I just can't decide what video card to get...

[subtraction]

I am planning a new build in the next week or two. I have been out of the loop for so long and I am trying to educate myself.

Its planned to be a htpc/gaming rig I am not too picky about power consumption or heat I just want it to work and play current games at 1080p max settings and run buttery smooth.

The benchmarks are all over the place it seems and I just want the best bang for the $$$.

Right now I am leaning towards the Sapphire Nitro R9 380x for $230 I am not sure why but it just seems to be a nice middle ground and going over the $300 mark really hurts to get a R9 390 or a GTX 970.

Please help me make a decision.

 

[RussianSensation]

Right now I am leaning towards the Sapphire Nitro R9 380x for $230 I am not sure why but it just seems to be a nice middle ground and going over the $300 mark really hurts to get a R9 390 or a GTX 970.

Please help me make a decision.

An after-market R9 290 for $205 (with Amex),$215 (with Chase Freedom Visa) or $230 otherwise.
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2455157

Performance will be ~ reference 290X.
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_380X_Strix/23.html

No need to consider an R9 380X for $230. You also do not need to spend over $300 for a 970/390 if you consider rebates or reselling the game coupon.

Gigabyte 970 for $280
R9 390 for $275

If you need HDMI 2.0 for 4K HTPC, then get the 970.

 

[subtraction]

Thanks for the reply! I may look into other r9 290's that HIS seems to have pretty bad reviews. I have always had really good luck with xcx and sapphire maybe ill look into them.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks for the reply! I may look into other r9 290's that HIS seems to have pretty bad reviews. I have always had really good luck with xcx and sapphire maybe ill look into them.

On the R9 390 side, Sapphire Nitro is better than any other card, even the XFX. If you have a weaker CPU (AMD's FX/i3) or a stock i5, go with an after-market 970. From now until CyberMonday, pay attention to Slickdeals.net. They have had several great deals on a $250 GTX970/R9 390
http://slickdeals.net/f/8262137-zot...video-card-250-free-shipping?src=SiteSearchV2

 

[happy medium]

I just want it to work and play current games at 1080p max settings and run buttery smooth.

Buy the cheapest gtx970 and overclock it.
Here is a B -stock Evga gtx970 Superclock for 249$ no rebate stuff.
1 year warranty
http://www.evga.com/Products/Product.aspx?pn=04G-P4-2977-RX

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/EVGA/GTX_970_SC_ACX_Cooler/9.html

 

[RussianSensation]

Buy the cheapest gtx970 and overclock it.
Here is a B -stock Evga gtx970 Superclock for 249$ no rebate stuff.
1 year warranty

I don't think at current prices for R9 390 ($275) or GTX970 ($280) it makes sense to buy a refurbished 970 with only a 1-year-warranty.

Why are you linking a 2014 review?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9cKZiJw6Pk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udXCusTnRsY

Also, it's convenient to ignore R9 390's performance edge at 1440P and guess what happens when next gen games come out? They'll be more demanding. R9 390 can handle more demanding situations (i..e, 1440P), so it's slightly better prepared for next gen games.
http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/powercolor_radeon_r9_390_pcs_8gb_review,13.html

It's not a huge deal but you always ignore this point. History has shown over the years that whatever GPU performs better at higher 1440P/1600P resolutions tends to age better over time. It's no wonder R9 290X (~390) is aging better than the 970.

The choice of games also can have a big impact on which card to choose. For example, in SW:BF, Star Citizen, BO3, 390 will beat 970:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwfVnj0t8zc

Fallout 4, Anno 2205, Project CARS, 970 will do well.

 

[happy medium]

Also, it's convenient to ignore R9 390's performance edge at 1440P

OP said 1080p ...so no its not convenient. It for the OP!

]

Why are you linking a 2014 review?

Its a review for the card I linked!
I don't use review summary's that purposely leave out games that perform better on Nvidia cards just to make AMD's inferior cards look better.. I play project cars and its one of the best racing games I ever played.

I don't think at current prices for R9 390 ($275) or GTX970 ($280) it makes sense to buy a refurbished 970 with only a 1-year-warranty.

