Radeon 5700 to GTX 960 or R9 280?

[Linux23]

would this be a big upgrade or slightly noticeable? sorry, been out of the video card game a long time now. thanks.

 

[Headfoot]

What games?
What processor?
What operating system?
HTPC use?
Power supply?
RAM?

In 90% of cases the 960 is a really bad buy and you can get a much faster card for not much more money (r9 290 or gtx 970), or a faster card for the roughly same money (r9 280x). To answer the question though -- the 960 is a lot faster than the 5700 even though its not a good buy right now for most people.

Best Buys:
<$200 -> Used R9 280, Used R9 280x, Used HD7950, Used HD7970, Used HD7970 Ghz, Used GTX 770, Used GTX 680 (select the 3GB cards over the 2GB cards if both are available and in your price range)
~$200AR -> R9 280x
~$250AR -> Tri-X R9 290, or bump up to GTX 970 if you plan on buying both The Witcher 3 and Batman Arkham Knight at launch (GTX 970 is roughly the same in total cost if you planned on buying those two games at retail)
~$320AR -> GTX 970

The Tri-X 290 at $250AR (at Newegg) is the best value buy in gaming right now not counting game bundles, and the 970 is tied for best value if you count game bundles.

 

[cusideabelincoln]

It will be a huge upgrade so long as you don't have an ancient processor.

 

[LTC8K6]

would this be a big upgrade or slightly noticeable? sorry, been out of the video card game a long time now. thanks.

Here's a comparo of a 5770 and an R9 270, to give you an idea what the leap would be to a card better than an R9 270.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1078?vs=1080

 

[Linux23]

i5-2500k, Win 8.1, 8GB RAM, 620 watt Antec power supply.
nothing serious i'm doing except video encoding my blu-rays which seem to be cpu intensive. i game casually when i have free time, but when i do game i'd rather have fairly smooth game play, and right now this 5700 seems to be the bottle neck.

 

[Linux23]

Here's a comparo of a 5770 and an R9 270, to give you an idea what the leap would be to a card better than an R9 270.

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1078?vs=1080

holy 2x, sometimes 3x performance. didn't know my card was such a dinosaur.

i may just pull the trigger on that R9 280X

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ISSSPLM/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[TemjinGold]

Note that's a 280, not a 280X. They are different cards.

 

[gamervivek]

Get the 290 if the price difference is low compared to 280X, or if you can wait for a month for the 3xx series.

www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1078?vs=1068

 

[Linux23]

yep, sorry. i didn't know that until now. been researching cards since 1pm today and it's a lot out there that i need to catch up on. glad my motherboard has the 6+2 power connector.

 

[Linux23]

Get the 290 if the price difference is low compared to 280X, or if you can wait for a month for the 3xx series.

www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1078?vs=1068

the 290's i researched were in the $280ish - $300 range. not worth it for this sandy bridge CPU setup. now when i build out my system come this fall I will be putting in a nice video card to hopefully last a few years as i'm not a hardcore gamer, but when i do have time to game, i don't want any slow downs.

 

[lehtv]

The cheapest 280X I can find is a Gigabyte for $232 shipped ($202 after rebate). That XFX R9 280 BE DD is a far better deal for $170. The 280X costs 36% more (19% more after rebate) despite only being 10-15% faster. The XFX card also has lifetime warranty, and 2 years of it are transferable to a second owner. IMO if you want to pay over $200 for a card, go R9 290 or go home.

XFX R9 290 BE DD is $275 after promo and shipping, $255 after rebate.
Sapphire 290X Tri-X is only $25 more.
Gigabyte GTX 970 is another $22, and most if not all of that extra cost you'd get back in the form of lower electricity bills, within 3 years.

"glad my motherboard has the 6+2 power connector." Wha'? Are you talking about the PCIe plug needed by the graphics card - if so, that's provided by the power supply, not the motherboard

 

[Linux23]

The cheapest 280X I can find is a Gigabyte for $232 shipped ($202 after rebate). That XFX R9 280 BE DD is a far better deal for $170. The 280X costs 36% more (19% more after rebate) despite only being 10-15% faster. The XFX card also has lifetime warranty, and 2 years of it are transferable to a second owner.

"glad my motherboard has the 6+2 power connector." Wha'? Are you talking about the PCIe plug needed by the graphics card - if so, that's provided by the power supply, not the motherboard

duh, yes the power supply. lol.

so would you pull the trigger on that XFX R9 280X? the 280X and 290 seem to be quite close in performance from what i can tell from benchmarks.

