R9 390 vs 380

[Altus7]

In my country I can get the 390 8GB and 380 4GB for 3700 and 2340 respectively.

Will the 390 give a 58%+ performance boost to make it cost effective? Which is the best value?


I'll game on either 1600x1200 CRT or 1920x1200 flat-screen depending on if I buy a new monitor or not.

I'll probably get VR, but I don't mind if I have to buy a new GPU for that in a few years when the whole GPU market might become more VR oriented.

I wanna use high-texture mods for Skyrim, but I've read that 4GB should be enough since the dated Skyrim engine tends to shit itself before being able to utilize more VRAM.

I'm on a i5 2500k system with 8GB RAM and HD6950 GPU.

Examples of games/engines I'm planning to play: MGS 5, Arma 3, GTA 5, DAI, Unreal Engine 4.

 

[crisium]

The 390 is about 50% faster than the 380. Those games you listed are demanding. If you are willing to pay more for the 390 it will provide you with higher settings.

Also, you have a GPU from 2010 so you might as well get the faster card if you can afford it. The 390 already provides better settings today, and in a few years it will continue to do so.

 

[rustyman]

Can a 390 actually be used to drive a CRT, or is a 380(X) the highest version AMD card with analog CRT output?

 

[Techhog]

Can a 390 actually be used to drive a CRT, or is a 380(X) the highest version AMD card with analog CRT output?

You're not going to find a modern gaming graphics card with a VGA port, but both will work if you have an adapter. Some cards still come with VGA adapters, so make sure to check the contents of the box before buying.

 

[RussianSensation]

In my country I can get the 390 8GB and 380 4GB for 3700 and 2340 respectively.

Will the 390 give a 58%+ performance boost to make it cost effective? Which is the best value?

Can you please list the prices of GTX960 4GB, R9 280X, GTX970, and if for sale, after-market R9 290, 290X cards?

Also, is your CPU overclocked, and if not would you be willing to overclock it?

Please specify what model power supply you have.

 

[alexruiz]

Can a 390 actually be used to drive a CRT, or is a 380(X) the highest version AMD card with analog CRT output?

You're not going to find a modern gaming graphics card with a VGA port, but both will work if you have an adapter. Some cards still come with VGA adapters, so make sure to check the contents of the box before buying.

Hawaii / Grenada GPUs cannot drive an analog monitor, not even with a DVI to VGA adapter.
The DVI ports are DVI-D, not DVI-I, so the adapter won't work.

I say pick the R9 380 and also get a new monitor. The R9 380 has enough firepower to drive those games decently.

 

[Techhog]

Hawaii / Grenada GPUs cannot drive an analog monitor, not even with a DVI to VGA adapter.
The DVI ports are DVI-D, not DVI-I, so the adapter won't work.

I say pick the R9 380 and also get a new monitor. The R9 380 has enough firepower to drive those games decently.

My mistake. Damn. Not even with the Displayport?

 

[RussianSensation]

My mistake. Damn. Not even with the Displayport?

It should work. You don't need a DVI-to-VGA adapter.

StarTech.com HD2VGAE2 HDMI to VGA Converter for Desktop PC/Laptop/Ultrabooks

StarTech.com Mini DisplayPort to VGA Video Adapter - M/F

StarTech.com DisplayPort to VGA Video Adapter Converter - 1920x1200 - Display Port / DP Adapter M/F

Cable Matters® Gold Plated DisplayPort to VGA Male to Female Cable Adapter

Sapphire Nitro 390 for example has DP and HDMI for flexibility.

 

[RaistlinZ]

If you can handle the price, I'd go for the 390 to give you more headroom for future games.

 

[Altus7]

Can you please list the prices of GTX960 4GB, R9 280X, GTX970, and if for sale, after-market R9 290, 290X cards?

Also, is your CPU overclocked, and if not would you be willing to overclock it?

Please specify what model power supply you have.

960 2400
280x 2600
970 3500

Yeah, I've been planning to overclock my CPU, but never gotten around to doing it.

Corsair HX620 PSU

 

[RussianSensation]

960 2400
280x 2600
970 3500

Yeah, I've been planning to overclock my CPU, but never gotten around to doing it.

Corsair HX620 PSU

960 at 2400 should be eliminated automatically since it's worse than a 2340 R9 380 and 2600 R9 280X.

