NVidia GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 380?

[rkoenn]

I am doing my first system refresh in almost 5 years before I do the Win 10 upgrade. I have an I7-5820 coming with MB and memory and will also do the video card. My current card is a Radeon 7700. I am not much of a gamer but build numerous systems as a small business so felt I should get more updated as it has been a while. I did want decent mid-range video whether I pushed the hardware or not. So I have been looking at the two majors and am considering either the GTX 960 or R9 380 4 GB cards. What would be the recommendations of the forum experts as to which they would go for? Or is it simply a toss up and let the best price win? I have the other parts on the way and should be assembling the guts this coming weekend. Of course I don't have to do the video immediately but have been keeping an eye out for any deals. And my wife gets waterfalled with my old I7 quad core guts and an SSD so she should be happy too.

 

[Spanners]

Pure performance wise the R9 380 is the faster gaming card.

Feature set and efficiency wise the GTX 960 is a more modern chip and has better performance per watt.

I would probably go for the GTX 960 myself if you're not much of a gamer. I would get the 4GB version though.

Edit: Just to expand on the "more modern" part. H.265 Decoding, HDMI 2.0 and a more complete DX12 feature set are some things that may be of use with the GTX 960 even if gaming is not a big priority. Can't really go far wrong if you found an amazing deal on either though.

 

[tviceman]

If you are going to OC, the 960 will generally be a little faster. It also uses about 75-100 less watts under load. The 960 also comes with a free game that you can sell if you don't want. Overall, the cards are about equal in speed so if power consumption isn't a concern, get whichever is cheaper or that you are most comfortable with.

 

[Hitman928]

Best perf/$ right now is the R9 290 as inventory is being cleared for the 300 series. You can find a 290 for as low as $230-$240 right now (after $20 or $30 MIR). These blow the 960/380 out of the water for performance, but use significantly higher power. The 380 and 960 are both about the same price though if the 2 GB version is useful for a build, you can buy the 285 (380 is essentially an oc'd 285) for as low as $150. The 960 is the most efficient card out of the bunch if that is important to you, it should also be pretty easy to match the 380 for performance if willing to overclock.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...iption=r9 285&bop=And&Order=PRICE&PageSize=30
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...=BESTMATCH&Description=r9+290&N=-1&isNodeId=1

 

[LTC8K6]

Not much of a gamer?

No contest of the two GPUs you named.

2gb GTX960 is the best choice since gaming is not a priority.

But, you should probably wait for the 950 series to come out. They should be cheaper and should be all you need.

 

[rkoenn]

Thanks for the input gentlemen and I am considering all of it. Newegg has a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 GV-N960OC-4GD on sale with rebate for $200. It looks like a pretty good card and possibly the cheapest of the bunch although not by much. The $20 rebate is good through the end of the month so I have time to think about it. Thoughts?

 

[LTC8K6]

Save the $20.00!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814487093&cm_re=gtx960-_-14-487-093-_-Product

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127844&cm_re=gtx960-_-14-127-844-_-Product

 

[DustinBrowder]

I'd wait for the GTX 950 if you are not going to use it for gaming. As far as any sort of mobile games or casual games like pinball on the desktop every card can do that, even ones that go for $50.

I'd suggest you wait for the GTX 950 as it will be cheaper, consume less and supposedly have all the DX12 features and new technology from maxwell 2.

I can't recommend the GTX 960 since its an overpriced turd even though it has h.265. It was supposed to be released at about $160-170, it would have made sense for the terrible performance and only 2GB version. The 4GB version is $230 anyways, so you'll be overpaying $60-70 just for H.265 feature!

HDMI 2 is useless and needless as of now. Unless you are planning on getting a brand new monitor, no point at looking at HDMI 2.

 

[RussianSensation]

Thanks for the input gentlemen and I am considering all of it. Newegg has a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 960 GV-N960OC-4GD on sale with rebate for $200. It looks like a pretty good card and possibly the cheapest of the bunch although not by much. The $20 rebate is good through the end of the month so I have time to think about it. Thoughts?

