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Best Graphics Card for Phenom II X4 980BE

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Agreed with Termie, the R9 280 should be an excellent pick. It's still cheaper than a comparable GTX 760, and comes with three free games. The R9 280 could also maintain its resale value a bit better than the last gen 7950, even if the cards are practically identical.
 
Clutchc said:
The title says it all. I'm wondering what would be the best card for the PhIIX4 980. Assume I don't overclock. Price isn't really an issue.

Phenom II X4 980BE
MSI 785GM-E65
2 x 4GB 1600MHZ DDR3
1080p resolution
Main use; gaming
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That is one fine motherboard you have in your rig, very power efficient. Unfortunately though, it's not the best overclocker, so I doubt you can push 980BE much. I would probably get a 1055T 95W version (125w are way too power hungry for that board) and give it a medium overclock for best balance between power and speed (that board should easily handle 3.3 - 3.6 Ghz OC). I upgraded one of the 4-core Denebs with a Thuban and it made a tremendous difference in games like Battlefield 4. So it's certainly worth a consideration.

To answer your question though, I would probably get something like Geforce 770 or Radeon 280x. Probably the Geforce, for slightly better power-efficiency and acoustics. If you don't want to invest much and aren't a demanding gamer, this card works very well with me (I am only a casual gamer, though).
 
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AMD cpus seem to perform a bit better when matched with an Nvidia gpu. Don't recall which site did the test not to far ago.

GTX 760 is a good choice, so it the vanila 280 (7950)
 
@ Attic
Can you tell if the 2 fans on the Sapphire HD 7950 in your link are the small 80mm? This will be going into a small-ish Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 case (that I have removed the middle drive cage to make room for long cards). I don't like noisy fans, and small fans are usually noisier than large fans if they move the same amount of air.

I just about have myself talked into that card. The games that come with the R9-280 don't really appeal to me. I have some of them already, and most of the rest don't interest me. The two cards seem to be almost identical in specs. Same GPU?
 
I have a Sapphire HD7950 with a 965BE @4GHz and in most games I am GPU limited. Battlefield 4 is one game where I am VERY CPU limited. Mantle actually results in near double FPS in some places.

So with that CPU, stick with an AMD card that has Mantle support, if you plan on playing games like BF4.

Your other option, if your motherboard isn't too old (Like mine) you can always drop an FX8350 in the Phenom's place.
 
Gikaseixas said:
AMD cpus seem to perform a bit better when matched with an Nvidia gpu. Don't recall which site did the test not to far ago.
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That's a bit of a far out claim to make IMO when you can't cite the source.

Stuka87 said:
So with that CPU, stick with an AMD card that has Mantle support, if you plan on playing games like BF4.
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I agree with this sentiment. Even if Mantle is supported in only a few games at the moment, some big upcoming titles will have Mantle support (Civilization Beyond Earth, Star Citizen, etc), so going AMD can pay off in a big way when you're limited to a CPU that is slow by today's standard.
 
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Gikaseixas said:
AMD cpus seem to perform a bit better when matched with an Nvidia gpu. Don't recall which site did the test not to far ago.

GTX 760 is a good choice, so it the vanila 280 (7950)
Click to expand...

lehtv said:
That's a bit of a far out claim to make IMO when you can't cite the source.

...
Click to expand...

I believe he's referring to the higher driver overhead of AMD cards, which affects their performance with both AMD and Intel CPUs. The issue is just more noticeable on an AMD CPU, hence his statement that Nvidia GPUs perform better on AMD.

Mantle cures all that, of course, in compatible games.
 
Lepton87 said:
I would change the CPU, it's going to be severely limiting even a mid-range card at 1080p in most games. 280x/770 class card is already an overkill for such a CPU but go a tier lower and you will get a helluva slower cards so they are a sensible choice unless you can find older cards like GTX680 or 7950 boost for noticeably less, there's no sense in saving 20-30$ but if you can find GTX680 for 100$ less than 770 then it's worth it. I know you said the price was not an issue but if that's the case then why keep that ancient CPU?
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This isn't altogether true. I have an X4 980 BE @ 4.0 Ghz paired with a GTX 670 2GB. Its still a capable enough gaming PC for 1920x1200. A few games the older/slower CPU is noticeable, but for the most part I play with max... or close to it... settings with vertical sync on. As picky as I am about slowdowns and stuttering if the PC gets to that point on a regular basis I'll build a new Intel one. So far it hasn't.

I'd think something along the lines of a GTX 760, R9 280/HD 7950 would be great for 1080p and that CPU.
 
Leyawiin said:
This isn't altogether true. I have an X4 980 BE @ 4.0 Ghz paired with a GTX 670 2GB. Its still a capable enough gaming PC for 1920x1200. A few games the older/slower CPU is noticeable, but for the most part I play with max... or close to it... settings with vertical sync on. As picky as I am about slowdowns and stuttering if the PC gets to that point on a regular basis I'll build a new Intel one. So far it hasn't.

I'd think something along the lines of a GTX 760, R9 280/HD 7950 would be great for 1080p and that CPU.
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I dont see how and why you use vsync with that cpu as there is hardly any modern game where that cpu can even average 60 fps much less stay above 60.
 
lehtv said:
That's a bit of a far out claim to make IMO when you can't cite the source.
Click to expand...

