Gigabyte Gtx 970 G1 or AMD R9 390?

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Silverforce11

Lifer
Feb 19, 2009
10,457
10
76
tential said:
The point is that you are getting a 4gb card in which the full 4gb doesn't work at full speed and only 1 portion can be accessed at a time.

So if the texture you need is on the .5 GB area you slow down. Even worse is this does require driver help on nvidia side. So if they stop optimizing for the 970 the card struggles more. It's just a poor purchasing decision to get a 970 now that an 8gb 390 is out.
Click to expand...

The question is how much do you TRUST NV to keep on optimizing Maxwell & specifically the 970's unique problem, once Pascal is out and it's the "latest & greatest"?

If the OP wants to keep this GPU for a few years, then only GCN provides future proofing, the uarch is evolved over time, but remains similar, so future optimizations carry through like we've already seen. Then there's the vram & DX12 factor.
 
GEOrifle

GEOrifle

Senior member
Oct 2, 2005
833
15
81
That's right. I guess 390 wins but there is just couple brands i recommend: MSI and Sapphire, maybe XFX too, to bad they eliminate Lifetime Warranty.
No Powercollor, they don't support second owner warranty, i had a chance to buy 3 month old 390x for $350 and just ignored because you never know when it will go bad.
So lets wait when MSI will have discount on 390, they have on 390x for $399 after MIR but
i guess it's over my pocket.
By the way will 390 bottleneck my Xeon x5680 CPU?(6 core at 3.5 GHZ)
 
T

tential

Diamond Member
May 13, 2008
7,348
642
121
Silverforce11 said:
The question is how much do you TRUST NV to keep on optimizing Maxwell & specifically the 970's unique problem, once Pascal is out and it's the "latest & greatest"?

If the OP wants to keep this GPU for a few years, then only GCN provides future proofing, the uarch is evolved over time, but remains similar, so future optimizations carry through like we've already seen. Then there's the vram & DX12 factor.
Click to expand...

Are you telling me that you'll hold onto a R9 390, for 3 years, after seeing Arctic Islands?
I'm not even going to go on to mention the other releases or Nvidia. No need. I'm willing to be, if I took all your GPUs away, gave you an R9 390, and said "You can't use anything but this til Arctic Islands", the day you see Arctic Islands, you'll be begging to get rid of the R9 390.

Like I already said, I don't think any gamer is going to hold on to any card they are purchasing now for a "long term". No matter what, when they see the new 2016 gpus, they'll upgrade in 2016, or 2017.

Unless you're telling me you expect Arctic Islands to be just another "meh" bump in performance? Are you telling me you don't expect something AMAZING from AMD in Arctic Islands?
 
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Silverforce11

Lifer
Feb 19, 2009
10,457
10
76
It depends on how long gamers want to hold onto their purchase, not everyone has a yearly upgrade cycle or even a "new gen = upgrade", I'm sure there's those who there who have skipped a generation. Its just something for the OP to think about.

Otherwise I wouldn't buy any new GPUs now, the best is to find a cheap R290X and hold out for Artic Island or Pascal on 14/16nm. All these current GPUs are going to be destroyed in the performance leap from a big node change and uarch change.
 
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Silverforce11

Lifer
Feb 19, 2009
10,457
10
76
GEOrifle said:
That's right. I guess 390 wins but there is just couple brands i recommend: MSI and Sapphire, maybe XFX too, to bad they eliminate Lifetime Warranty.
No Powercollor, they don't support second owner warranty, i had a chance to buy 3 month old 390x for $350 and just ignored because you never know when it will go bad.
So lets wait when MSI will have discount on 390, they have on 390x for $399 after MIR but
i guess it's over my pocket.
By the way will 390 bottleneck my Xeon x5680 CPU?(6 core at 3.5 GHZ)
Click to expand...

I prefer Sapphire.

Your CPU is beast, no need to worry.
 
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Silverforce11

Lifer
Feb 19, 2009
10,457
10
76
tg2708 said:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150696&cm_re=290x-_-14-150-696-_-Product

Is this a solid upgrade from a 770 and a good price?
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Very solid upgrade. $259 is amazing deal. I just recently got an Asus R290X for cheap to upgrade an old 7950 rig, the perf leap is very nice.

For those worried about power usage of R290X/390/X, you can undervolt GCN and save a lot of watts while keeping performance the same, or if you want a simple power saver, set Power Limit to -25% in CC, lose about 5% performance overall, save about 20% power.
 
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GEOrifle

GEOrifle

Senior member
Oct 2, 2005
833
15
81
Is XFX 290x with Lifetime Warranty worth by $50 difference over regular 390 with 2-3 year warranty ?
 
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T

tg2708

Senior member
May 23, 2013
687
20
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Thanks the thing is though if I get this card now I will not upgrade no earlier than a year and a half, so it will be sometime in 2016. Is it still worth it? Im a bit eager to upgrade because i want to at least set textures in games to ultra but due to the limited vram from my current card its a no go.

Also you can get $25 of the 390 since it does not come with any gift.
 
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Silverforce11

Lifer
Feb 19, 2009
10,457
10
76
I'm not optimistic 14/16nm big GPUs will be available anytime soon. But definitely $259 for an R290X will be a good investment for a year & half, by then there should be great next-gen options.
 