$200 for a 960 is a horrible deal unless you need HDMI 2.0 for a 4K HTPC or need its HVEC hardware decoding function. On that account R9 380 for a similar price is also a horrible deal.

1) If you are not much of a gamer why are you buying a 960?

For example, GTX750Ti can be had for $80. This is basically as fast as a GTX570/HD6970 and still a big upgrade from your card.

2) If you are gaming you can get R9 290 4GB for barely more $.

Newegg.com has PowerColor TurboDuo R9 290 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5 Video Card (AXR9 290 4GBD5-TDHE/OC) on sale for $249.99 - $20 Rebate - $20 w/ one-time use promo code VCO2015BTS (must use VISA Checkout) = $204.99. Shipping is free.

The main advantage of 960 right now is the HVEC hardware decoding. Otherwise, it's pretty overpriced for what it is as a gaming card while if you are barely gaming, $80 750Ti would be sufficient.

3) If you keep your videocards for a long time, then if you are really thinking of spending $200, for just $40 more XFX R9 290 comes with lifetime warranty. A single R9 290 is as fast as 2x 960s (!) which means for $40 more, it's like getting 960 SLI + lifetime warranty.

4) As others suggested, you could also wait until August 17th to see where GTX950 drops. That would still save you $ and get you the HVEC hardware decode if you need it. Either way, R9 380/GTX960 4GB sit in no man's land in today's gaming landscape at $180-200. If you are going to spend that much, might as well spend just a bit extra and go for the R9 290 as it'll actually be cheaper long-term as far as upgrading strategy goes. I presume you have a good PSU since you did get a 5820K.

 

[tential]

Didn't know new r9 290s were hitting 200. I don't feel so bad for not hoping on used deals now.

 

[Leyawiin]

I agree with Russian - for a "not much of a gamer" (which to me means light gaming occasionally) I would just get a $110 ($90 after rebate) GTX 750 Ti and call it a day. I have one in a secondary PC of mine used mostly for browsing, but it can give decent performance on medium to high settings @ 1080p. Plus its very power thrifty, cool running and quiet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127784

 

[Azix]

Let price decide. 285, 960, 380, 290. Might not be much of a gamer but it would suck to need the power and not have it.

 

[RussianSensation]

I agree with Russian - for a "not much of a gamer" (which to me means light gaming occasionally) I would just get a $110 ($90 after rebate) GTX 750 Ti and call it a day. I have one in a secondary PC of mine used mostly for browsing, but it can give decent performance on medium to high settings @ 1080p. Plus its very power thrifty, cool running and quiet.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814127784

That deals comes out to just $80 after $20 rebate and $10 off via VisaCheckout. That's a great value for light gaming and it uses very little power. At $80, I endorse, a far cry from its $149 MSRP. :thumbsup:

Let price decide. 285, 960, 380, 290. Might not be much of a gamer but it would suck to need the power and not have it.

The problem with all of those cards is that it would cost more long-term to buy one of them for $170-200 and upgrade to next generation to another $170-200 card. This is why:

The move from GTX560 to 660 added 61% in performance
The move from GTX660 to 760 added just 26% in performance
The move from GTX760 to 960 added a measly 14% in performance
http://www.computerbase.de/2015-03/geforce-gtx-460-560-660-760-960-vergleich/2/

That means going from GTX660 to 960 added just 44% more performance but the difference between 960 OC and R9 290 OC is 47% and an after-market 290 is 58% faster than a 285 at 1080P HQ.

What that means is if one buys a $170-200 960, you are going to have to buy yet another $150-200 card next generation just to get to where an after-market 290 is today. That means it's going to cost between $320-400 less resale value of GTX960 just to get to R9 290's level of performance some time in the future but it also means getting way less performance from now until that next gen card. For that reason, 285/280X/380/960 -- none of them makes sense at current prices if someone can think about the total cost of ownership long-term and that the are foregoing a lot of performance all that time for what a $50-60 savings?