Apologies for not being able to give you guys a link but i don't remember what test or site i read that. I'm not the type of guy who would make stuff up 🙂
 
Gikaseixas said:
Apologies for not being able to give you guys a link but i don't remember what test or site i read that. I'm not the type of guy who would make stuff up 🙂
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I will back you up on that as I remember seeing it too but also dont recall exactly when and where it was.
 
Gikaseixas said:
Apologies for not being able to give you guys a link but i don't remember what test or site i read that. I'm not the type of guy who would make stuff up 🙂
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I didn't imply you might've been making it up, at least not on purpose. It is an unfortunate fact that the brain fabricates stuff to fill gaps in knowledge or to fit pre-existing attitudes and biases. Another fact is that memory can be inaccurate or downright misleading, no matter how confident you feel about it. Yet another unfortunate fact is that a person may not have acquired sufficient critical thinking and reading comprehension skills to be trusted with accurately and correctly passing on information from an article.
 
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Termie said:
I believe he's referring to the higher driver overhead of AMD cards, which affects their performance with both AMD and Intel CPUs. The issue is just more noticeable on an AMD CPU, hence his statement that Nvidia GPUs perform better on AMD.

Mantle cures all that, of course, in compatible games.
Click to expand...

I recall an article in Tom's Hardware a couple of years or so back that showed nVidia cards performed relatively better than otherwise comparable AMD cards with AMD cpus. I think it was only a few percent though, barely above the margin of measurement error.
 
Clutchc said:
Which of these 2 cards would be the best choice?
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133492
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814202026

Ignore the free game for now. Just based on performance with the 3.74 GHZ Phenom II X4.
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The 7950 would be the better choice, IMO. Better cooler on the 7950. Slightly better performance out of the box, noticeably better performance once overclocked. Mantle support to help offset the older cpu, if you play games that support it.
 
nurturedhate said:
The 7950 would be the better choice, IMO. Better cooler on the 7950. Slightly better performance out of the box, noticeably better performance once overclocked. Mantle support to help offset the older cpu, if you play games that support it.
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Plus additional VRAM and an additional year of warranty. I would never buy a new graphics card with only 1 year warranty. Might as well buy a used card. Really, the comparison shouldn't be between Sapphire 7950 and PNY 760, it should be between Sapphire 7950 and Gigabyte 760 which costs $240 AR.
 
You really want to upgrade:

Splinter Cell:

http://www.techspot.com/review/706-splinter-cell-blacklist-benchmarks/page5.html

49 to your Phenom, 75 to a modern i5

Borderlands 2:

http://www.techspot.com/review/577-borderlands-2-performance/page6.html

51 to your Phenom, 61 to an i5

Metro Last Light:

http://www.techspot.com/review/670-metro-last-light-performance/page6.html

58 to your Phenom, i5 cracks 70

And those are not minimums, which would be horrible in your case. I'd chuck it and start with an intel base that can maintain high minimums and solid FPS.
 
toyota said:
"Price isn't really an issue"

then get a better cpu.
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^ This.

If price is actually an issue then I agree with toyota. I wouldn't go any faster than that 7950. The 7950 is a great card, especially for that price.
The Phenoms were nice little chips in 09 but their day in the sun is very much over.
 
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Clutchc said:
@ Attic
Can you tell if the 2 fans on the Sapphire HD 7950 in your link are the small 80mm? This will be going into a small-ish Fractal Design Arc Mini R2 case (that I have removed the middle drive cage to make room for long cards). I don't like noisy fans, and small fans are usually noisier than large fans if they move the same amount of air.

I just about have myself talked into that card. The games that come with the R9-280 don't really appeal to me. I have some of them already, and most of the rest don't interest me. The two cards seem to be almost identical in specs. Same GPU?
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AFAIK the Dual X cooler on the 7950 from newegg uses 2x 85mm fans. Ideally you'd want something more robust found on the R9 280's priced over $250, but the Dual X cooler on the 7950 is solid.

Running one card you should be fine for fan noise and temps IMO.
 
escrow4 said:
You really want to upgrade:

Splinter Cell:

http://www.techspot.com/review/706-splinter-cell-blacklist-benchmarks/page5.html

49 to your Phenom, 75 to a modern i5

Borderlands 2:

http://www.techspot.com/review/577-borderlands-2-performance/page6.html

51 to your Phenom, 61 to an i5

Metro Last Light:

http://www.techspot.com/review/670-metro-last-light-performance/page6.html

58 to your Phenom, i5 cracks 70

And those are not minimums, which would be horrible in your case. I'd chuck it and start with an intel base that can maintain high minimums and solid FPS.
Click to expand...

The above post is misleading as it cites three cases, two of which use TITAN GPUs. The third case is BL2 with GTX 680 which excels at that particular game. Going from 51 fps average to 61 fps average isn't exactly earth shattering. A CPU upgrade to Intel means new mobo, CPU, and possibly RAM at minimum and isn't something to be taken lightly. OP's CPU even when not overclocked is enough to drive at least a GTX 760 for most games at OP's resolution without tons of bottlenecking.
 
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