GEOrifle

GEOrifle

Senior member
Oct 2, 2005
833
15
81
Just one more to mention: 290x series are much more hotter and slower compared 390.
So is it worth $50 ???
 
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Silverforce11

Lifer
Feb 19, 2009
10,457
10
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Custom R290X is neither hotter nor slower than 390. Not with the latest drivers.

AMD boosted performance of the 390/X via drivers and non-throttling coolers, so when compared to Reference R290X it looks better.

But custom R290X run at full speed and cool, quiet etc, and the recent drivers added 390/X optimizations for the older series.
 
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DustinBrowder

Member
Jul 22, 2015
114
1
0
GEOrifle said:
Just one more to mention: 290x series are much more hotter and slower compared 390.
So is it worth $50 ???
Click to expand...
290x is about the same performance with the 390. Biggest difference is the memory computing, AMD is using a newer method in the 390 so in certain titles that require faster memory it will be a tad bit faster.

I'd go for whichever is cheaper personally as long as its a decent model, I wouldn't go for the cheapest if its a terrible model with bad cooling for example!
 
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tg2708

Senior member
May 23, 2013
687
20
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RussianSensation

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
GEOrifle said:
Just one more to mention: 290x series are much more hotter and slower compared 390.
So is it worth $50 ???
Click to expand...

No, it's because most reviewers used reference thermal throttling 290/290X cards in reviews which forever destroyed the image of 290/290X cards in the eyes of most consumers who don't read reviews beyond launch reference card reviews.

The average clock speeds on the reference 290X without enabling Uber mode were only 836-869 mhz. I would buy a $220-260 R9 290/290X and pocket the savings towards a next gen 16nm HBM2 GPU. R9 390/390X are not worth the extra money. If you prefer NV, wait to find a deal on a 970 for $250.

The XFX R9 290/X's cooler is quiet too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si_eX9FlBQQ
 
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NomanA

Member
May 15, 2014
134
46
101
I got the same deal this morning. I had added the PowerColor card at Newegg but then found the link to TigerDirect deal at SlickDeals. R9 290 with non-reference cooler and possibly life-time warranty for under $200 is quite amazing.

Now I have to figure out where to sell my MSI TF3 7950.
 
RussianSensation

RussianSensation

Elite Member
Sep 5, 2003
19,458
765
126
NomanA said:
I got the same deal this morning. I had added the PowerColor card at Newegg but then found the link to TigerDirect deal at SlickDeals. R9 290 with non-reference cooler and possibly life-time warranty for under $200 is quite amazing.

Now I have to figure out where to sell my MSI TF3 7950.
Click to expand...

Grats! Make sure to register the card within 30 days of purchase but wait for a while before sending the rebate in case the card dies on you in the first 15 days. A lot of times gamers have sufficient time to test out the new card before sending the rebate which means if it fails within the early purchase period, you can deal directly with the retailers/wholesaler but if you already sent the rebate, you have no choice but to deal with the OEM (XFX).
 
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soccerballtux

Lifer
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
76
RussianSensation said:
No, it's because most reviewers used reference thermal throttling 290/290X cards in reviews which forever destroyed the image of 290/290X cards in the eyes of most consumers who don't read reviews beyond launch reference card reviews.

The average clock speeds on the reference 290X without enabling Uber mode were only 836-869 mhz. I would buy a $220-260 R9 290/290X and pocket the savings towards a next gen 16nm HBM2 GPU. R9 390/390X are not worth the extra money. If you prefer NV, wait to find a deal on a 970 for $250.

The XFX R9 290/X's cooler is quiet too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Si_eX9FlBQQ
Click to expand...
AMD really needs to stop making mistakes like that. they need flawless launches to turn this around
 
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tg2708

Senior member
May 23, 2013
687
20
81
As a heads up, I just snagged a refurbished asus PB278Q for $279 from newegg. Decided to post this because just the other day I was about to purchase the dell u2715 for $487 but decided against it since I would need a beefier gfx than my 770 to drive it but with the 290 deal and this asus monitor I basically got both for the same price as the monitor.
 
GEOrifle

GEOrifle

Senior member
Oct 2, 2005
833
15
81
Forget it, just returned my 2-nd XFX 290x , idle 52c and load 90-95c, VRM overheats 110c even i added extra heat-sink and fan.
Instead buying Gigabyte GTX 970 G1, 63c OC at load and same performance.
I'm really happy with my decision and don't care about "famous" 3.5GHZ ram.
Total for $309 -$25= $285
 
T

tg2708

Senior member
May 23, 2013
687
20
81
GEOrifle said:
Forget it, just returned my 2-nd XFX 290x , idle 52c and load 90-95c, VRM overheats 110c even i added extra heat-sink and fan.
Instead buying Gigabyte GTX 970 G1, 63c OC at load and same performance.
I'm really happy with my decision and don't care about "famous" 3.5GHZ ram.
Total for $309 -$25= $285
Click to expand...

Wow hot card let's hope my 290 fairs better. I am not really a stickler for heat as long as I cant hear the gpu I'm mostly good. But right now with my 770 and my case panels off the area where the computer is at heats up quite abit so I'm now worried about how this will be,
 
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