GPU Opinion

[nashathedog]

This is also my recommendation. Or look for a used 290 too. Basically the same card as the 290X and you might get lucky on one.

No no and no, A 290 is not basically a 290x, Just like a 390 is not a 390x and a Fury is not a Fury x. They may sometimes have very close performance figures but there are often times when there can be quite a gap between them.

If you want to ensure the best one all the time then get the better version but if you want to save what can sometimes be a decent chunk of money and you don't care about some titles being a fair few frames behind as long as it is still playable then go for the cheaper card.

Personally I would not buy secondhand as you do not know the history such as how extreme and for how long overclocks have been used with the card.

At the moment I think the 970 is the bargain 1080p card, The 390 is the bargain 1440p card and if you just want grunt regardless of cost the Ti is king. 980 prices are looking quite good if you go for something like an Inno3d x3 and it would be a great mid range option for both res's.

 

[humbug]

Don't look at 290/X reviews as they are all done on old drivers, thats why reviewers have a massive difference in performance between 290/X and 390/X, later driver have improved the performance of Hawaii massively. anything before 15.6 add about 15 or 20%

Sorry for misunderstanding your post then. I'm just trying to help the OP and I can't imagine a scenario where a new 390 would be a better investment than a b-grade 970, or even better, a 290x.

I simply fail to see what makes the 390 the superior card. It's uses slightly more power, is a bit hotter and has 8gb of memory which you can't really take advantage of. The performance is more or less the same. I've seen tests where it performs under the 970 (stock & oc'd) and some where it beats it by 1-4fps or where both are tied. Also, it is a bit more expensive than a 970.

Honestly, I think people will forget about both pretty quickly. They're are 1080p GPUs at best and the 390 is just a rebrand of a card that's already two years old. I really think it's better to get a b-grade 970 or 290x and enjoy a vastly better price-perf ratio.

Cheers.

Because "Good enough" is not as good as more and better.

I would rather have a GPU where i don't need to worry about VRAM now and in the future.

 

[lawrence281]

So, just someone answer my question..If i were to get a 390X, it would be rather pointless for my G-SYNC monitor...? since its for nvidia card compatability

 

[Dirk Diggler]

Your original question was regarding GPU prices dropping. The 970 has come through a partial recall and the price didn't drop much. When Pascal releases there should be another drop, but who knows by how much.

If you have a Gsync monitor then no, it doesn't make sense to buy AMD.

Having had a 970, I wouldn't touch them.

 

[lawrence281]

Your original question was regarding GPU prices dropping. The 970 has come through a partial recall and the price didn't drop much. When Pascal releases there should be another drop, but who knows by how much.

If you have a Gsync monitor then no, it doesn't make sense to buy AMD.

Having had a 970, I wouldn't touch them.

What about 980? worth it...?

 

[Wilko_Dog]

Do you have a budget ? That would be the best bet by letting everyone know what your budget is then let everyone have there input at the best card you can get for what your willing to pay .. I've just picked up a 290x for just less then £200 and think it's a great buy ! The noise doesn't bother me of the fan as I game with headphones

 

[lawrence281]

Do you have a budget ? That would be the best bet by letting everyone know what your budget is then let everyone have there input at the best card you can get for what your willing to pay .. I've just picked up a 290x for just less then £200 and think it's a great buy ! The noise doesn't bother me of the fan as I game with headphones

I don't really have a budget, I just wanted to get rid of my 760 and get a upgrade, it was running fine on all games, but I just wanted something stronger haha. and I thought the benchmarks I saw online for 760 vs 970 for price comparison was great... but now im hearing its a card not worth getting?

so 980 EVGA it is?

 

[Wilko_Dog]

I recently installed a 970 for a friend and it breezes every game he's tried at 1080p I don't know what the big fuss is about :-/

If you don't have a budget then you may as well go all out and get the 980ti I know I would have done if I had the funds !

 

[Zefan]

There's too much fanboyism on all sides to ask one place for an opinion unfortunately. You need to work out your requirements, in terms of price and specs, then cross reference several different forum discussions and benchmarks until you begin to observe a trend.

:edit: if you have an unlimited budget then you should really just buy the 980ti.

 

[Dirk Diggler]

What about 980? worth it...?

I'm assuming you're gaming at 1080p? If so, then yes the 980 is the card to get IMO. Sure if you have the money, go for a 980Ti but I would expect it to sit at 50-75% usage @60 fps in most games. The 6GB of Vram would barely be stretched at 1080p.

Some titles will push the 4GB at that res, which is why I say 980 over 970. If money is tight, second hand 980s are going for under £300.

