Upgrade from R9 270

[spinn3r]

Hello everyone,

Current config:
Gigabyte Z97P-D3
4670K@4.3
8GB 1600 DDR3
Sapphire R9 270 Dual-X
SSD's and hard drives
EVGA PSU (don't remember the wattage but it is plenty)

I am currently looking at the outgoing R9 390, I have seen a few promotions as low as £230 (I'm in the UK and I missed a promo on a ASUS R9 390 Strix yesterday for that price) and I believe they will go as low as £200 just like the R9 290 went when AMD released the 390 last year.

My question is: will I be able to buy one of the newer graphics card in June for the same amount of money that will have at least a similar performance to the R9 390?

Or should I just get one of the R9 390 promos now?

I am aware that there is no concrete info out there, it is all rumours but... what is your opinion on this?

Thank you in advance to anyone who wants to chip in

 

[AtenRa]

Wait for Polaris 10

 

[spinn3r]

Wait for Polaris 10

I would love to but I am afraid I will not be able to get a graphics card as fast as a 390 for the same price (I really don't care about the heat or power consumption, I will only game occasionally but it would be nice to have the extra horsepower over the 270 or the newer GPU within the same price bracket), that is what I fear and that is why posed the question to whoever wants to answer it

Right now the suppliers in the UK are flushing their stocks by offering the cards at a heavily discounted price but they will quickly disappear.

While I was waiting and thinking about what to do the only 10 cards that were left at that particular retailer disappeared in a matter of minutes.

 

[AtenRa]

Wait for the Polaris 10 Pro (R9 390), it should be almost same performance at lower MSRP. You may pay close to 250 pounds than 200-230 price point you can find 390 today but you will get more features, less power consumption and faster DX-12 performance than 390 in the coming months.

 

[R0H1T]

I would love to but I am afraid I will not be able to get a graphics card as fast as a 390 for the same price (I really don't care about the heat or power consumption, I will only game occasionally but it would be nice to have the extra horsepower over the 270 or the newer GPU within the same price bracket), that is what I fear and that is why posed the question to whoever wants to answer it

Right now the suppliers in the UK are flushing their stocks by offering the cards at a heavily discounted price but they will quickly disappear.

While I was waiting and thinking about what to do the only 10 cards that were left at that particular retailer disappeared in a matter of minutes.

The 390 or 390x, if you can get one at or near £230, are excellent choices but make sure you have enough watts to power the rig.

 

[CuriousMike]

1. There will always be another deal. Do not get caught up in the rush to buy now now now.
2. Everyone for the last couple of months have been saying the same thing, don't buy now... wait because something better or cheaper is coming soon. Last month, I didn't wait and I bought an R9 390 at a normal price and I'm happy as can be. I've been actually ... using it.
3. No guarantee's that the new stuff will be cheaper or more powerful. It'll likely be both, but... not guarantee.
4. Going back to number one, making decisions in a hurry is never a good idea.

 

[R0H1T]

1. There will always be another deal. Do not get caught up in the rush to buy now now now.
2. Everyone for the last couple of months have been saying the same thing, don't buy now... wait because something better or cheaper is coming soon. Last month, I didn't wait and I bought an R9 390 at a normal price and I'm happy as can be. I've been actually ... using it.
3. No guarantee's that the new stuff will be cheaper or more powerful. It'll likely be both, but... not guarantee.
4. Going back to number one, making decisions in a hurry is never a good idea.

Better yes, cheaper nope!

Some of the unreal® expectations (like 300$ for a full Polaris 10 ) will be dashed soon enough D:

 

[Magic Carpet]

Wait for the Polaris 10 Pro (R9 390), it should be almost same performance at lower MSRP. You may pay close to 250 pounds than 200-230 price point you can find 390 today but you will get more features, less power consumption and faster DX-12 performance than 390 in the coming months.

This. As much as I like 390, it's a hassle to keep it reasonably cool and silent, at the same time, unless you water cool it. You may not care about the power consumption, but I have yet to meet somebody who would prefer noise over silence in a computer rig.

