Question R9 390X versus RX 480

[PingSpike]

I'm thinking about getting a new Windows VM GPU passthrough card at some point. Its pretty much down to R9 290/290X/390/390X or an RX 480. These are the last cards that seemed to support Windows 8.1 so they're the last cards to support ULPS/zerocore. Technically zerocore works on Windows 7 but its out of date now and I haven't had as good of luck getting the power down to zero with it.

It doesn't seem like there is a lot of difference performance wise with them, the R9s are fairly close and the RX480 is just a bit better. The RX480 seems a bit harder to find and a bit more expensive on the used market. It looks like the R9s suck power pretty bad at load, but just sitting idle (not ULPS/zerocore, monitor still on) the RX480 uses an annoying 15watts or so, and its downright terrible if you run multi monitor for some reason.

Anyone have an opinions on these cards or which ones I should prefer? Honestly I'll probably just end up using it to play Bannerlord unless the wine situation gets a lot better.

 

[tamz_msc]

Get the RX 480. It will have better performance in newer games like Bannerlord and doesn't guzzle power like Hawaii.

 

[darkswordsman17]

I can't offer advice on what to go for but I have a 480 and wouldn't have a problem parting with it for a fair price (I've been debating upgrading my current PC or buying a laptop). It is a reference (blower) design though so not sure if it'd be what you want or not.

 

[PingSpike]

I can't offer advice on what to go for but I have a 480 and wouldn't have a problem parting with it for a fair price (I've been debating upgrading my current PC or buying a laptop). It is a reference (blower) design though so not sure if it'd be what you want or not.

Does it have DVI? It looks like the reference design dropped DVI altogether which is kind of weird.

Unfortunately, Zerocore doesn't work on anything but DVI and VGA. I think it has to do with the onboard sound.

 

[fleshconsumed]

Does it have DVI? It looks like the reference design dropped DVI altogether which is kind of weird.

Unfortunately, Zerocore doesn't work on anything but DVI and VGA. I think it has to do with the onboard sound.

Certain aftermarket RX480's do have DVI. My MSI RX480 GamingX has DVI output.

 

[Ranulf]

My sapphire and MSI rx 480 cards had dvi. My asrock rx 570 4gb does as well.

 

[Red Hawk]

I'd get the 480. The 290X/390X is a big chip that will guzzle power under load if that's a concern. The 480 is newer and will have better software and driver support moving forward. The only reason to get a 290X/390X is if you really need the additional memory bandwidth (320 GB/s on the 290X vs 256 GB/s on the 480), and even then you have to be careful as most of the older 290Xs are limited to 4 GB of RAM.

 

[Shmee]

390X had 8GB and faster memory than the 290X. Higher core clocks too. I think they might be harder to find in the used market though.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Does it have DVI? It looks like the reference design dropped DVI altogether which is kind of weird.

Unfortunately, Zerocore doesn't work on anything but DVI and VGA. I think it has to do with the onboard sound.

Nope, just HDMI and DisplayPort.