Confused about whoch GPU to take ?

[blabla21]

Okay guys, im having trouble finding which GPU to buy,so here is my problem.

Im having a very hard time deciding which GPU to buy in my country.

Now since I dont live in USA and if i did I would have already bought myself GTX 980 Ti, but unfortunately since i live in Europe here the VAT is 20% of US price tag + local country tax, and GPU are seriously overpriced.

Now I have 4 choices on what GPU I want to buy:

R9 290 (X), the cheapest one here is Gigabyte which is 305 Euro (335Euro)

-R9 390 (X), the cheaperst one here is Sapphire Nitro which is 365 Euro (Asus 482 Euro)

GTX 980, the cheapest one here is Zotac which is 510 Euro

GTX 980 Ti and R9 Fury X, the bane of my wallet, the cheapest ones are 700 euros ( for reference GTX 980 Ti) 720 Euros for Fury X and 730 Euros for cheapest non reference GTX 980 Ti which is MSI GTX 980 Ti Gaming

So as you can see the prices are clearly ripping the money out of my pocket because of how much they are, and while I have the money to buy either one of them I really dont want to feel like im being ripped off even though that is how market here works.

I have also another list of things which will hopefully help you guys determine which GPU I should buy, as to see what is better for me.

1) I just bought Asus MG279Q monitor, im aiming towards 1440p gameplay.(I did not buy this monitor for its Freesync feature)

2) I play a a little modern games but I always play them atleast once, (Witcher 3, Batman AK etc...), but when I do i would rather like to max them out.

3) The games I currently mostly play are not so much demanding and but I would like to play them at 4K VSR, DSR:

-WoW
-Starcraft 2
-Diablo
-Skyrim
-MK X

and some others too.

The game I will be most looking for to play is The Witcher 3 and some of new games I will get which are:

MGS V The Phantom Pain

Sword Coast Legends

Heroes of Might and Magic VII

Mafia III

Hopefully i have given you guys enough info to make your decision, this is really confusing for me since I have never been buying PC components for so much money, and I dont know which one is more worth it than the other. If you have any questions for anything else, let me know,thanks.

 

[lehtv]

What CPU do you have?

What power supply do you have?

Where exactly are you buying from?

Now I have 4 choices on what GPU I want to buy:

Since you bought a FreeSync monitor, none of the NVIDIA GPUs make any sense. FreeSync is for AMD only, and that's a feature you'll absolutely want to make use of. I know you said you did not buy it for FreeSync, but this makes absolutely no sense to me. No matter what reason you bought it for, it still has FreeSync, and it's in your gaming experience's best interests that you make use of FreeSync.

I don't see any fault in any AMD GPU from R9 290 upwards. However for 1440p you'll obviously want the best performance you can afford.

So, in effect your choices are:
R9 290
R9 290X
R9 390
R9 390X
R9 Fury
R9 Fury X

Personally I would go with R9 290X. It's fine for 1440p. The more demanding games will require toning down graphics details a bit, although what I've heard is that with FreeSync/GSync, 40 fps feels like 60 fps, so in many cases it may be possible to play with high/ultra and still have excellent playability.

However if you are intent on maxing games out then I don't think you have any other choice but to go with Fury or Fury X.

3) The games I currently mostly play are not so much demanding and but I would like to play them at 4K VSR, DSR

http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/vsr

1440p only does VSR in 3200x1800 mode which does not scale down to 2560x1440 without blur. MG279Q does support 1080p through HDMI, which would allow you to run VSR at 4K - however since it's a native 1440p panel, you'd get blur anyway. For proper 4K VSR you'd need a native 1080p panel.

1440p offers plenty of IQ as it is, should run it at that.

 

[Azix]

1440p you'd be safer with Fury, Fury x or 980ti. At that res the gap between the 980 and 390x gets a lot smaller if there at all. I'd get the cheaper option if you want one of those, but safer going a step up at that res.

If 290x, 390x, 980 range is what you choose go with the 390x for the VRAM advantage. Performance gets real close at that res for these.

You can get MGS free with an nvidia card. Just have to mention it, I don't recommend supporting nvidia in their campaign against PC gaming.

 

[blabla21]

What CPU do you have?

What power supply do you have?

Where exactly are you buying from?



Since you bought a FreeSync monitor, none of the NVIDIA GPUs make any sense. FreeSync is for AMD only, and that's a feature you'll absolutely want to make use of. I know you said you did not buy it for FreeSync, but this makes absolutely no sense to me. No matter what reason you bought it for, it still has FreeSync, and it's in your gaming experience's best interests that you make use of FreeSync.

I don't see any fault in any AMD GPU from R9 290 upwards. However for 1440p you'll obviously want the best performance you can afford.

So, in effect your choices are:
R9 290
R9 290X
R9 390
R9 390X
R9 Fury
R9 Fury X

Personally I would go with R9 290X. It's fine for 1440p. The more demanding games will require toning down graphics details a bit, although what I've heard is that with FreeSync/GSync, 40 fps feels like 60 fps, so in many cases it may be possible to play with high/ultra and still have excellent playability.

