I NEED HELP! GTX 980 vs R9 390X

[Sneil]

What should I choose ?

R9 390X or GTX 980 ?



I want to play GTA V almost maxxed, 60fps!

 

[positivedoppler]

390X is a bit cheaper but the 980 is definitely faster in GTA V from every single benchmark I've seen.

 

[happy medium]

what resolution?

Evag gtx980 FTW edition for 445$ AR and promocode and a free copy of Metal gear ends tonight!
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...tm_medium=affiliates&utm_source=afc-Skimlinks

Overclocking beast!

 

[Carfax83]

Get the GTX 980. You can overclock it to 1500Mhz and 8GHz on the VRAM and get performance that can match, or even exceed a Fury in some cases.

 

[Sneil]

I don't know guys, I am so confused!

 

[Ketchup]

I don't know guys, I am so confused!

Why? Three people have told you (and agreed on) what card is better for that game.

And I will be #4.

 

[DaveSimmons]

I don't know guys, I am so confused!

If you are still confused, you need to give us more information!

You said you wanted GTA V almost maxed, 60 fps. 3 people said the GTX 980 is better for that.

What other questions do you have? What more do you need to know?

 

[RussianSensation]

I don't know guys, I am so confused!

Get neither of the two options as they are both a waste of $ as their performance advantage over GTX970/390 in GTA V is very small despite the massive price premium.

What you should do instead is get an after-market GTX970 or R9 390, drop MSAA down from 4X to 2XMSAA and overclock both cards. You'll get your desired performance and save $140-150 towards a 16nm HBM2 GPU in 2016-2017. If you spend 40-50% more for a 980/R9 390X over a GTX970/390 for GTA V, you would have just wasted $140-150 for performance difference you won't be able to tell without doing actual benchmarking. That $140-150 is way better used to get a card 50-75% faster in 2-2.5 years when you can just resell the GTX970/R9 390 and use the $ saved from not spending it on the 980/390X + the resale value from your 970/390 card towards a next generation card with 8GB+ HBM2, more modern features, better DX12 support, etc.

An R9 390 ~ R9 290X and GTX970 OC can easily gain 10-15%+ with OCing as well.

Besides, in outdoor areas with a lot of grass, even GTX980TI struggles to maintain full 60 fps with MSAA in GTA V so really based on the nature of the game, you won't achieve fully locked 60 fps with AA at all times in GTA V. What you are looking for is good performance and GTX970/R9 390 (or 290X) deliver all of that for a lot less $ than the R9 390X/980.

Gigabyte Windforce R9 390 = $300
EVGA GTX970 SSC = $310
PowerColor R9 390 8GB = $310

And if you really want to get the best bang-for-the-buck, you can get an after-market 290 for $230, overclock it 10%, and then by end of next year, sell this card, take $170-220 you saved from not getting a 980/390X + resale value on a 290 and get yourself a $400 Pascal/Arctic Islands GPU. In GTA V, GTX980 is just 15% faster than an R9 290 but it costs 90-95% more. You do the math. R9 290/290X/390/GTX970 are all solid choices imo.

 

[happy medium]

I don't know guys, I am so confused!

Well now I'm sure after that post your even more confused........^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[AnandThenMan]

Well now I'm sure after that post your even more confused........^^^^^^^^^^^^

Maybe it's you that is confused? RS is giving solid advice, unless you don't want to know about performance and value.

 

[Arachnotronic]

What should I choose ?

R9 390X or GTX 980 ?



I want to play GTA V almost maxxed, 60fps!

GTX 980 is your best bet for pure out-of-the-box performance, although I do like RS's recommendation if you are looking to maximize bang for the buck :thumbsup:

 

[nurturedhate]

I would go with the 970 as RS points out barring a fantastic deal on a 980/390x, no I would not consider the $480 that Happy Medium posted a fantastic deal, good deal but not great. If we are approaching that price might as well go up to a 980ti/fury x. Both the 980/390x are in no mans land price wise.

 

[Carfax83]

Both the 980/390x are in no mans land price wise.

That's true, but only if you don't take overclocking into account. At 1500MHz, the GTX 980 is 20% faster than it is at stock clock.

That's a significant gain from overclocking which puts it into a different territory altogether, somewhere between the Fury and the GTX 980 Ti.

Most GTX 980s will do 1500Mhz easily, with no voltage adjustments.

 

[Silverforce11]

390, R290/X (if you can find them), 970. The rest are overpriced.

 

[Elfear]

That's true, but only if you don't take overclocking into account. At 1500MHz, the GTX 980 is 20% faster than it is at stock clock.

That's a significant gain from overclocking which puts it into a different territory altogether, somewhere between the Fury and the GTX 980 Ti.

