Need advice for a beginner- best GPU choice for the next few years

[TTtheTremendous]

I’m currently running this build http://pcpartpicker.com/p/dFptGX (a GTX 660 and an AMD fx6300). I want to play at 1080p upcoming Fallout 4, Mass Effect Andromeda, and Cyberpunk 2077 as well as modded Skyrim and the Witcher. I don’t need to ultra max out the latest games but I still want them playable and good-looking as possible.

I’m thinking of getting the GTX 970 but I’m wondering how well it would hold up in the long-term? I’ll most likely overclock it and keep it as long as possible as I switch to a more powerful Intel setup in the future. Maybe instead the r9 390 would be the better choice, in a similar price range but with twice as much memory. I'd probably have to upgrade to a higher psu and look into gpu cooling but then again, I might spend a similar amount of money on just a 970 and then discover that everything 2 or 3 years down the line requires 4gb+ of gpu ram.

Alternatively, the r9 290 is still a big improvement over the 660 and doesn’t cost much more than what i paid 2 yrs ago for my 660 so if i sell my old card then this might be the safest choice?

Any advice?

 

[Silverforce11]

GPU cooling for 390? Why? There's no crap cooler edition (no reference models). Most of the custom models run very cool, very quiet.

 

[TTtheTremendous]

GPU cooling for 390? Why? There's no crap cooler edition (no reference models). Most of the custom models run very cool, very quiet.

Oh really? Well that's great! lol I guess I might have been thinking of the r9 290 or 280x or something?

 

[Silverforce11]

Oh really? Well that's great! lol I guess I might have been thinking of the r9 290 or 280x or something?

You're thinking of that terrible reference R290/X.. the worse cooler I have ever had the displeasure to experience.

 

[IllogicalGlory]

Either one should serve you fine at 1080p. I don't think you need to worry about video RAM at that resolution. Even 970 3.5GB should be sufficient for the foreseeable future, just stay away from 2GB cards.

They're more-or-less evenly matched at 1080p, with a slight edge to 970. The one wild card factor here is how much AMD's DX12 advantage is going to matter. Probably not that much in terms of the overall experience.

Still, AMD can use all the help it can get, and the 390 is probably overall more robust. If you can get them for basically the same price, that'd be my pick. Any decent 500W PSU can handle a 390, though with overclocking, you may be cutting it a bit close.

 

[frozentundra123456]

The op is running a fairly weak CPU though. Aren't NVIDIA cards supposed to perform better with slower CPUs, at least in DX 11? I agree though, either card should work fine.

Personally, I would probably go with the 970 because of the fairly weak psu.

 

[LTC8K6]

Should be some newer stuff coming in 2016. If I wanted to keep a card for a few years, I'd probably just hold on to what I have until the 2016 cards come out.

 

[escrow4]

That 6300 will hold you back either way. I had dips on that CPU in Saint's Row 4.

 

[TTtheTremendous]

Either one should serve you fine at 1080p. I don't think you need to worry about video RAM at that resolution. Even 970 3.5GB should be sufficient for the foreseeable future, just stay away from 2GB cards.

They're more-or-less evenly matched at 1080p, with a slight edge to 970. The one wild card factor here is how much AMD's DX12 advantage is going to matter. Probably not that much in terms of the overall experience.

Still, AMD can use all the help it can get, and the 390 is probably overall more robust. If you can get them for basically the same price, that'd be my pick. Any decent 500W PSU can handle a 390, though with overclocking, you may be cutting it a bit close.

So if I'm always going to be running at 1080p then I don't have to worry about the amount of RAM? From what I know it seems like that the main reason people go for bigger gpu RAM is bc of running higher than 1080p but what about future games coming out? I'm just wondering bc I'm thinking they might start demanding higher RAM but idk.

Well I'm running at 485w on a 520w psu right now but going with the 390 would bring it up to 510. Kindof close for comfort!

 

[RussianSensation]

So if I'm always going to be running at 1080p then I don't have to worry about the amount of RAM? From what I know it seems like that the main reason people go for bigger gpu RAM is bc of running higher than 1080p but what about future games coming out? I'm just wondering bc I'm thinking they might start demanding higher RAM but idk.