 

[RussianSensation]

This. As much as I like 390, it's a hassle to keep it reasonably cool and silent, at the same time, unless you water cool it. You may not care about the power consumption, but I have yet to meet somebody who would prefer noise over silence in a computer rig.

Not really. XFX R9 390 and Sapphire Tri-X 390 are cool and quiet, often quieter than many 970/980 cards. It's also very easy to set up a custom fan curve in MSI AB. My XFX R9 390 maxes out at 74C @ 1165 MHz stock voltage and even when in the same rig as the R9 295X2, when each Hawaii is loaded to 100%, even with 900W dissipation, the 390 stays at 76-78C.

Point is power usage and noise are NOT correlated at all. You can easily have a 250-280W card running way cooler and quieter than a 180W card. MSI Lightning 980Ti or Fury Sapphire Tri-X are perfect examples. Sapphire Fury Tri-X is quieter at max LOAD + overclocked than a reference Titan X/980Ti are at IDLE. It's in AnandTech's testing.


----

OP, I would wait at this point as better deals on 390 cards may pop up in the next month. Aim for XFX 390 or Sapphire Tri-X/Nitro of those drop below 200 pounds. Otherwise, I think I'd rather spend 250 pounds on a Polaris 10 card assuming it's as fast as a 390X, rather than 220 pounds on a 390.

 

[DooKey]

Since you are a budget shopper I would wait until NV and AMD release the next round. No sense it jumping in right away without comparing all the new offerings in your budget.

 

[Magic Carpet]

RussianSensation,

It's amazing to have a rig that's quiet at all times, no matter the load, no matter the day time or its location.

The MSI Lightning 980 Ti you mentioned is, according to TPU 29 db under load which is fairly loud to me. My previous card, according to TPU was only 25 db under load, and I considered it loud as well (ended up modding it). For me subjectively, quiet is anything below 21 db mark and silent below 15 db mark. Feel the difference. 270 is very easy to make silent, unlike 290/390 with at least its double power draw its major PITA on air. I had an MSI 290 Gaming card that many sites considered quiet as well, but of course it wasn't. We have different standards for quiet, and that's fine.

Many WC enthusiasts know exactly what I am talking about.

 

[DooKey]

RussianSensation,

It's amazing to have a rig that's quiet at all times, no matter the load, no matter the day time or its location.

The MSI Lightning 980 Ti you mentioned is, according to TPU 29 db under load which is fairly loud to me. My previous card, according to TPU was only 25 db under load, and I considered it loud as well (ended up modding it). For me, quiet is anything below 21 db mark and silent below 15 db mark. Feel the difference. 270 is very easy to make silent, unlike 290/390 with at least its double power draw its major PITA on air. I had an MSI 290 Gaming card that many sites considered quiet as well, but of course it wasn't. We have different standards for quiet, and that's fine.

Many WC enthusiasts know exactly what I am talking about.

I'm a little more tolerant of noise than you, but that might be because I worked close to USAF flightlines in my younger days.

 

[tweakboy]

Wait, dont upgrade just yet. New AMD and nVidi cards are coming.. gl

 

[RussianSensation]

RussianSensation,

It's amazing to have a rig that's quiet at all times, no matter the load, no matter the day time or its location.

The MSI Lightning 980 Ti you mentioned is, according to TPU 29 db under load which is fairly loud to me. My previous card, according to TPU was only 25 db under load, and I considered it loud as well (ended up modding it).

Using your standards for high-end cards, the OP can never buy a high-end card, ever. The MSI Lightning and Sapphire Fury Tri-X are the quietest flagship cards ever made.

"MSI has engineered a brand-new triple-slot, triple-fan TriFrozr thermal solution for their GTX 980 Ti Lightning, which is probably the best graphics card cooler I've seen in recent years. During heavy gaming, the fans run extremely quiet, making this the quietest GTX 980 Ti on the market. In idle or light gaming, the fans will stop completely for the perfect noise-free experience. Now, if you think that being so quiet results in high temperatures, you couldn't be more wrong. With only 65°C under full load, the MSI Lightning is the coolest GTX 980 Ti we have tested, making it the fastest, coolest, and quietest of them all at the same time!"

