Card for a new build

Michael

Elite member
Nov 19, 1999
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I am looking for a midrange card that can power 3 monitors (does not have to power all three at max gaming specs but I usually use three monitors on my desk.

It seems that the nvidia GTX 970 and the AMD R9 290 seem to be reasonably close in benchmarks.

Any recommendations on specific cards/card makers for either of those two choices?

I have used both nVidia and AMD before so I don't mind either one, unless there is a clear reason why I should prefer one over the other.

Looking to spend around $300.

Michael
 

nurturedhate

Golden Member
Aug 27, 2011
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Wait until June 10 and pick up a GTX 1070 for $379.

Or stick within his price range. Or wait for reviews of both the 1070 and polaris and make an actual informed purchase instead of listening to your suggestion which has no basis in well anything as of today.
 
Mar 10, 2006
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Or stick within his price range. Or wait for reviews of both the 1070 and polaris and make an actual informed purchase instead of listening to your suggestion which has no basis in well anything as of today.

He said "around $300." Could recommend a $300 card today but pretty much anything in the market at that price range will be obliterated in perf/$. Polaris is a totally unknown quantity, while 1070 perf can be reasonably extrapolated from 1080 perf + paper specs.
 

Spanners

Senior member
Mar 16, 2014
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Sticking to what you asked. For a 970 I like the MSI GAMING GeForce GTX 970. For a R9 290 I like the Sapphire Radeon R9 290 4GB Tri-X OC. I have personal experience with both and they are solid and quiet cards IMO.

I'm not sure if you can get a new R9 290 easily anymore though as it's been rejigged as the R9 390.

I'd be remiss not to mention that new cards are on the horizon, but as other have stated they are either beyond your price range or unknown launch date/performance wise.

Maybe second hand is a good way to retain more value? I see a rush of 970's on the second hand market where I am due to recent announcements. I understand you may need something now and don't like/trust second hand stuff. Anyway good luck.
 

MTDEW

Diamond Member
Oct 31, 1999
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If I absolutely had to buy a GPU right now/today with a $300 budget, I would definitely buy a R9 390 over the 970 or 290.
The 390 has similar performance of the 970 & 290, and has more vram. (390 8gb vs 4gb 970/290)
We're already seeing titles where you cannot even enable options in the settings without having more than 4gb vram.

But as others have stated, if you can wait a month or two and see how the new GPU's that are in your budget range perform, that would probably be your best bet.
Even if none of the new GPUs end up in your budget range, they at least are going to lower the prices of the ones that currently already are.
And if the new GPUs do end up in your budget range, you should be able to pick up something with better performance for the money.

And +1 to Sapphire 290/390 non-reference style GPUs, the sapphire Tri-x/Nitros have excellent cooling.
 

Michael

Elite member
Nov 19, 1999
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I can use the older gpu in my current rig (amd and a step below the ones I am considering now) and wait a month, and see about the 1070. There always is something new ....

I can go over $300 to $320. Normally I never get the top, $600 card as I do not play anything that needs it.

Michael
 

maddie

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2010
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Wait until June 10 and pick up a GTX 1070 for $379.

He said "around $300." Could recommend a $300 card today but pretty much anything in the market at that price range will be obliterated in perf/$. Polaris is a totally unknown quantity, while 1070 perf can be reasonably extrapolated from 1080 perf + paper specs.
When members ask for advice and you respond this way, you are doing them a great disservice. Why would you do this?

You give a much higher price [$379 vs $300]that might not even be true at release.
You are estimating the performance of your recommended card.

Every single so called ADF member has recommended nvidia cards in the past if they see a benefit to it for the user. This blind recommendation, by you, of the Nvidia 1070 shows that you only care about promoting Nvidia at everyone else's expense. Members request advice and get an answer not in their best interest.

If you don't know the performance of the soon to be released cards, then tell them wait and see which will be the best for their money. That answer, is in the member's interest and is the only honest answer.



To the OP, Michael, please wait a few weeks, if possible, to see what is available. You will have a choice of several new generation cards of varying prices and performance levels. Perf/$ will be better than present choices.
 

Michael

Elite member
Nov 19, 1999
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Thanks for the advice. I have been around since the nVidia vs. 3DFX wars, so I can take a little partisan recommendations. The recommendations for the specific cards was very useful. My parts are all arriving in the next week and if I just swap in my current gpu then I can't use my old computer, but the 6700K has a built in cup as well, so I can wait and see what the new GPU bring.

As anyone who buys a new release knows, you end up paying full retail and they never get the drivers right when the card first comes out. So there is more than just price performance on tne new card. Plus there is no field experience yet with the different configurations.

Michael
 

Erithan13

Senior member
Oct 25, 2015
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Good call to wait and see what Polaris and Pascal deliver when they're fully out in the wild. Also nice to see the skylake GPU getting some love, it tends get abuse in the CPU section for being 'useless'. Yeah you won't be doing heavy gaming on it but it's a perfectly good stopgap.

If you didn't want to jump on the new GPUs right away you could do far worse than picking up a used 390 once the prices fall after Polaris comes out.
 

Michael

Elite member
Nov 19, 1999
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The other issue with buying used cards right when a new GPU comes out is that you are getting cards from enthusiasts that have been pushing their cards hard and the chance of a card with an issue really increases. I don't think it is worth it, better to get a new card with a warranty.

