60Hz display will definitely be worth the step down from a 980 Ti, but the 480 is too much a step down.

 

[garagisti]

Wait for AIB 480. It will do all you need for 4k htpc, plus freesync, has DP 1.3 and HDMI 2.0b ports. Next stop is Vega or 1080ti, which is when you could get rid of 480 and get something which may last you long enough.

980ti while as good as it is, well, wouldn't cut in future titles with the upcoming cards. With that, you may as well save the money for a future upgrade in about 2-3 quarters, and make do with a 480 for now, which you may resell for very little loss, or use as a backup card.

 

[redzo]

Sorry. I apologize, had a hard time at work today and didn't check your signature.
So your're on a 3440 x 1440 display and a gtx760. How do you even hold on to that in the first place?

Since I don't personally support multi-gpu's, either go for an inferior overall experience by grabbing a rx480 and experiment with f-sync, otherwise keep the money in the bank and consider a 1080 or a future AMD vega gpu.

 

[Coalscraper]

Please don't compare two cards that are in two completely different price segments. A 980ti can be ordered for 400$, a 480 is half of that price. Right now the difference in performance is 53%. This margin is likely to get cut down as on the one hand custom 480s will be much faster than refererence 480s and on the other hand Geforce Cards tend to get slower with every new generation of cards coming while Radeon cards get faster during time with better and optimized drivers.
Btw: A 980ti requires much more power than a 480 and as this seemed to be the most important thing with GPUs this can't be unmentioned.

 

[Bacon1]

No, no it isn't.

Yes, it is. See my previous post with benchmarks proving that.

 

[crisium]

Fury actually really does make sense. With AIB extra markups and potential shortages I'd expect 480 AIB to be $260+ anyway. Less than a $100 difference to that marked down Fury Nitro. A factory OC 980 Ti will pull ahead, to be fair, but on a 60Hz display Freesync will be beneficial. You can do vertical sync off with max framerate capped to 59-60Hz and this should be better than 60Hz V-Sync with drops, since the drops on Freesync will still be synced (unless they go too low).

edit: $350 deal dead

 

[swilli89]

Anyone already postulating an answer to the OP's question is just guessing. We have no idea if AIBs will do. They could boost the 480 by 20% or more, we just have no idea.

Just like many said to never judge the 980ti at stock clocks due to excellent AIB versions, why would we not allow the same for the RX480?

Also to the OP, why make a thread like this when we don't really have any data? In my opinion the reference 480 is already a much better buy than a 980ti as it stands. You get like 70% the performance for half the cost and much less energy consumption. The AIB is indeed likely to bridge some of this gap for not too much extra money.