However if you are intent on maxing games out then I don't think you have any other choice but to go with Fury or Fury X.



http://www.amd.com/en-us/innovations/software-technologies/technologies-gaming/vsr

1440p only does VSR in 3200x1800 mode which does not scale down to 2560x1440 without blur. MG279Q does support 1080p through HDMI, which would allow you to run VSR at 4K - however since it's a native 1440p panel, you'd get blur anyway. For proper 4K VSR you'd need a native 1080p panel.

1440p offers plenty of IQ as it is, should run it at that.

I have i5 2500K

PSU is EVGA Supernova 650W

Anyway I bought my monitor only for IPS 144Hz 1440p and because it was cheaper than XB270HU.

 

[Piroko]

WoW plays better on Nvidia afaik, other than that, I would have picked the 290/390 (290 if it's a good deal, 390 as an alternative with zero-fan). Everything beyond that really isn't going to give you your money's worth of performance and is mostly bragging rights - especially with european prices.

 

[blabla21]

No matter what GPU I take I will always reduce some options ingame if there are no difference or if it causes a huge FPS drop.

 

[Silverforce11]

Just get something to tie you over til 14nm, no need to blow your budget on Fury class GPUs.

Best bet is a R290X, its the cheapest option and the custom models don't throttle so they perform close to the 390X with recent drivers. At 1440p, that's close to 980 class, for 205 Euros less which is nothing to scoff at.

If I had to buy a GPU now, I would still try to get R290X before they are all gone. The 390X isn't worth the price increase if there's R290X floating around.

 

[blabla21]

What about 390 ?

 

[blabla21]

Im still not sure about which card to get, I honestly started upgrading from January and all this time I was waiting for GTX 980 Ti and R9 Fury to come out so that I could upgrade , now NVIDIA and AMD are announcing 16/14nm architecture and I don't know should I now go with R9 290 or GTX 970 and wait for those GPU to come out , all of this is making me pissed off , so much waiting to hear even more waiting , all I want to do is play.

 

[Silverforce11]

I would take the R290X since it can be had for less than 390, the R290X custom should be faster than 390.

Btw, I've been playing Witcher 3 on a rig with a 7950 and it runs that game really well on a mix of settings (Ultra Textures), which looks very close to max (but you'll need a 980Ti to max it).

A single R290X is fine for 1440p with some wasteful settings disabled. Prices are too high to jump on Fury X/980Ti, the performance gains aren't that massive to warrant the massive price jump, imo.

 

[blabla21]

The thing im afraid is that Pascal might be more expensive than GTX 980Ti and that it is coming only in Q4 2016 and that is a lot of waiting, because I am also afraid for replacing my 290/390 within 6 months just because it wont run new games on either ultra or high settings with 60+ FPS.

 

[Silverforce11]

A 980Ti isnt gonna run 60+ fps 1440p on Ultra either.

On high, sure. But mix your settings and 60 fps is do-able on less. Up to you, good luck with your decision.

 

[lehtv]

On high, sure. But mix your settings and 60 fps is do-able on less. Up to you, good luck with your decision.

And even 40fps is perfectly playable with FreeSync (as long as minimums are above 35 fps, 35 hz being the lower end of the FreeSync spectrum). No reason not to enable FreeSync if you're not reaching >100 fps, because with it enabled that monitor maxes out at 90 hz.

 

[4K_shmoorK]

A 980Ti isnt gonna run 60+ fps 1440p on Ultra either.

On high, sure. But mix your settings and 60 fps is do-able on less. Up to you, good luck with your decision.

Yes it can and it does, especially with boost clocks/ modest overclock.

 

[Silverforce11]

That ain't max/Ultra. You forgot HairDoesn'tWork.

And min fps?

Far from maxing 60+ fps.

 

[4K_shmoorK]

No one uses Hairworks because it is insignificant and poorly implemented. Min fps means as much as max fps. On average, a boost clocked 980 Ti (all of them) will get < 60 FPS all day.

EDIT:
Also review sites do not do updated reviews. Framerate has improved with every patch (the exception being the most recent 1.07) and a slider has been added for hairworks.

To the OP, definitely grab a 290x or two. Freesync is great, you'll really appreciate it.

 

[Leyawiin]

WoW plays better on Nvidia afaik

Without a doubt. Just last week I compared an HD 7950 to a GTX 750 Ti in WoW and the 750 Ti could do the same quality settings as the HD 7950.

 

[Headfoot]

Go with the 290x, cheapest and you get to use FreeSync which you definitely want to use.

That 390x wouldn't be a bad deal either if you're concerned about the cooler. I'm not sure which Gigabyte model you're talking about. The 3X fan Windforce model is good. If its the reference model, don't get it. That blower is loud and ineffective.