Most GTX 980s will do 1500Mhz easily, with no voltage adjustments.

980's are better overclockers in general than the Hawaii or Fiji cards but not hugely so. The average air overclock on Hwbot for the 980 is 1441Mhz or 18% faster. The average air oc for a 390X is 1186Mhz or 13% faster. Not a noticeable difference.

 

[Shmee]

What is your resolution? Besides that to consider, others have already given solid advice.

 

[RussianSensation]

That's true, but only if you don't take overclocking into account. At 1500MHz, the GTX 980 is 20% faster than it is at stock clock.

That's a significant gain from overclocking which puts it into a different territory altogether, somewhere between the Fury and the GTX 980 Ti.

Most GTX 980s will do 1500Mhz easily, with no voltage adjustments.

GTX970 can also overclock to 1500Mhz. R9 390 has been able to overclock 15-20% as well. There is little justification to spend the extra $150 (basically 50% more) for a GTX980 against GTX970/R9 390 when it comes to games like GTA V. This is my personal opinion.

It's actually possible to find an eVGA ACX 970 for $300 and the performance more than meets the OP's criteria on average.

Having said that, I would recommend for the OP to consider an EVGA ACX B-stock GTX980 for $370. That's far more reasonable vs. paying $450-480 for such a card. This card is available right now but it sells out very quickly so be quick!

I agree with others though that at regular prices of $440-480 the GTX980 sits in no man's land.

 

[SteveGrabowski]

I don't think either GPU makes sense for 1080p 60 fps on GTA V. My GTX 970 is a pretty lousy overclocker but it can still pull a locked 60 fps at 1080p with all the regular settings maxed except MSAA (I turn it off completely) and grass (I run it at very high instead of ultra). I turn off MSAA because when I have it on I drop into the low to mid 50s when driving one specific section of the map near Mt Chiliad where the forest is thick, but everywhere else I still get a locked 60 fps with 2xMSAA on (I can't tell any difference between 2xMSAA and 4x or 8x on the game). The only difference I really notice with 2xMSAA vs FXAA is the NPCs walking the streets look better with MSAA than FXAA.

 

[boozzer]

I don't know guys, I am so confused!

good, you aren't hasty. read the whole thread.

 

[Elixer]

What should I choose ?

R9 390X or GTX 980 ?

I want to play GTA V almost maxxed, 60fps!

I am unsure why you are only looking at this game.
Do you plan to upgrade again on future games?

If you only care of this game for now, and will upgrade again on some future game, then, go with the lowest priced card you can get, and RS had showed you the best bang for the buck.

If you care to future proof a bit, for DX 12 games when they are out (assuming you are on win 10), then, do you have a upper price limit?

 

[Carfax83]

980's are better overclockers in general than the Hawaii or Fiji cards but not hugely so. The average air overclock on Hwbot for the 980 is 1441Mhz or 18% faster. The average air oc for a 390X is 1186Mhz or 13% faster. Not a noticeable difference.

Yes, but Maxwell scales better. A 20% clock speed gain will grant you 20% extra performance on a GTX 980. On a 390x, you don't get linear scaling with clock speed, as the Radeons have a problem utilizing their shaders effectively.

Asus R9 390x Strix overclocking review

GTX 980 overclocking review

As you can see, the GTX 980 has excellent scaling with clock speed. On a side note, I wonder how many samples HWbot uses to arrive at those averages.

It seems rare to me to find a GTX 980 that cannot hit 1500Mhz. Both of mine will do 1500MHz and 8GHz, even in SLI config.

 

[Carfax83]

GTX970 can also overclock to 1500Mhz. R9 390 has been able to overclock 15-20% as well. There is little justification to spend the extra $150 (basically 50% more) for a GTX980 against GTX970/R9 390 when it comes to games like GTA V. This is my personal opinion.

See my reply to Elfear. GTX 980s scale really well with clock speed, unlike the 390x.

 

[MrTeal]

Up to you on your view of used gear, but with a bit of shopping around you can pick up a used 290 for $175. There's not much else available that will give you a better value.

 

[Gikaseixas]

Another vote for 970 / 390 or even 290 if you can find one (sometime 290's are found at around $200). GTX 970 and R9 390 are excellent cards for 1080p and will be able to push 60fps on GTA 5.

 

[Silverforce11]

See my reply to Elfear. GTX 980s scale really well with clock speed, unlike the 390x.

GCN scales just fine with OC, almost linear %. It's not any different to the 7950/70 or R290/X. GCN has always scaled near perfect with OC unless it's from a shill site.

http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/msi_radeon_r9_390x_gaming_8g_oc_review,26.html

I've several generations of GCN already, starting with the a 7950 that did 50% OC and gained ~45% performance.