 

[Amatsubu]

Don't look at 290/X reviews as they are all done on old drivers, thats why reviewers have a massive difference in performance between 290/X and 390/X, later driver have improved the performance of Hawaii massively. anything before 15.6 add about 15 or 20%



Because "Good enough" is not as good as more and better.

I would rather have a GPU where i don't need to worry about VRAM now and in the future.

Yeah, except these cards don't have any future whatsoever and you'd be daft to think otherwise. OCUK is full of enthusiasts who will get rid of them at the slightest hint of something more powerful getting released. SLI/Crossfire is mostly a fool's game, not many will think about crossfiring/trifiring 3-year old rebrands in a year's time when they could get a singe, equally (or more) powerful solution for 1440p. Hoping that the 390s will be better for anything above that is just ****** in the wind, sorry.

You won't have time to worry about vram since you'll be worrying about your GPU not being powerful enough to feed current games. Heck, it's already happening as neither the 970 or the 390 have enough grunt and it's not the memory that's the main problem.

As I've said, A Titan X can sometimes struggle at 1080p without even using a third of its available memory pool. What makes you think then that the 390's 8gb will come into any use before the card's outdated? It's just a pointless rebrand with 8gb slapped on it for marketing purposes. There's is currently no GPU that's worth buying new as their shelf life will probably be rather short.

In my opinion, "more and better" is only better when it actually provides a tangible advantage over something else.

Anyways, I won't bother commenting anymore since some people desperately try to believe in fairytales.

To the OP:

The point still stands, get a used 970 or a used 980 if you're afraid of the 3.5gb "issue" and are willing to pay a lot more for 500mb of vram. I'd first suggest a 290x but since you want to use G-sync there's no point in going AMD.

Cheers.

 

[lawrence281]

I'm assuming you're gaming at 1080p? If so, then yes the 980 is the card to get IMO. Sure if you have the money, go for a 980Ti but I would expect it to sit at 50-75% usage @60 fps in most games. The 6GB of Vram would barely be stretched at 1080p.

Some titles will push the 4GB at that res, which is why I say 980 over 970. If money is tight, second hand 980s are going for under £300.

1080p yeah...

 

[lawrence281]

What's the difference between 980 and 980TI, apart from the hefty price diff

 

[lawrence281]

Also is EVGA, the best brand ?

 

[Amatsubu]

What's the difference between 980 and 980TI, apart from the hefty price diff

6GB vram and generally quite a bit more powerful;p Around 970SLI performance, I guess. And a very decent clocker, too.

If you can go the whole hog the by all means get the 980Ti.

Otherwise, if you can snag one for under £300, get a 980 as String suggested.

 

[arc@css]

What's the difference between 980 and 980TI, apart from the hefty price diff

Difference in performance or technical differences?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1442?vs=1496

 

[lawrence281]

6GB vram and generally quite a bit more powerful;p Around 970SLI performance, I guess. And a very decent clocker, too.

If you can go the whole hog the by all means get the 980Ti.

Otherwise, if you can snag one for under £300, get a 980 as String suggested.

What im Worried about, there isnt any games, that I play, or will play that will use advantage of the 980TI power..might just bid on ebay for a used 970 SC one

 

[lawrence281]

Difference in performance or technical differences?

http://www.anandtech.com/bench/product/1442?vs=1496

Damn, I play BF4 a lot, and the benchmarks diff is quite big lol, im not sure haha..tempted..just feels like for that price..the card power isnt used enough to pay for itself.. Im sure a 970 would be fine, my 760 was but i just wanted something new and shiny

 

[Dirk Diggler]

What's the difference between 980 and 980TI, apart from the hefty price diff

980Ti is around 35% over a 980 in terms of performance at 1440p. I did some benchmarks recently comparing 980Ti/980/980SLI. However, I didn't test at 1080p and I think the performance gain will be less as the 980Ti doesn't perform as well at 1080p (I could stand corrected with that as I haven't actually tested at 1080p).

To be honest, at your resolution I couldn't justify £300 extra for headroom that your system probably won't use. And forget future proof, this time next year Pascal will be here and 980Ti cards will be selling second hand for around £300, if that.

 

[arc@css]

Damn, I play BF4 a lot, and the benchmarks diff is quite big lol, im not sure haha..tempted..just feels like for that price..the card power isnt used enough to pay for itself.. Im sure a 970 would be fine, my 760 was but i just wanted something new and shiny

I seem to recall that Linus (LinusTechTips) said that the 970 and 980ti were better buys, in that they had higher performance per dollar than the 980. Still, 500+ notes on one component is a lot of cash.