 

[ocre]

$200 for a 960 is a horrible deal unless you need HDMI 2.0 for a 4K HTPC or need its HVEC hardware decoding function. On that account R9 380 for a similar price is also a horrible deal.

1) If you are not much of a gamer why are you buying a 960?

For example, GTX750Ti can be had for $80. This is basically as fast as a GTX570/HD6970 and still a big upgrade from your card.

2) If you are gaming you can get R9 290 4GB for barely more $.

Newegg.com has PowerColor TurboDuo R9 290 4GB 512-Bit GDDR5 Video Card (AXR9 290 4GBD5-TDHE/OC) on sale for $249.99 - $20 Rebate - $20 w/ one-time use promo code VCO2015BTS (must use VISA Checkout) = $204.99. Shipping is free.

The main advantage of 960 right now is the HVEC hardware decoding. Otherwise, it's pretty overpriced for what it is as a gaming card while if you are barely gaming, $80 750Ti would be sufficient.

3) If you keep your videocards for a long time, then if you are really thinking of spending $200, for just $40 more XFX R9 290 comes with lifetime warranty. A single R9 290 is as fast as 2x 960s (!) which means for $40 more, it's like getting 960 SLI + lifetime warranty.

4) As others suggested, you could also wait until August 17th to see where GTX950 drops. That would still save you $ and get you the HVEC hardware decode if you need it. Either way, R9 380/GTX960 4GB sit in no man's land in today's gaming landscape at $180-200. If you are going to spend that much, might as well spend just a bit extra and go for the R9 290 as it'll actually be cheaper long-term as far as upgrading strategy goes. I presume you have a good PSU since you did get a 5820K.

Very few people need a new PC build. Everyone i know, who wanted to build a really high end PC, that wanted just that. That was their goal. They had an amount they wanted to spend and that is what they wanted to spend it on.

It makes them feel good to spend money on the things they want to buy.

Waiting for the 950 makes sense but I think your obvious distaste for the 960, your negative bias, should be noted.

This is a card you would never buy and there is nothing wrong with that. But you must also consider that your purchasing habits are your own. The 960 is a very popular card and many people decide that is the card for them.

To the op
rkoenn, This forum has a high percentage of high end GPU buyers who typically buy the more expensive upper tier GPUs. I dont think the percentage here reflects the real world where mid ranged GPUs are far more popular. Just saying.

 

[tential]

Very good points Ocre. If I was gaming like how I did at one point, GTX 960 over the R9 290 because the R9 290 doesn't offer me any benefit in the types of games I play. Now it does though.

 

[nenforcer]

I got a pair of used HIS Radeon R9 285's nearly a year ago for $150 each. Keep in mind this was just a couple of months after they were released and were suppose to be a $250 graphics card but then the Geforce 970 / 980 dropped and they didn't sell at all.

But these are gaming cards - since your not a gamer I'd recommend either the 750Ti today or wait for the 950 when it releases August 17th. It will have HDMI 2.0 and support 4K 60Hz should you ever purchase a larger monitor. The 960 already supports this as well if you wanted a faster "gaming" card.

 

[Flapdrol1337]

Those cards are very close in price and performance.

Maybe see if there's a game bundled? Even if you're not much of a gamer you can always sell it or give it away? The 960 has h265 decode, a 5820K can probably do that with brute force, but still. Euhm, 960 has hdmi 2?

Could get a 950 if it's available in time.

 

[railven]

Very few people need a new PC build. Everyone i know, who wanted to build a really high end PC, that wanted just that. That was their goal. They had an amount they wanted to spend and that is what they wanted to spend it on.

It makes them feel good to spend money on the things they want to buy.

Waiting for the 950 makes sense but I think your obvious distaste for the 960, your negative bias, should be noted.