Well I'm running at 485w on a 520w psu right now but going with the 390 would bring it up to 510. Kindof close for comfort!

If you game with headphones or don't care about noise, the $220 R9 290 is the best deal in the $150-280 space among all videocards. Otherwise, I recommend you try to wait for a deal on a GTX970 for $230-240 as it's bound to come up.

 

[TTtheTremendous]

The op is running a fairly weak CPU though. Aren't NVIDIA cards supposed to perform better with slower CPUs, at least in DX 11? I agree though, either card should work fine.

Personally, I would probably go with the 970 because of the fairly weak psu.

Keep in mind that I do plan to eventually go to a higher CPU down the line. If I get the 390/970 then I would be using it with my current build but also carrying it over when I upgrade (which will probably be to an intel ddr4 setup) and using it for as long as possible after that.

 

[TTtheTremendous]

That 6300 will hold you back either way. I had dips on that CPU in Saint's Row 4.

Besides upgrading CPUs in the future, I'm also going to try overclocking the 6300, I didn't have much luck when I tried before but maybe it would make a good enough difference?

 

[IllogicalGlory]

So if I'm always going to be running at 1080p then I don't have to worry about the amount of RAM? From what I know it seems like that the main reason people go for bigger gpu RAM is bc of running higher than 1080p but what about future games coming out? I'm just wondering bc I'm thinking they might start demanding higher RAM but idk

You can't really say for sure, but the worst you really get these days is 2GB being saturated, and not really by that much. Generally only a few hundred megabytes. It's a problem for 2GB cards, but I can easily see 3.5GB lasting 2-3 years at 1080p.

I would agree that that power draw is too close for comfort. If you want a 390, I'd suggest finding a $40-50 750W bronze unit.

 

[TTtheTremendous]

If you game with headphones or don't care about noise, the $220 R9 290 is the best deal in the $150-280 space among all videocards. Otherwise, I recommend you try to wait for a deal on a GTX970 for $230-240 as it's bound to come up.

Well either way I do plan on waiting for Black Friday deals or even the Christmas season so there's no rush. (Who knows, I may even change my mind completely after seeing how I can run Fallout 4)

That link is actually one of the exact 290's I was looking at. It seems to be particular cheaper than the rest of the 290s I've seen, a $40ish price jump from the next higher ones up. Is that just because of the noisiness?

If going with a lower end gpu (which I think I might be leaning more toward rn) I'm also considering similar gpus such as the 280x or 960; something better than my current setup but around the $200 price range. Any suggestions there?

 

[TTtheTremendous]

You can't really say for sure, but the worst you really get these days is 2GB being saturated, and not really by that much. Generally only a few hundred megabytes. It's a problem for 2GB cards, but I can easily see 3.5GB lasting 2-3 years at 1080p.

I would agree that that power draw is too close for comfort. If you want a 390, I'd suggest finding a $40-50 750W bronze unit.

I most likely won't have to worry about it then? Bc even the lower end cards I'm considering are 3gb+

Again, I know there's no way to know for sure but it gets me nervous lol. I’d like whatever I get to be a good solid choice for years more.

 

[Seba]

That link is actually one of the exact 290's I was looking at. It seems to be particular cheaper than the rest of the 290s I've seen, a $40ish price jump from the next higher ones up. Is that just because of the noisiness?

Noise and higher probability of throttling.

If going with a lower end gpu (which I think I might be leaning more toward rn) I'm also considering similar gpus such as the 280x or 960; something better than my current setup but around the $200 price range. Any suggestions there?

R9 280X has power requirements closer to those of cards such as R9 290.

Other than that, with graphics card of this level (R9 280/R9 280X/R9 285/R9 380/GTX 960), you can expect a 40-50% performance increase over your GTX 660. Good, but not great.

I recently sold my GTX 660 and I am in a similar situation (but my CPU is Core i5-4440 and I upgraded my power supply to Seasonic S12G-650 and replaced the old case; both the old power supply - Seasonic S12II-430 Bronze - and the old case - Antec Solo - were limiting my graphics card options). Now I am waiting for Black Friday deals.