No rebate hassles , faster clocked out of the box and 30$ cheaper even with the rebate.
Gtx970 overclocked will be faster than a 390 without a doubt @1080p , the op's res..

 

[96Firebird]

Also, it's convenient to ignore R9 390's performance edge at 1440P and guess what happens when next gen games come out? They'll be more demanding. R9 390 can handle more demanding situations (i..e, 1440P), so it's slightly better prepared for next gen games.

This is not how things work, and it's disappointing seeing this nonsense posted after your other reply was helpful.

 

[raghu78]

Get a R9 290 Vapor-X for USD 280 (USD 260 after mail in rebate). easily the best R9 290 in terms of PCB quality and cooler design. custom PCB with backplate. very good value for money.

https://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/Sapphire/R9_290_Vapor-X/3.html

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/foru...6491-sapphire-r9-290-vapor-x-oc-review-9.html

http://www.amazon.com/Sapphire-VAPOR-X-PCI-Express-Graphics-11227-09-40G/dp/B016EYCY4A/

25-30% faster than R9 380X. on par with GTX 970. But has no weird memory partition.

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/ASUS/R9_380X_Strix/23.html
http://www.sweclockers.com/test/21303-amd-radeon-r9-380x/16#content

 

[happy medium]

Get a R9 290 Vapor-X for USD 280 (USD 260 after mail in rebate)

The card I linked will be faster and is 10$ cheaper and uses way less power/heat.
When overclocked will beat that 290 into the ground.

Op is @ 1080p which is made for the gtx970. He don't and wont need 8gb of vram.

 

[RussianSensation]

This is not how things work, and it's disappointing seeing this nonsense posted after your other reply was helpful.

You are joking right? It's disappointing that you have failed to follow any previous/past GPU generations for the last 20 years to see how graphics cards work. More GPU demanding games => More load on memory bandwidth, more load on VRAM, more load on ROPs, more load on shaders. What does higher resolution gaming simulate? Higher load on various components of the GPU. Hence cards that perform better at higher resolution usually age better over time. We don't even need to look far: HD7970ghz vs. 680/770.

I am not going to waste my time linking hundreds of reviews of HD4890/5870/6970/7970/R9 290X to prove this point.

At 1080P, R9 390 and 970 trade blows, depending on the game but R9 390 is better prepared for DX12, has more VRAM (bonus) and has better performance in more demanding resolutions. There are other key benefits to GTX970 such as lower power usage, PhysX, HDMI 2.0, but performance is not one them. Overall, the R9 390 is a faster graphics card and better positioned for the future.

 

[happy medium]

You are joking right? It's disappointing that you have failed to follow any previous/past GPU generations for the last 20 years to see how graphics cards work. More GPU demanding games => More load on memory bandwidth, more load on VRAM, more load on ROPs, more load on shaders. What's does higher resolution gaming simulate? Higher load on various components of the GPU. Hence cards that perform better at higher resolution usually age better over time.

I am not going to waste my time linking hundreds of reviews of HD4890/5870/6970/7970/R9 290X to prove this point.

he will never use 8gb of vram, the card is not even able to utilize that much without falling on its face.

 

[subtraction]

I really like the b stock gtx 970 for $250 so far. I've had good luck with evga in the past. And I figure year warranty is good enough for me.

 

[happy medium]

We don't even need to look far: HD7970ghz vs. 680/770.

Again those cards are barely faster than a gtx960 and rarley uses more than 2gb of memory WHY! because the framerate is worthless when you turn the settings up that high.

 

[RussianSensation]

OP said 1080p ...so no its not convenient. It for the OP!

Ya, if you just used 1080P to recommend cards to keep for 2-3 years, you would have recommended GTX560Ti over HD6950 (fail), GTX570 over 6970 (Fail), GTX670 over HD7950 (fail), GTX680 over HD7970 (fail), GTX770 over HD7970Ghz (fail), GTX780 over R9 290 (fail), $150 more expensive 780Ti over R9 290X (fail).

Every single one of those examples shows that when 2 cards perform similarly to each other at 1080P, the card that performs better at 1440P/1600P ages better. That card is the R9 390.

Its a review for the card I linked!