 

[lehtv]

so would you pull the trigger on that XFX R9 280X?

Me personally? No I would go bigger (see the cards posted above) - but I'm probably bit more hardcore about gaming performance than you. I think you'll probably be fine with the R9 280 for a few years.

the 280X and 290 seem to be quite close in performance from what i can tell from benchmarks.

Not that close: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1068?vs=1041
Compare to the difference between 280X and 280: http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1041?vs=1332

 

[gamervivek]

290 is newer hardware and is just shy of 290X's performance at same clocks. But yeah if you're going to upgrade later this year, just get the 280 for now and OC it.

 

[RussianSensation]

i5-2500k, Win 8.1, 8GB RAM, 620 watt Antec power supply.
.

Higher end:

XFX R9 290 = $253
Sapphire R9 290 = $250
Gigabyte G1 970 with TW3 and Batman AK = $300


Lower end:

Sapphire R9 280 = $149.19

If you want the Witcher 3, Asus GTX960 is $180.

R9 290 ($250) is 43% faster than an R9 280 ($149) and 52% faster than a $180 960 2GB (plus it has double the VRAM over a 960 2GB).

If you just play occassionally, the $149 R9 280 is a good stop-gap for you until you start gaming more hardcore.

Performance is nearly 3X faster than your 5770 (R9 280 = HD7950 Boost). Also, many R9 280s can hit 1100-1200 mhz overclocks should you need a bit more performance.

At that point performance between a 770, 280X and 280 OC is nearly identical.
http://www.sweclockers.com/recension/18938-asus-radeon-r9-280-strix/9#content

If you want a lot more performance, go all the way to R9 290 as 960 is not faster than an R9 280.

 

[Laststop311]

I have direct experience in this. I upgraded my brothers 1.51v 4.2ghz OC phenom x6 1100t black edition and sapphire radeon 5770 up to a 4GB EVGA SSC+ GTX 960 that reaches a modest 1426mhz stable clock speed in games. The upgrade in performance was night and day. Games went from having to be played on medium settings to barely get by 40 fps+ now let you go full ultra details and constant 60+ fps. This is for 1920x1080.

The 4.2ghz phenom x6 1100t is enough cpu power to notice the huge difference between 5770 and gtx 960 and with dx 12 the phenom x6 1100t is going to get some new life breathed into it taking advantage of the 6 core efficiency of dx 12. I'm interested to see a maximum pushed like a 4.5ghz phenom x6 1100t vs the i5 devils canyon skylake quad core no HT and no extra overclock just the 3.9ghz it comes with and just see how 4 cores of 3.9ghz skylake compares to 6 cores of 4.5ghz phenom II cores in DX12. I think the skylake will still win in performance but for how old the phenom II x6 1100t is it's gonna still be a relevant cpu after dx 12 boosts it up.

 

[Leyawiin]

That XFX R9 280 you linked from Amazon is a pretty good deal and much better than your current card. Cheapest R9 280 at Newegg is $10 more and the cheapest GTX 960 is $20 more. If you do just light gaming I think it would be money well spent vs. going higher.

 

[Laststop311]

That XFX R9 280 you linked from Amazon is a pretty good deal and much better than your current card. Cheapest R9 280 at Newegg is $10 more and the cheapest GTX 960 is $20 more. If you do just light gaming I think it would be money well spent vs. going higher.

The 960 is the better card. They both are going to be able to run every game at 1080 ultra settings but the 960 does it with much less noise, heat, and wattage. The extra 10-20 bucks the gtx 960 costs vs the 280 will be made back in electricty saved over the lifetime of pc.

 

[RussianSensation]

The 960 is the better card. They both are going to be able to run every game at 1080 ultra settings but the 960 does it with much less noise, heat, and wattage. The extra 10-20 bucks the gtx 960 costs vs the 280 will be made back in electricty saved over the lifetime of pc.

He said he isn't intending to keep his card that long so he'll never make up the $30 difference between a $180 960 and a $149 290.

960 has 2GB of VRAM vs. 3GB on the 280. Also, what makes the 960 a bad deal is R9 290 for $250 is > 50% faster but costs 39% more. The R9 280 strikes the perfect balance of VRAM and price/performance among R9 290, 280X, 960 and 290 at today's prices. If he wants TW3 game, then it makes the case for a 960 stronger.

As far as power usage differences, inside a gaming rig, the differences are so small, it's going to take a long time to make up the differences. Based on his OP, he'll have upgraded a long time before that.