I'll want a doubling of performance from GTX 660 and that means R9 290/R9 390/GTX 970.

 

[MongGrel]

I would agree that that power draw is too close for comfort. If you want a 390, I'd suggest finding a $40-50 750W bronze unit.

If I were spending the money on a 390 myself, I would buy a lower powered gold unit for more than $40-50.

Going cheap on a PSU is one of the things at the bottom of my list.

I'd imagine the cooling on most GPUs are all ready more than adequate, a good 550W would do it even I imagine, but many 650W sell about the same price range anyhow.

My two cents.

 

[LTC8K6]

Besides upgrading CPUs in the future, I'm also going to try overclocking the 6300, I didn't have much luck when I tried before but maybe it would make a good enough difference?

A 6300 should be an easy and decent overclock.

Mine hits 4.5 at 1.25V

http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37687424&postcount=287

 

[NTMBK]

Honestly? Wait. The next generation of graphics cards will be coming out next year, with significant improvements to performance and efficiency. A lot of the current cards (especially from AMD) are quite old.

 

[mysticjbyrd]

Keep in mind that I do plan to eventually go to a higher CPU down the line. If I get the 390/970 then I would be using it with my current build but also carrying it over when I upgrade (which will probably be to an intel ddr4 setup) and using it for as long as possible after that.

Why not just wait a year and upgrade all at once? The new generation GPU's should be a large upgrade from the current generation.

You likely could even use a PSU upgrade.

 

[Headfoot]

I most likely won't have to worry about it then? Bc even the lower end cards I'm considering are 3gb+

Again, I know there's no way to know for sure but it gets me nervous lol. I’d like whatever I get to be a good solid choice for years more.

I don't buy this.

3.5gb is probably enough for NORMAL gpu consumers at 1080p for the next couple of years. However the biggest consumer of VRAM is texture mods. You said you're going to be doing witcher and skyrim modded out. Probably Cyberpunk mods too. I would NOT gamble that 3.5 will be enough for mods when its basically the same price to get the 390 which is basically the same speed but with 8GB VRAM.

Modders = use more VRAM than normal.

I would go no less than 390, or 980 Ti if you want to go big.

 

[fourdegrees11]

I would say go with the CPU upgrade now and wait a year for the new cards.

 

[MrTeal]

If you game with headphones or don't care about noise, the $220 R9 290 is the best deal in the $150-280 space among all videocards. Otherwise, I recommend you try to wait for a deal on a GTX970 for $230-240 as it's bound to come up.

Even if you game with headphones, the 290 is unacceptably loud unless you undervolt it. I have a pair of closed over ear cans and I can still hear that thing screaming like a PMSing banshee if there's not a lot of sound in the scene. The fan ramping up during web browsing when a flash video comes on screen is even worse since it's unexpected.

This is a situation where you're almost instantly going to regret not spending that extra $20 to get an aftermarket card with a better cooler, or even the same priced open box Turbo Duo.

 

[tweakboy]

I think the 980 Ti will play games @ 60fps locked in 3 years. But as DX12 is done and games use it then maybe for 1080p resolution and DX12 youll still get 60fps locked. It will show its age in 2 to 3 years. The 980 Ti is soo powerful you can play @ 4k res. thx gl

 

[TTtheTremendous]

Noise and higher probability of throttling.


R9 280X has power requirements closer to those of cards such as R9 290.

Other than that, with graphics card of this level (R9 280/R9 280X/R9 285/R9 380/GTX 960), you can expect a 40-50% performance increase over your GTX 660. Good, but not great.

I recently sold my GTX 660 and I am in a similar situation (but my CPU is Core i5-4440 and I upgraded my power supply to Seasonic S12G-650 and replaced the old case; both the old power supply - Seasonic S12II-430 Bronze - and the old case - Antec Solo - were limiting my graphics card options). Now I am waiting for Black Friday deals.

I'll want a doubling of performance from GTX 660 and that means R9 290/R9 390/GTX 970.

Yeah, I’m thinking that I’ll check the Black Friday sales and compare between the 290 and 390/ 970. How much of a price difference/reduction would you say would be worth it to get the 390 or 970 over the 290?