Buying a new video card to replace my 7870 - Going with an R9 390

[slag]

Giving my ATI 7870 to my son and want the best bang for my buck. Microcenter has an EVGA regular 960 for $200 after rebate. I'm not opposed to used. Is there a better solution for me in that general price range (up to $250ish)

Reading is fundamental... im sorry

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2447225

 

[lehtv]

I'm pretty sure there is no 8780. Do you mean 8770 (an OEM card, rebrand of retail 7790) or 7870?

GTX 960 is a good slight upgrade from 7870, and a bigger upgrade from 8770.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

If you can deal with a $30 rebate and have a good CPU (e.g. Sandy Bridge i5 or better), go up to $260 and get an XFX R9 290; it crushes the 960 in every way other than power consumption.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150697

 

[MeldarthX]

I think he means 7870.......and nope it wouldn't be worth it. 380 still not exactly worth it. Honestly best upgrade 390 would be the best upgrade for the price.

 

[slag]

yep, i had transposed the numbers.. i fixed it.. Thanks. so a R9 390 is what you are saying, eh? Don't know if i can find one in my price range...

 

[SteveGrabowski]

yep, i had transposed the numbers.. i fixed it.. Thanks. so a R9 390 is what you are saying, eh? Don't know if i can find one in my price range...

That 290 I posted is almost as strong as a 390, and an enormous upgrade over a 7870.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

If you want to go 390, this is a great deal for a Sapphire Nitro for $310 with no rebates.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814202148

 

[slag]

That 290 I posted is almost as strong as a 390, and an enormous upgrade over a 7870.

I don't do rebates unfortunately, so the card is too expensive. With the new Tonga chipset coming out, maybe I can wait a few months to see if the 290 comes down in price.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I don't do rebates unfortunately, so the card is too expensive. With the new Tonga chipset coming out, maybe I can wait a few months to see if the 290 comes down in price.

I don't get it, you were quoting the 960's price after rebate in your initial post.

 

[Headfoot]

The 290 is as low as its ever going to be. I expect its price to go up, not down, as its EOLed.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

The 290 is as low as its ever going to be. I expect its price to go up, not down, as its EOLed.

Yeah, the 290's price has been going steadily up since June. You used to be able to get the best 290s like the Sapphire Tri-X and PowerColor PCS+ for $260-$270 up front and a $30 rebate.

 

[slag]

I don't get it, you were quoting the 960's price after rebate in your initial post.

Well, it was a $20.00 rebate, not $10 at microcenter so yeah, I wouldn't have gone for it.

 

[slag]

290x is more than a 390. Interesting. Worse performance, more money. Must be cooler or less power draw. I'll do some reading.

 

[MeldarthX]

380X might slot in nicely at 200 mark; but we don't know when it's come out.....depending on the deals around *btw thinking in british pounds*

After looking over the data; 380 4 gig at 200 dollars would be a decent upgrade. Not as good as the 290/390....but its a lot less.

I've seeing reports everywhere 380 4 gig at 1080p is a beast of a card......

 

[crisium]

960 or 380 would be poor upgrades from a 7870. They are barely faster than the 7950. That entire premise is a waste of money - you would have been better off getting a 7950 3 years ago instead of a 7870 and had that level of performance this whole time. A one tier upgrade is a huge waste of money.

290 minimum.

 

[slag]

My monitor will only do 1920x1200 but I'd like to upgrade that sometime in the future as well. I have a 2500k @ 4.5 ghz so cpu power isn't a concern.

 

[RussianSensation]

My monitor will only do 1920x1200 but I'd like to upgrade that sometime in the future as well. I have a 2500k @ 4.5 ghz so cpu power isn't a concern.

GTX960 is one of the worst price/performance cards out on the market right now. The 2GB version is DOA on arrival and the 4GB version is priced horribly. GTX960 4GB at $200 makes no sense in light of you having an HD7870 as it's only about 18-22% faster . OTOH, a $245-260 R9 290 is 77% faster, $300 GTX970 is 82% faster and $290-300 R9 390 is 86% faster than your card at 1080P:
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-09/amd-radeon-r9-nano-test/4/

R9 290 for $245, R9 290 for $260 with lifetime warranty or R9 390 for $300-310.

On the NV side, Gigabyte GTX970 G1 for $300, Asus Strix 970 for $300.

 

[ocre]

Did you guys miss this in the OP

"I'm not opposed to used"

Then there is this,

"(Up to 250ish)"

 

[RussianSensation]

Did you guys miss this in the OP

"I'm not opposed to used"

Then there is this,

"(Up to 250ish)"

I feel like my post covered all of those bases. I don't see a better used videocard in the $250 range than R9 290/290X/970/390 that can today be found for $245-290.

 

[kawi6rr]

I have to agree with RS he's pretty much covered the best used cards at that price range.

 

[slag]

Forgot I had some cash in my old credit union account. Now I'm torn between the $309 gigabyte G1 Gaming card or the $339 MSI Gaming card. I won't overclock over what they have at the factory, but the gigabyte looks like it has some problems from time to time. I could pick both up from microcenter today, or order from newegg and wait a week and save tax.

 

[Techhog]

Forgot I had some cash in my old credit union account. Now I'm torn between the $309 gigabyte G1 Gaming card or the $339 MSI Gaming card. I won't overclock over what they have at the factory, but the gigabyte looks like it has some problems from time to time. I could pick both up from microcenter today, or order from newegg and wait a week and save tax.

If you don't plan on overclocking, the 390 is better than the 970 unless you want to save power.

 

[Sonikku]

Would a 430 antec earthwatt be enough for an R9 390?

 

[lehtv]

No.

 

[vissarix]

Giving my ATI 7870 to my son and want the best bang for my buck. Microcenter has an EVGA regular 960 for $200 after rebate. I'm not opposed to used. Is there a better solution for me in that general price range (up to $250ish)

Reading is fundamental... im sorry

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2447225

you can find a custom gtx 960 as low as $159, so the r9 390 have almost double the price...no wonder its faster...the gtx 960 is a new gpu with alot of new features, you can overclock it easily at 1500mhz and with little voltage increase even 1600mhz, which would give you around r9 280x performance.

i would recommend you to get the gtx 960 and then eventually upgrade next year when new gen gpu's will arrive, they are going to be alot faster so its not worth getting a big expensive gpu right now...