So is the MSI Gaming R9 390 vs. EVGA SSC GTX970 review I linked. Only my review is newer but you failed to even click on it. The EVGA card I linked is even faster than the card you used and it still lost.

I don't use review summary's that purposely leave out games that perform better on Nvidia cards just to make AMD's inferior cards look better.. I play project cars and its one of the best racing games I ever played.

And I already mentioned the OP should ultimate decide based on the games he plays.

Gtx970 overclocked will be faster than a 390 without a doubt @1080p , the op's res..

Wrong, depends on the game.

BO3 = R9 390 beats 970 at 1080P
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-11/benchmarks-call-of-duty-black-ops-iii/2/

SW:BF = R9 390 beats 970 at 1080P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV71X0H0jn0

Stop trying to spin how GTX970 is better for 1080P when both of these cards basically trade blows at 1080P depending on the game, while R9 390 easily wins at 1440P.

Again those cards are barely faster than a gtx960 and rarley uses more than 2gb of memory WHY! because the framerate is worthless when you turn the settings up that high.

I see you are back to spinning again. R9 280X (~ 7970Ghz) is now 29% faster than the GTX960 at 1080P. The same card beat 680 and 770 at 1440P and ultimately aged better than both of those.

 

[happy medium]

I really like the b stock gtx 970 for $250 so far. I've had good luck with evga in the past. And I figure year warranty is good enough for me.

If the card don't break in a year, its usually is good.

Overclock the card to 1450 core and walaa you have a gtx980.

 

[happy medium]

BO3 = R9 390 beats 970 at 1080P
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-11/b...ack-ops-iii/2/

SW:BF = R9 390 beats 970 at 1080P
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PV71X0H0jn0

No your wrong READ IT AGAIN ! ,I SAID A OVERCLOCKED GTX970!!!!

and please link sites that speak english

 

[Actaeon]

Unless you need HDMI 2.0 the 290/390 is a better choice than 970 IMO.

 

[happy medium]

Unless you need HDMI 2.0 the 290/390 is a better choice than 970 IMO.

Can you give me three reasons for your opinion and links to back them up?

 

[tential]

It's so blatantly obvious that the Evga Bstock GTX 970 or the R9 390 are the 2 best choices... Anything else sucks. Personally, I'd go with the Sapphire R9 390. Best choice IMO. If you see a good price on a GTX 970 G1 Gigabyte, I'd take that too. Those are the 2 cards I'd look at. If you're even remotely thinking about using 2 cards though, and have the powersupply to handle the 390s.... it's no contest to take that card as crossfire scales better, 8 GB VRAM is perfectly safe to play with, and well... crossfire is pretty nice when it works.

I think that about covers every option.

 

[raghu78]

The card I linked will be faster and is 10$ cheaper and uses way less power/heat. When overclocked will beat that 290 into the ground.

Op is @ 1080p which is made for the gtx970. He don't and wont need 8gb of vram.

I am recommending a card with 2 yr warranty with true 4GB memory (no weird partitions). I don't want to repeat what RS said. People like you who kept recommending Nvidia cards like GTX 670/GTX 680 over HD 7970 still don't learn from the past mistakes. HD 7970 with its 3GB proved more capable as soon as games started using more VRAM. Look at COD BO3. GTX 770 gets hammered by R9 280X 3GB and GTX 960 4GB.

http://www.computerbase.de/2015-11/benchmarks-call-of-duty-black-ops-iii/2/

The GTX 970 has a weird memory partition which makes it a perfect followup to the failed 2GB cards of 2012 and 2013.

 

[Actaeon]

8GB/4GB vs 3.5GB
Higher memory bandwidth
Better DX12 support

 

[dark zero]

HTPC? Is better to go to a mini card like the 970.... or if you have enough money to the Fury Nano.

Or just wait until Pascal and Artic Islands

 

[Mercennarius]

Just got a 290X myself and love it so far.

 

[tential]

HTPC? Is better to go to a mini card like the 970.... or if you have enough money to the Fury Nano.

Or just wait until Pascal and Artic Islands

Do you even HTPC game to make a comment like this?
I feel like the people who make these comments don't even HTPC game....