We are talking 28-35W difference.

i5-2500k, Win 8.1, 8GB RAM, 620 watt Antec power supply.
nothing serious i'm doing except video encoding my blu-rays which seem to be cpu intensive.

If you are using 4K encoding, the 960 will help here.

GM206 NVIDIA&#8217;s fixed function HEVC decoder has been completed and rolled into this GPU, making this the first discrete GPU with full HEVC decoding support. the GTX 960 has one exclusive new feature: full hardware support for decoding H.265 video. Hardware acceleration of H.265 decoding should make 4K video playback smoother and more power-efficient. This feature didn't make the cut for the GM204, so only the GTX 960 has it.

 

[skipsneeky2]

The 280 would really be a better deal over the 960 unless there is a hell of a good deal on a 960 or some games included

 

[raghu78]

With a HD 5700 series GPU your best option is to buy a month later when the R9 3xx series launches. Its a really bad idea to buy now. You can evaluate your options after June 18th when the R9 3xx series launches. High bandwidth memory (HBM) is expected to be launched with few models of the R9 3xx series and it would be a good idea to wait and watch. My expectation is the R9 380, R9 380X , R9 390 and R9 390X will sport HBM.

If you are in a hurry I would recommend a R9 290 Tri-X. slightly more price than GTX 960. But more than 50% faster with twice the VRAM. you have a good 620W PSU and an excellent core i5 2500k CPU.

Don't compromise on your GPU. imo R9 290 now or R9 380 when it launches in a month's time. :thumbsup:

 

[LTC8K6]

I'm interested in an update of the current newest card, the R9 285.

Tonga has always piqued my interest, and I'd love to see a full version of it.

 

[Laststop311]

With a HD 5700 series GPU your best option is to buy a month later when the R9 3xx series launches. Its a really bad idea to buy now. You can evaluate your options after June 18th when the R9 3xx series launches. High bandwidth memory (HBM) is expected to be launched with few models of the R9 3xx series and it would be a good idea to wait and watch. My expectation is the R9 380, R9 380X , R9 390 and R9 390X will sport HBM.

If you are in a hurry I would recommend a R9 290 Tri-X. slightly more price than GTX 960. But more than 50% faster with twice the VRAM. you have a good 620W PSU and an excellent core i5 2500k CPU.

Don't compromise on your GPU. imo R9 290 now or R9 380 when it launches in a month's time. :thumbsup:

No man only the fiji gpu's are going to use HBM. That's pretty much 99% sure. It's a brand new never been mass produced product that is going to need to keep up with the demand for 2 super fast gpus which are supposed to be faster than their nvidia counterpart. Also the fact that they upped the memory from 4GB to 8GB per card that is going to stress demand even harder especially if the 390 also has 8GB. The 380x is supposed to be the 290x updated with some new gcn features here and there and rebranded, same with the 290 and 380. AMD will most likely struggle a bit to have enough 4GBx2 HBM dies for the 390x and 390. If the 390x really is +10%-+15% titan x performance as some charts have shown and a price that is around 700-730 for water cooled edition 600-630 for air cooled they will sell verrrrrry well and this will be the first attempt at a new technology keeping up with the pace AMD will need to maximize their sales numbers. So I think you are pretty crazy to think they will also put HBM on the even higher volume selling 380's. We have to wait for 2nd gen HBM and by that time HBM production will be full throttle.

 

[raghu78]

No man only the fiji gpu's are going to use HBM. That's pretty much 99% sure. It's a brand new never been mass produced product that is going to need to keep up with the demand for 2 super fast gpus which are supposed to be faster than their nvidia counterpart. Also the fact that they upped the memory from 4GB to 8GB per card that is going to stress demand even harder especially if the 390 also has 8GB. The 380x is supposed to be the 290x updated with some new gcn features here and there and rebranded, same with the 290 and 380. AMD will most likely struggle a bit to have enough 4GBx2 HBM dies for the 390x and 390. If the 390x really is +10%-+15% titan x performance as some charts have shown and a price that is around 700-730 for water cooled edition 600-630 for air cooled they will sell verrrrrry well and this will be the first attempt at a new technology keeping up with the pace AMD will need to maximize their sales numbers. So I think you are pretty crazy to think they will also put HBM on the even higher volume selling 380's. We have to wait for 2nd gen HBM and by that time HBM production will be full throttle.

lets agree to disagree. Its just over a month. So we will know when they launch.