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Gtx970 or the Older flagship cards

robwigan

robwigan

robwigan

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Joined
29 Aug 2012
Posts
249
Hi

I'm planning a big new build to replace my gaming PC

I'm looking at 970s but have noticed I can get a used 780ti for a similar price I plan on getting a rog swift so I want to be getting as close 144hz as possible at 1080 or 1440

Is the newer card better or the older flagship or is it a case of not much difference so go for what Evers cheapest
 
When the 780 Ti came out it was closer to the 980 than the 970, now however the tables have turned and it's closer to the 970 in some cases it can be slower and in others it can be faster. Personally I'd pick up a 970 as it has an extra 512mb Vram ( I don't class it as a full 4gb card) it uses much less power, better overclocking headroom runs cooler and it's better optimised for todays games. get the 970 you won't be disappointed :)

Edit: don't know why I said used -_- I'm tired been up since 4 :p
 
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Honestly I wouldn't pick either at this time - if you were going to buy a card now 390 would be the one to get.

970 doesn't handle 1440p all that well compared to 390; 390 is just faster period - we've seen what Nvidia will do with drivers with older gen cards *they will just drop concentration on them for new stuff*

And at 1080p its a wash between 970 and 390; and then there are the new cards that will be dropping at some point. Small Polaris looks to be 3-4 months away if that and small Pascal is about 6+ months. With big Polaris being about june/july time. Big Pascal will be either very late 2016 or early 2017.
 
meldarthx said:
and then there are the new cards that will be dropping at some point. Small Polaris looks to be 3-4 months away if that and small Pascal is about 6+ months. With big Polaris being about june/july time. Big Pascal will be either very late 2016 or early 2017.
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Sorry, where are you getting this info from?
 
andybird123 said:
Sorry, where are you getting this info from?
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reports Nvidia is 2 quarters behind on their shrink - that's with small Pascal - large is going to be late - Nvidia never ever been good with node shrinks and switching to new memory.

Every time they do; they are late with the chip and have to salvage parts. They haven't brought anyone new on for this so it will be more of the same.
 
robwigan said:
Hi

I'm planning a big new build to replace my gaming PC

I'm looking at 970s but have noticed I can get a used 780ti for a similar price I plan on getting a rog swift so I want to be getting as close 144hz as possible at 1080 or 1440

Is the newer card better or the older flagship or is it a case of not much difference so go for what Evers cheapest
Click to expand...

I ran a MSI Gaming 970 on a ROG Swift with no problems. I had to turn the occasional setting down in some of the most demanding games to keep frames high but it coped very well. I wouldn't go for a 780Ti and would rather have the extra 1GB of VRAM.
 
My brother has just gone to 1440p and it handles it really well, does get the odd dip and has to turn some settings down, I'm sure with a gsync 144hz monitor it would be lovely. But then you've got the tie down for Gsync :(
 
The 970 may be ok for now but in the inital DX12 benchmarks it's behind an R9 290 let alone a 390. Fable Legends is a DX12 example that doesn't even use Async Compute yet the 390 beats the 970 by over 10%.

http://techreport.com/review/29090/fable-legends-directx-12-performance-revealed/2


I personally got a used 290X and am waiting for the new cards in 5 months time. AMD is releasing Polaris in June/July IIRC and Nvidia may even release something before that since they tend to not release any news beforehand.

I suspect Nvidia is keeping hush to keep their sales of Maxwell cards going.

Also bear in mind that AMD is faster at 1440P/4K where bandwidth increases.
 
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780s and 970s are not adequate for bigger titles and the eye candy on at 1440p unless you have gsync or think gaming at 30-60 fps is playable. It's going to be big Pascal territory for single card and the best experience with 980tis also being up to it in 2016-2017.
 
fs123 said:
The 970 may be ok for now but in the inital DX12 benchmarks it's behind an R9 290 let alone a 390. Fable Legends is a DX12 example that doesn't even use Async Compute yet the 390 beats the 970 by over 10%.

http://techreport.com/review/29090/fable-legends-directx-12-performance-revealed/2


I personally got a used 290X and am waiting for the new cards in 5 months time. AMD is releasing Polaris in June/July IIRC and Nvidia may even release something before that since they tend to not release any news beforehand.

I suspect Nvidia is keeping hush to keep their sales of Maxwell cards going.

Also bear in mind that AMD is faster at 1440P/4K where bandwidth increases.
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The 390 is only slightly better by only a couple frames. Nothing to write home about.
 
My OGtx Titan handles 1440p excellently in Witcher 3 (60fps) and GTA V (80fps) at on a 100Hz monitor. Both games look gorgeous :cool:

FPS games need settings turning down to medium/high to get minimums above 100FPS but nowadays the settings look so similar it doesn't matter.
 
Simon Belmont said:
The 390 is only slightly better by only a couple frames. Nothing to write home about.
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Yes and this does depend on the games too. Mind you, these comparisons were done with older drivers. I am guessing that the gap in FPS may be a little bigger now since the newer AMD driver revisions. But dont quote me on that.

I would wait for the new cards from both AMD and Nvidia to save you chucking good cash down the drain, that could be well spent on a new 14/16 nm card whichever vendor you choose to get it from.

However, if you absolutely MUST have to have a new card and spend your hard earned then I would go with the 390, not only for the reason above but the extra 4GB Ram onboard.

:)
 
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There seems to be a lot of "AMD Fans" at the moment really pushing hard with the 390 being the clear winner. There is not "that much" in it. the 970 is very capable and can run 1440p quite well. Im not even going to consider DX12 at the moment as by the time that is "mainstream" your going to be on a new card realistically and certainly a 390 will not be a "current card" when DX12 is mainstream.

There is no much thing as future proof in our game we all know that. Then our upgrade itches play an even worse part in this.

The 970 and 390 are pretty much neck and neck they both beat each other in certain situations. However the 970 does it a lot cooler and a bit quieter. Im not going to into the power consumption as that personally does not bother me but that the reason for the heat difference.

I have owned a 970 and still own a 390 both are great cards but the 390 is not a clear winner it depends on your requirements.

the 390 cannot use its 8gb Vram that was just a marketing stunt by AMD at the time of the Nvidia 3.5gb Vram saga. I have never seen my 980ti go over 5gb and my 390 barely goes over 3.5-4gb with it running out of grunt.

we seem a bit hung up on Vram all of a sudden when actually its very rarely the bottle neck.

You cant go wrong with either the 970 or the 390 both great cards in their own right. the 390 does generally do a little better in most tittles but its 5%ish. Now i have the drivers sorted on mine im impressed. only downside that does bother me is the heat, It noticeably warms our games room quite a bit compared to my only 970 and 980. Yet to have time to really play with the 980ti as i have been to busy but i would imagine that will be a little less than the 390 still. Some people wont mind the head but we have to open the window in the winter it gets so warm at times.
 
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