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What Card ? Budget £450 ish

Randall8686

Randall8686

Randall8686

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So i have just spoken to Overclockers and well i think im going to return my 970 or i can see it coming back to bite me in the future, Either in a performance situation or residual value.

So im going to be able to chuck a few extra notes in leaving me with about £450 - £500 tops on a new card.

980 ? and does the 980 actually have 4gb :D

what would you buy with the budget ?
 
I would either get a 980 or wait and see what AMD release on their next GPUs. depends on If your willing to wait or if you want the card now
 
Personally, and I've given this a lot of thought, I don't feel the 980 is worth the extra. Sure it's a more powerful card and avoids the VRAM issue, but IMO it's just too expensive. One could argue the days are numbered for 4GB cards anyway, if you're at 1440p and above (far more so at 4K), so there is an argument for 8GB Crossfire 290X (which can be had for around £600)... but this is probably overkill at less than 4K. Within your budget, 4GB Crossfire 290's would provide excellent performance, certainly beating a 980. 980 SLI beats that, but at exorbitant cost. The other option of course, is to just wait for the 3xx series and use any old card to tide you over until then. Unfortunately, as I've learned, there is no clear cut easy decision here!
 
I picked up a 980. Don't regret it at all. 4 gig is there and it's plenty. Shame about the 970 but I like you just felt hurt and resale issues.
 
Correct me if I am wrong, but it does appear that two 290 4gb cards actually cost less than one 980. Is any one seriously going to try and tell me the 980 performs better? lmao.

It's an absolute and utter no brainer. They have 4gb of very high bandwidth memory too.

In case you were wondering how they perform take a look over the 295x2 review.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2014/04/08/amd-radeon-r9-295x2-review/1
 
I could strech to 2X 290 8gb if its really that much better, I have never played on the red team before and only have a Corsair 850 watt psu too,
 
ALXAndy said:
Correct me if I am wrong, but it does appear that two 290 4gb cards actually cost less than one 980. Is any one seriously going to try and tell me the 980 performs better? lmao.
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Yes, this is true, although you must consider power/case temps, as this could restrict some people. Personally, I'd vear towards the 290 cards with better coolers Tri-X or Vapor-X, so x2 of those will run a BIT more than a single 980, but you're right that they will wipe the floor with it. 980 is the right choice if you're power conscious, or your case demands a decent Reference card... that's about it really. Anyone going for the £575 HOF 980 is just bonkers if you ask me lol!
 
Randall8686 said:
I could strech to 2X 290 8gb if its really that much better, I have never played on the red team before and only have a Corsair 850 watt psu too,
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Your PSU should be fine. I was running a 7990 on a 750w and that consumes a fair chunk of power too.

Personally I don't think the 8gb is worth it because That brings the total to £600 rather than £400.

Me? I would take a set of 290s for £400 and then see what happens with the new AMD cards. At least £400 is a bit easier to swallow than £600.

As you can see from the 4k benchmarks, vram was not an issue.

I just feel that the GPUs themselves would run out of puff long before you need that extra vram, so the cost just isn't worth it.

Legend said:
Yes, this is true, although you must consider power/case temps, as this could restrict some people. Personally, I'd vear towards the 290 cards with better coolers Tri-X or Vapor-X, so x2 of those will run a BIT more than a single 980, but you're right that they will wipe the floor with it. 980 is the right choice if you're power conscious, or your case demands a decent Reference card... that's about it really. Anyone going for the £575 HOF 980 is just bonkers if you ask me lol!
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Well they are half decent after market coolers. They will throttle long before anything gets dangerous, but still, even throttled, they will obliterate a single 980.

They're also 4k ready, something the 980 clearly isn't..
 
Randall8686 said:
I could strech to 2X 290 8gb if its really that much better, I have never played on the red team before and only have a Corsair 850 watt psu too,
Click to expand...
Are you at 4K? Or any plans to? If not, 4GB will be enough tbh. Not sure about your PSU, it's certainly close to the limit. Is it Gold rated? If so, it likely has the headroom. The 8GB cards will draw a bit more power than the 4GB also.
 
well it will be going into my water loop or they will be if its two cards, However i doubt the 8gb cards have waterblocks yet if they ever will
 
Randall8686 said:
well it will be going into my water loop or they will be if its two cards, However i doubt the 8gb cards have waterblocks yet if they ever will
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Ahh ok. Well then I would pick up a pair of stock cards for around £140 each second hand and slap them under water. Well, unless those Powercolors are stock PCB..
 
Randall8686 said:
well it will be going into my water loop or they will be if its two cards, However i doubt the 8gb cards have waterblocks yet if they ever will
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Are the 8GB card's different? the 4GB cards have 16 IC's, there is not room for any more on the front of the card, i don't think any of them have IC's on the back of the card so is it not the same 16 IC layout but with higher capacity IC's?
 
Arrggghhh ! Pulling my hair out no knowing what to do lol. Getting the two 290's means thats as far as i can go. Getting a 980 means i can sli later. for some reason im tempted to try amd as i never have before. on the other hand i feel this is not the right time to buy an amd card.

i have even been thinking of ditching my custom loop recently and moving back to air.
 
Randall8686 said:
Arrggghhh ! Pulling my hair out no knowing what to do lol. Getting the two 290's means thats as far as i can go. Getting a 980 means i can sli later. for some reason im tempted to try amd as i never have before. on the other hand i feel this is not the right time to buy an amd card.

i have even been thinking of ditching my custom loop recently and moving back to air.
Click to expand...

Believe it or not the Radeons perform better at 4k than the 980. That's basically when that very thin and weak memory bandwidth starts to creak.
 
Sometimes I wish I WAS at 4K already, as that would be an easier decision... at 1440p/ultra wide though, it's less clear. Especially with 3xx series around the corner.
 
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