For me subjectively, quiet is anything below 21 db mark and silent below 15 db mark. Feel the difference. 270 is very easy to make silent, unlike 290/390 with at least its double power draw its major PITA on air. I had an MSI 290 Gaming card that many sites considered quiet as well, but of course it wasn't. We have different standards for quiet, and that's fine.

Many WC enthusiasts know exactly what I am talking about.

Ok, that makes it even worse. Using your standards, 99.9% of all high-end PCs are loud. What kind of a system can you make with <21 dBa case fans, PSU fans, GPU fans, CPU fans? You take quiet to the next level.

I am curious to know what PSU and CPU fans you have then?

In that case, I'd go all out and focus on getting a case with sound insulation such as Fractal Design series, etc. To get a high-end system to operate < 21 dBa requires spending hundreds of dollars. Even water cooling may not be a solution since at idle water pumps can be heard.

Reading the OP's requirements, at no point is there any emphasis on <30 dBa operation or any such stringent requirements you have outlined.

It seems your definition of quiet is top 1% of SilentPC users, which is fine but imposing such standards on the rest of 99.9% PC users is extreme.

You said it's not possible to buy cool and quiet R9 290/290X/390 (Fury, 980Ti, etc. cards) but for most people it's not true.

Another point you need to explain is when the GPU isn't playing games, the fans turn off on many modern high-end cards. At the same time, I've never heard my PC while listening to music, watching movies, or playing games with speakers or headphones. To this date I don't understand how anyone can hear their PC while playing games with sound/music on unless their PC is a jet engine. If I use my Logitech 5.1 speakers, Sennheiser IE800, Sennheiser HD700, AKG K7XX, I cannot hear my PC while the game is running and my PC is nowhere near 21-25 dBA. And of course there are also noise-cancelling headphones to take it to the next level!

Anyway, I agree that based on YOUR standards, then any high-end $300+ card is loud but your standards have completely unrealistic criteria for like 99.9% high-end PCs on the market.

I guess if you are used to utter bunker silence, I get it. I've lived in large cities for the last 15 years so even if I insulate my PC to make it as quiet as possible, there is always the sound of cars, street/transit cars, airplanes, trains/metro 24/7, police/fire service, etc.

 

[David_k]

Openback headphones...

 

[spinn3r]

Jeebus I've started a war

I guess the best advice is to wait, I was really feeling the upgrade itch but since I will probably get 290/390 performance from the Polaris 10 and less power consumption/heat/more features for the same price (even if it is £250 or a bit more)... I'll wait it out.

And yes I do care about the noise but not that much...

My R9 270 gets quite loud when I am gaming (not so much when I play Rising Storm) but I really don't care since I am focused on the game. A pair of Tannoy studio monitors, a pair of KEF hi-fi speakers and the 3 pairs of studio headphones are more than enough to drown out the noise from the fans.

Thank you all for your posts, their are much appreciated.

 

[spinn3r]

Snatched a R9 290 with the reference cooler for £40 on eBay (black screen issue solved with a modded BIOS and unlocked to 290X!), waiting for the Artic something something cooler to silence this thing... but it is sawweettttt fast!!

 

[wilds]

Might as well play around with undervolting while you're waiting.

Old DX9 games can easily run @ 800/960 -100mv in silence at the fps cap.

I bet you can get a nice undervolt at stock 1000/1250 as well. It is amazing how cool the GPU can get just by finding that undervolting sweet spot. Even if it is 5% slower, it could be 15 celcius cooler!

 

[xthetenth]

Snatched a R9 290 with the reference cooler for £40 on eBay (black screen issue solved with a modded BIOS and unlocked to 290X!), waiting for the Artic something something cooler to silence this thing... but it is sawweettttt fast!!

That's a screaming (at least till the cooler gets in) deal. Very nice!