Michael
 

sirmo

Golden Member
Oct 10, 2011
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Lots of new monitors coming in the next year with HDR being the next big thing. I would definitely wait for AMD since they support the more affordable Freesync. G-sync is a rip off.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
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With all the new GPU's coming out soon I'd imagine you would be better off just holding off a bit and even picking up something used.
 
Aug 11, 2008
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When members ask for advice and you respond this way, you are doing them a great disservice. Why would you do this?

You give a much higher price [$379 vs $300]that might not even be true at release.
You are estimating the performance of your recommended card.

Every single so called ADF member has recommended nvidia cards in the past if they see a benefit to it for the user. This blind recommendation, by you, of the Nvidia 1070 shows that you only care about promoting Nvidia at everyone else's expense. Members request advice and get an answer not in their best interest.

If you don't know the performance of the soon to be released cards, then tell them wait and see which will be the best for their money. That answer, is in the member's interest and is the only honest answer.

To the OP, Michael, please wait a few weeks, if possible, to see what is available. You will have a choice of several new generation cards of varying prices and performance levels. Perf/$ will be better than present choices.

No where did Arach say to buy the 1070; he said correctly that the performance could be extrapolated from the 1080. In fact, he said exactly the same thing you are saying: wait and see what the new cards bring.
 
Mar 10, 2006
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No where did Arach say to buy the 1070; he said correctly that the performance could be extrapolated from the 1080. In fact, he said exactly the same thing you are saying: wait and see what the new cards bring.

Actually I did recommend that the OP wait until June 10 and buy the 1070 :p
 

Michael

Elite member
Nov 19, 1999
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I guess I'll have a fast CPU, fast RAM and a fast SSD coupled with the built in intel GPU for a bit. :)

Michael
 

maddie

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2010
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No where did Arach say to buy the 1070; he said correctly that the performance could be extrapolated from the 1080. In fact, he said exactly the same thing you are saying: wait and see what the new cards bring.
How could you quote my post and not see me quoting him?

He said.
"Wait until June 10 and pick up a GTX 1070 for $379"
 

Michael

Elite member
Nov 19, 1999
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Video cards, inciting fights for decades ...

I cannot throw stones as I was on silicon investor arguing for 3dfx and a little bit here until they demoed their new card for me in their offices and I thought it fell very short of nvidia at the time.

Still not sure why a GPU causes civil and religious wars ...

Michael
 

Thinker_145

Senior member
Apr 19, 2016
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The R9 390 isn't such a bad buy right now to be honest if you want to save money. At best the 1070 will have only slightly better performance/$ than the 390. This is assuming you can buy a 390 for $300(which you can in US) and won't be getting a 1070 for less than MSRP anytime soon(a reasonable assumption I'll say).

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk
 

Kenmitch

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 1999
8,505
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Video cards, inciting fights for decades ...

I cannot throw stones as I was on silicon investor arguing for 3dfx and a little bit here until they demoed their new card for me in their offices and I thought it fell very short of nvidia at the time.

Still not sure why a GPU causes civil and religious wars ...

Michael

Funny isn't it.

Just wondering if you'll play games on a single monitor and if so what are the specs. Seems silly to worry about which card gets the highest fps if your on 1080p at 60Hz.
 

Thinker_145

Senior member
Apr 19, 2016
609
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Funny isn't it.

Just wondering if you'll play games on a single monitor and if so what are the specs. Seems silly to worry about which card gets the highest fps if your on 1080p at 60Hz.
Why does that sound silly? I can't believe this sort of ridiculous thinking creeps into enthusiast forums as well. Do you know what you need to max out Witcher 3 at 1080p? A freaking 980Ti and it won't be too long before the 980Ti will have to drop down a setting or 2 at 1080p in the most demanding games. Why then one shouldn't spend big $ on a GPU for 1080p gaming?

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk
 

Michael

Elite member
Nov 19, 1999
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I normally use my computer for office tasks and to game using Fantasy Grounds (VTT for D&D). I do play FPS occassionally and I like to have some headroom in my video card. Usually I use three screens for normal work but I can drop to one screen to get all the eye candy as well.

I have been using an AMD card recently (and was nVidia before that) and it handles the three screens well.

I would not pay $600 for the top end cards and I usually get a card is the $180 area, but this is a brand new rig and I want to get something at the $300 level for better performance.

Michael
 

Shmee

Memory & Storage, Graphics Cards Mod Elite Member
Super Moderator
Sep 13, 2008
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Sounds like a polaris card may be around that range, if you can wait. 1070 May be a bit more though, but the price might get slashed if Polaris competes well with it for less. I am waiting for reviews on both lineups; not buying one till both are out and there are good options.
 

raghu78

Diamond Member
Aug 23, 2012
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Sounds like a polaris card may be around that range, if you can wait. 1070 May be a bit more though, but the price might get slashed if Polaris competes well with it for less. I am waiting for reviews on both lineups; not buying one till both are out and there are good options.

good advice. OP if you can wait till June 10 you might then see if AMD gives any specific launch dates for Polaris 10 at Computex. If a late June / early July launch is confirmed its in your best interest to see how Polaris 10 performs vs GTX 1070 and which card provides you for the best perf and perf/$ in your price range.
 
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