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480 or 970?

  • Thread starter Thread starter HAz
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HAz

HAz

HAz

Soldato
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My bro is in a dilemma whether to get a 480 or a 970? I see the 970 is faster in most games by a few fps but in some its not! I hear it runs hotter than a 970 also and has some basic cooler. He would also consider second hand and has a budget of £200ish.

It will be going in a mini itx case thing so dont want it to hot.

I was really expecting it to be on par with the 980 and at £200, wishful thinking hey.
 
One of these Sapphire bad boys (Pics below)

VS the 970

RX480 has 8GB VRAM VS 3.5GB
14nm VS 28nm (Lower Power Consumption)
Excellent DirectX12 performance.

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GTX 970 is probably faster when overclocked, the RX480 has the worst overclock ability ever. If both are at stock then the RX480 is on average faster.

Cooler wise the 970 will have a much better selection at the moment since the RX480 only has the horrible reference blower.

I would wait and get a custom cooled 480 with at least one 8 pin plug.
 
970 the better card in the short term (assuming you are making use of the overclocking potential) but forward looking Maxwell is likely to suck for real DX12 stuff.

I don't really consider the VRAM (while more is nice) that big a deal - at resolutions and settings where the extra VRAM is useful I've found the 970 is already running out of core performance - the exception there being for a crossfire setup but IMO if you are putting down that kind of money upfront it is silly to go for multi GPU over a single GPU that can perform about the same as the 2 card setup.
 
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970 uses less power than the 480, 480 even uses more than the 1070.

Id wait and see what the 1060s like as said above, not long to go now, just over a week.
 
Just curious in what way you think it's better Rroff. Look at the Guru3D review for example , the RX480 is ahead in performance yet uses similar power consumption, comes with 4GB (Really cheap) or 8GB (Cheap) vs 3.5GB on the 970 (More Expensive).

Surely the RX480 is better in every way except overclocking, but even when overclocked the 970 does not exceed the RX480 by large amount...

LoadsaMoney said:
970 uses less power than the 480, 480 even uses more than the 1070.

Id wait and see what the 1060s like as said above, not long to go now, just over a week.
Click to expand...

Yes but the 970 has less performance, less vram and gimped vram design plus it's more expensive lol.

I think the power difference is ~ 5-10 Watts depending on review. That would bother you... Mental lol 0.0. This guy would be better off with RX480. Bang for buck.
 
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Boomstick777 said:
Just curious in what way you think it's better Rroff. Look at the Guru3D review for example , the RX480 is ahead in performance yet uses similar power consumption, comes with 4GB (Really cheap) or 8GB (Cheap) vs 3.5GB on the 970 (More Expensive).

Surely the RX480 is better in every way except overclocking, but even when overclocked the 970 does not exceed the RX480 by large amount...



Yes but the 970 has less performance, less vram and gimped vram design plus it's more expensive lol.

I think the power difference is ~ 5-10 Watts depending on review. That would bother you... Mental lol 0.0. This guy would be better off with RX480. Bang for buck.
Click to expand...

TBH power consumption doesn't really enter the equation in my mind (after all I've generally run SLI setups) - while I find the whole 3.5GB thing detestable and think nVidia got off way too lightly over it - I've never actually found it an issue in normal use - only way I've been able to have it cause a problem is with synthetic loading up.
 
Rroff said:
TBH power consumption doesn't really enter the equation in my mind (after all I've generally run SLI setups) - while I find the whole 3.5GB thing detestable and think nVidia got off way too lightly over it - I've never actually found it an issue in normal use - only way I've been able to have it cause a problem is with synthetic loading up.
Click to expand...

Ok but how do you quantify the 970 being the better choice as you said?

RX480 has more performance on the whole, similar power consumption. Excellent DirectX12 performance (Up there with 980Ti etc) and full 4GB/8GB options. Oh and it's cheaper..

Surely the RX480 is the better option?
 
I am in similar situation to your brother...

Although have not personally seen a single respected reviewer recommend to buy a 970 over the RX480 and in most cases when compared it is to overclocked 970 based cards that are costing more than the RX480 does in many places.

Clearly the Sapphire Nitro could be a great card at £249 and bring performance close or around the 980 which is fantastic at this price.
Other AIB models will be available but I see some going beyond £275 and even £300 like possibly the Asus Strix.

However July 7th is to bring more information on the 1060. The question is how will the performance/prices vary between each AIB offerings but also will the 1060 be available in vast quantities meet its MSRP or will we see even more price gorging with limited stocks and early adopters may have to pay through the nose to get one?

Forget 970 and 980 on discounts just concentrate on the new cards but is possible the 1060 could be a tad faster while the RX480 will be cheaper. I don't think we will see much in it. Secondary market with 970 is going to become flooded but also I see in the near future people wanting to buy a card with over 4GB as more titles start needing it.
 
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Boomstick777 said:
RX480 has more performance on the whole, similar power consumption. Excellent DirectX12 performance (Up there with 980Ti etc) and full 4GB/8GB options. Oh and it's cheaper..
Click to expand...

This, especially with forward thinking in mind, 480 is going to get faster v's static 970 performance.

Nv could drop Maxwell optimisation, with the 970's segmented ram-slower optimisation might be problematic imo.
 
Mr Latte said:
...possible the 1060 could be a tad faster while the RX480 will be cheaper. I don't think we will see much in it.
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Specs make it look like the 1060 could be a good 20% faster than the 480, and it's not beneath Nvidia to kick AMD while they're down with aggressive pricing.

tommybhoy said:
Nv could drop Maxwell optimisation, with the 970's segmented ram-slower optimisation might be problematic imo.
Click to expand...

Pascal is basically 16nm Maxwell, so this won't happen. Having said that, buying a 970 right now is a bad move.
 
Boomstick777 said:
Ok but how do you quantify the 970 being the better choice as you said?

RX480 has more performance on the whole, similar power consumption. Excellent DirectX12 performance (Up there with 980Ti etc) and full 4GB/8GB options. Oh and it's cheaper..

Surely the RX480 is the better option?
Click to expand...

The 4GB one is cheaper but also a little lower performing - the 8GB (now) is about the same price and as I said assuming overclocking - even if just factory clocks are taken into account then 970 just about edges it from a short term perspective on performance.

I also qualified that as being a short term perspective.
 
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