Need a new card, r9's what one is better? Please Help.

[plzhelpimnew]

Hello,

I have been with out a video card for 3 months, stuck using onboard video I have been trying to wait for the new r9 3xx series but I dont think I can make it until possibly june at end of q2 for the launch.

With that being said im looking at a video card for around 175 or less and seemed to have narrowed it down to 2.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814125679&cm_re=r9_285-_-14-125-679-_-Product - gigabyte r9 285 windforce oc

or

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814150705&cm_re=r9_280-_-14-150-705-_-Product - xfx r9 280 black edition double d

Out of those 2 cards what one is the better choice over all? I have been reading alot of things about both cards and that has only made my choice more convoluted.

I would overclock either card, is the 1gig of ram worth it to go with the 280 over the 285?

Thank you for any help.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

3GB is an advantage over 2GB in many modern games, can always lower the texture settings of course.

The 285 is much faster when it comes to tessellation, so if a game uses that a lot it'll be faster, and it supports freesync.

I'd recommend the 280 if it was cheaper (which it usually is), but since these have the same price, tough call.

 

[Shmee]

I would go with the XFX 280, the extra GB should help, depending on games played and resolution of course. Is this a temporary solution until r9 3xx is out? Or would you be using this for longer?

 

[plzhelpimnew]

I would go with the XFX 280, the extra GB should help, depending on games played and resolution of course. Is this a temporary solution until r9 3xx is out? Or would you be using this for longer?

I would be using it for a while more than likely, I have a 1080p monitor and dont plan to upgrade further for quite a while since its less than 8 months old.

I wonder how well either of those cards would take an OC? What card would come closest to a 280x once clocked?

Thanks for the quick reply's!

 

[Subyman]

R9 285's can hit around 1100mhz normally, maybe a bit higher. So around a 15% OC. The 280 does about the same. The 1 extra GB is probably worth more to you than the few percentage points more performance than the 285 has. 285 also includes Freesync and Trueaudio support, but I doubt you need those.

If you aren't afraid of used, then you can get an R9 290 for around $200 shipped off eBay. That would be a sizable performance boost.

 

[RussianSensation]

Out of those 2 I would take the R9 280 for 3GB of VRAM and lifetime warranty. However, if you can wait, see if you can save up a bit more and get an R9 290 for $240. It's worth it.

A good rule of thumb is that an after-market R9 290 = Reference R9 290X.

At 1080P, R9 290X is 54% faster than an R9 280.

XFX R9 290 is $240 (50% more expensive for about 50% higher performance than an R9 280).

I think half a month or a month before R9 300 series drop, we should see R9 290 for $200-220. That gives you a bit of time to save up from your $175 budget and get at least a 50% performance increase!

 

[Shmee]

I agree with both Subyman and RussianSensation. Definitely consider an on sale/used 290.

 

[plzhelpimnew]

Im going to try and hold out a bit longer (but its not easy!) for the 3xx's - or grab a 290 that has a good rebate.

Thanks guys, much appreciated.