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Help me decide 660 or 270x

Oh man... I don't think I've had a time being so indecisive about a purchase of a GPU!!

My budget is upto to $250 (ish).

270x (budget option at around $150/160)
285 2gb $190 to $229
380 4 gb at around $190 to $229
960 2gb at around $225.
290 (non-X reference card) at around $249.

There is the chance in the future that I will be looking to get a UHD or slighter lower res screen.
 
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The 290 will destroy everything else you mentioned. But it will sound a bit like that while doing so:


:D

EDIT: I don't think the 960 is a good choice in this price bracket, it's no more powerful than a 770.
 
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Grab the 290 ref, down the road grab the Corsair or NZXT cooler bracket and a Corsair H55 or NZXT X31 and done.
 
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MrMD said:
Surely you can find a 280x for a good price in the states? like sub $200
Click to expand...

That's the thing, wouldn't I be losing DX12 features though by going with the 280x instead of the 285, 290 or 960?

CEUOTC said:
Grab the 290 ref, down the road grab the Corsair or NZXT cooler bracket and a Corsair H55 or NZXT X31 and done.
Click to expand...

I've already been thinking about that lol! :) It's a very good price for the card, just the ref cooler currently putting me off. I don't personally care about the noise, but the wife will, and so then I have to care about it.
 
Scougar said:
That's the thing, wouldn't I be losing DX12 features though by going with the 280x instead of the 285, 290 or 960?



I've already been thinking about that lol! :) It's a very good price for the card, just the ref cooler currently putting me off. I don't personally care about the noise, but the wife will, and so then I have to care about it.
Click to expand...

IIRC 280x will support the main parts of DX12,not sure about feature levels.But honestly by the time they become a factor you would probily need a new GPU anyway to take advantage of them.

280x definatly doesnt support freesync tho :/
 
Go go EVGA.com. Click B stock.

My pal in MD just bought a 780 dual classified* for $249 with a year's warranty.

* dual as in dual fan ACX.



That one. Absolutely cracking deal that !
 
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That is my power supply. Two 12V rails 26A each.

Also to note, I'm trading in gift cards to get the money for this (mainly), so right now I don't think I can get the EVGA one although that is a great deal.
 
I wouldn't risk it. Not on dual rails dude. They may combine when under load but yeah, I would seek out a better more solid PSU.
 
I am not looking to buy a new PSU right now, I would rather put that towards a better screen. I have a 1680x1050, and two 1440x900's. I only really use the bigger res screen for gaming though but I want a higher res screen at some point, at least 1440p.
 
I am almost settled on the 280x, but the part that worries me is that the 280x is old tech now, and that the 280x will soon be surpassed in newer games due to updated tech being used. Am I worrying needlessly? The 380 4gb is slower than the 280x 3gb, but still... I almost think the 380 4gb is the more sensible option.

I do have to note that the 380 cannot be clocked very much (It seems?!?!.. correct me if I'm wrong.. I am happy to up the voltage!), but the 280x with volts can go MUCH higher with overclocks.
 
RavenXXX2 said:
7850K your CPU? if so stay away from AMD, huge bottleneck.
Click to expand...

As in, stay away from AMD GPU's? (Sorry, it's kinda an obvious answer here lol). I don't see a good price/performance ratio with Nvidia though. The 960 seems more like a compromise card (narrow memory bus).

EDIT: ON another note, I just looked at a certain competitors 'warehouse' deals page... and the prices are hilariously overpriced for used items. More expensive than buying new in most cases.
 
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So the short list is:

Gigabyte 380 4GB G1 - $229
MSI 380 Gaming 4GB - $239
Gigabyte 285 2GB - $154 (after rebate and includes Dirt Rally).

Now obviously the 285 is substantially cheaper, but the 380's are 4GB (I won't even consider the 2GB 380's due to price), and are the top end models which have some nice touches like the fan's completely shutting off and better components generally.

Now... if it were just between the MSI Gaming and the Gigabyte G1, I feel he MSI has the edge, but then the G1 has been awesome on Nvidia Models but I can't find any overclocking reviews for it.

Also, another consideration is that I have a dual rail PSU, so I assume I may need a card with two power connectors rather than just one? (each rail has 26A)
 
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After looking into the rebates.. I'm tempted to not take that 285, as it looks to be a pain in the butt. Also.. reading up on MSI rebates, they are terrible with them + handy for them they deny resubmissions lol.

EDIT: OK, so Amazon (US) are out of stock of the MSI Gaming 4GB, so the only other option now is the Gigabyte 380 4GB G1 (Unless I went for the 2GB 380, but I don't really want to), I am concerned about it only having 1 8pin connector instead of 2 6 pins. Hmm.
 
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OK... Think I am going to get the Gigabyte G1 4GB. Will use the wife's prime account later to order it :-)

I actually expect it to not clock very well, frankly I just hope it works lol. I'm looking forward to the 4GB. Would have been very cool to be able to offload stuff the the APU's iGPU but I don't think that's possible yet.

I actually would have preferred the MSI Gaming 380 but oh well.

EDIT: I traded in my gift cards for 200 and have 25 in amazon already, but just waiting for the darn traded cards to clear on cardpool. Hopefully I won't have to wait the entire weekend for the money.

Anywho... I finally decided on the G1 as that was available and had 4GB and I'd seen tests of 2GB causing stutter etc, which I would want to avoid.
 
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Was just working out my screen and how they work if I get them the way I want. I currently have three screens: two 1440*900's and one 1680*1050. If I place the two smaller screens in portrait mode (this config is allowed with the r9 285 so hopefully the 380 as well!), it brings me within 1 percent of 1440p resolution.

This is based on cutting out the screen I don't see: so:

Portrait + Landscape + Portrait.
900*1050 + 1680*1050 + 900*1050

What I am saying is, I think the 380 4GB is a really good choice for this, but the 960 GTX is no as good for this res.
 
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