This is a card you would never buy and there is nothing wrong with that. But you must also consider that your purchasing habits are your own. The 960 is a very popular card and many people decide that is the card for them.

To the op
rkoenn, This forum has a high percentage of high end GPU buyers who typically buy the more expensive upper tier GPUs. I dont think the percentage here reflects the real world where mid ranged GPUs are far more popular. Just saying.

I didn't want to be the first to chime in with such an opinion, more so, the lack of power consumption information.

The OP held on to his 77(50/70/90?) for a rather long time. Gives me the impression his level of gaming is small.

I think he should know that for $40 more, sure he gets a monster GPU, but it also eats twice the wattage.

Without knowing his use for the PC (is it a display model, since you say you build lots of PCs for sale, or is it gonna be your register PC, or just a PC in the shop to kill time?)

But that's just me. My play PC is a pig compared to my work PC.

 

[Zodiark1593]

Mirroring the above advice, grab a cheap 750 TI or wait for the 950. If you can find a 960 for $160-170 (got lucky with mine), then that would be a nice option too, but you don't find those often and the $200 is too expensive compared to Radeon options.

Note: the GTX 960 is most certainly not a bad card,, in fact, it's quite good, but at it's msrp, it's simply too expensive to freely recommend unless you need something Nvidia exclusive like CUDA.

 

[Spanners]

$200 for a 960 is a horrible deal unless you need HDMI 2.0 for a 4K HTPC or need its HVEC hardware decoding function. On that account R9 380 for a similar price is also a horrible deal....
*snip*

I agree with all that but the OP was asking if he/she should get A or B. I always try to avoid "what about C?". I assumed "not much of a gamer" implied at least some casual gaming.

 

[Headfoot]

The 960 and 380 4GB are going to be huge wastes of money if you dont game. Even a 750 ti is money spent for nothing. Your 7770 is going to be fine for what you use it for. Any upgrade will get you literally nothing of value until you change what you're doing to something with a bigger load than displaying the desktop and watching YouTube videos.

Once you start new activities that require a better graphics card, upgrade then. It's always a bad idea to speculatively buy a GPU because "maybe someday" you'll do something that needs a particular feature. By the time you actually need something new we might be into the next generation of cards.

My mom is still running a HD 3870 I got used for $25 and an e8400 overclocked slightly w/ 8GB RAM for web browsing and Facebook games, and its perfectly capable.

If you didnt have the 5820k, I would have said just use integrated graphics.

If the money is really burning a hole in your pocket, get a nicer monitor or a bigger SSD.

 

[tweakboy]

Go for your upgrade. Try a 760 GTX or 660 GTX . gl ..

 

[Chriskey2015]

i will go for AMD Radeon R9 380

 

[rkoenn]

Thanks for all the information gentlemen, I have made no decision on the video upgrade yet but am considering everything here. I do think I am going to for for a card in the $200 range as for my needs that should be more than sufficient. I've seen some GTX 960s on sale for a bit less than $200.

I did get my I7-5820 and ASRock motherboard on Friday. I installed them yesterday after doing some testing with a bread boarded system with a Win 7 installation from another machine on the hard drive I used. I prepared my old system by removing the Intel chipset drivers and any other hardware drivers I could from the SDD installed Win 7. I then replaced the guts with the new CPU/MB/Memory and it booted right up with no problems or blue screens. Once I installed the correct drivers for the X99 MB everything worked perfectly. Reactivation for Windows and Office was a simple couple of button clicks with no phone calls necessary! All my software along with everything else works perfectly and the machine is obviously very fast. Now I plan on doing the Win 10 upgrade in the near future. Any recommendations on doing that?

 

[DustinBrowder]

I wouldn't upgrade to Win10 just yet. Visit the link on my signature to see what horrors lie in win10. Its a privacy nightmare and if you plan on doing any serious work on your computer or store any sort of private data, I suggest you stick to windows 7.