Between R9 380 for 2340 and R9 280X, there is about a 10% performance delta and a 11% price delta. Based on your prices 970 also scales more or less linearly in performance above the 280X.

The choice between the R9 390 and 970 is much tougher to make, especially if the 970 card for 3500 is a good version like Gigabyte G1, MSI Gaming or Asus Strix. If your 2500K is running at stock, I'd go with the cheaper 970 and spend the difference towards an after-market cooler and overclock your CPU to 4.5-4.8Ghz. Your PSU is fine for any of these cards.

 

[Altus7]

Ok thanks for the advice. I think I'll go for the 390 then since I prefer AMD open-standards philosophy.

Funny thing is, that I'm actually using my old water-cooling loop on my stock-clock 2500k

Laing DDC 3.2 Ultra (alphacool top) > Swiftech Storm G4 > T-line, fillport > Thermochill PA120.3 > back to the pump

For 4 years now I've never run out of CPU power though, so I just haven't bothered over clocking it. Now that I upgrade my GPU it might be worth it though to prevent bottlenecking I guess.


I currently use a DVI to VGA adapter for my CRT. Is it not gonna work with R9?

 

[raghu78]

Ok thanks for the advice. I think I'll go for the 390 then since I prefer AMD open-standards philosophy.

good decision.

Funny thing is, that I'm actually using my old water-cooling loop on my stock-clock 2500k

Laing DDC 3.2 Ultra (alphacool top) > Swiftech Storm G4 > T-line, fillport > Thermochill PA120.3 > back to the pump

For 4 years now I've never run out of CPU power though, so I just haven't bothered over clocking it. Now that I upgrade my GPU it might be worth it though to prevent bottlenecking I guess.

Get your 2500k to 4.5 Ghz if you can or atleast 4-4.2 Ghz. You will have enough CPU power to drive your R9 390 even overclocked.

I currently use a DVI to VGA adapter for my CRT. Is it not gonna work with R9?

it will work fine.

 

[Seba]

I currently use a DVI to VGA adapter for my CRT. Is it not gonna work with R9?

No, it will not work. R9 390 only has DVI-D.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

As the cards age I'd expect 390 to become nearly twice as fast as a 380.

 

[RussianSensation]

No, it will not work. R9 390 only has DVI-D.

Ya, but can't he use a DP adapter or a DP to VGA cable? I think it should work.

Option 1

Option 2

Option 3

 

[werepossum]

Ok thanks for the advice. I think I'll go for the 390 then since I prefer AMD open-standards philosophy.

Funny thing is, that I'm actually using my old water-cooling loop on my stock-clock 2500k

Laing DDC 3.2 Ultra (alphacool top) > Swiftech Storm G4 > T-line, fillport > Thermochill PA120.3 > back to the pump

For 4 years now I've never run out of CPU power though, so I just haven't bothered over clocking it. Now that I upgrade my GPU it might be worth it though to prevent bottlenecking I guess.


I currently use a DVI to VGA adapter for my CRT. Is it not gonna work with R9?

You will probably need an active adapter (drawing outside power) to convert the fixed power digital signals to the higher power analog signals for best results, although as RussianSensation points out, there are adapters which use the DisplayPort digital power signal to build the analog power signal, and they tend to have very high buyer ratings. Either way you likely won't be able to use your existing passive adapter. But come on dude, it's far past time to invest in a decent 1080P LCD. Not sure what they run in your country but NewEgg was running a 24" Acer for something like $89 USD.

EDIT: At least according to wiki, the DisplayPort specification requires active (meaning silicon logic doing the translation but usually also meaning drawing external power) adapters to translate to VGA. Therefore personally I wouldn't buy the cheaper adapters for fear of damaging my card. However, please understand that there may be no basis for my worry as the DisplayPort specification can source a LOT of power (up to 0.5A and 16V, with a standard 3.3V signal) so even without external power, running the processing whilst producing 0.7V amplitude modulation may well be a trivial problem. Bottom line, you can certainly run your beloved CRT with an R9 380 or R9 390, you'll just have to use a third party dongle to do so. Hey, I can still remember the trauma of giving up my lovely 19" CRT, but honestly I've never looked back once I finally went LCD.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisplayPort