GPU upgrade 970/390 or 980ti @1080p

[fs123]

You're right!
It seems faster on other websites (not far though).

Spoiler

The 390 is faster is most games compared to the 970 and is about the same in the ones it doesn't win.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2015-amd-radeon-r9-390-8gb-review

Anyone with sense would not get a 3.5GB 970 over an 8GB 390 nowadays. If the 970 was cheaper then go for it but it's the same price as a 390. The 390 is a decent chunk faster in the DX12 benchmarks we've had so far so expect future games to run better on the 390 overall.

 

[~>Dg<~]

omg this dribble.

in games that need at 1080 over 3.5gb the fps would be terrible anyway on a 970 or a 390.

the 970 is generally faster than the 390 regardless of memory it has in 99 percent of games.

there isnt much in it though.just stop with the 8gb mem ****

thats basically a con. there cards meant for 1080 with all trimmings on not higher res on own.

 

[GoogalyMoogaly]

The 980Ti is obviously the better card, but does come with a price tag to match.
If you buy a 980Ti now and then want one of the new cards when they come out you'll have to spend another big chunk of money when that happens on top of the money for the 980Ti (or course if you sell the Ti you'll get more money back then if you sell a 2nd hand 390).

The 390 is a very good card too and could make sense if you plan to upgrade once the 16nm cards are out.

Of course you can always find a reason to keep playing the waiting game. Do you buy the very first 16nm card that comes out or do you wait for both companies to release their cards? Do you buy straight away or wait for the price drops that'll no doubt come in once the initial rush for the cards dies down? What if they have better cards (e.g. like the Ti) to come, do you buy the 980 type card and then find a new card gets released shortly after? Do you wait for the Ti? By this point do you even bother with this generation of 16nm card or do you wait for the next gen when they've ironed out the bugs...

If you're gonna wait that long, maybe the 980Ti makes more sense?

At the end of the day I think they're both good cards that will cope with 1080p fine.
Only you know if you can afford the 980Ti and how driven you'll be to upgrade again once the new card come out.

 

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I would be getting the R9 390 too. Even in the Fable DX12 benchmark and AOTS you are seeing the R9 290/390 series doing quite well against the GTX970/GTX980 and even the higher end Fury cards too!!

The GTX970 has advantages if you intend to go SFF due to the lower TDP and smaller cards though.

 

[thebennyboy]

omg this dribble.

in games that need at 1080 over 3.5gb the fps would be terrible anyway on a 970 or a 390.

the 970 is generally faster than the 390 regardless of memory it has in 99 percent of games.

there isnt much in it though.just stop with the 8gb mem ****

thats basically a con. there cards meant for 1080 with all trimmings on not higher res on own.

 

[Jono8]

At 1080p a 980ti is overkill.

It really is not.

 

[seanyc5]

Ok, I think im going to go for either the 970 or the 390 and upgrade to a more powerful hopefully 4k with single card when the new gen comes out.

Assuming I can get the 970 and the 390 for the same price would the 970 be a better option then? Both MSI offerings.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[razorpakk]

390.
Will also hold better resale value in the future (Vram and DX12 performance).

 

[seanyc5]

I watched that yesterday haha! Do you think my system (sig) with that card ^ will run Fallout 4 at max settings at 1080p? (I know its hard to tell as they have not told us the specs) At the very least it should run at very close to max right?

Thanks,
Sean

 

[razorpakk]

I bet a 280x can do that.

With your setup you can max out games like BF4, Metro, and GTAV; Fallout 4 is probably going to be quite easy to run.
It uses the same engine Skyrim had (which is itself a newer version of Fallour 3 and Oblivion engine...).
Don't know how happy we should be about it, but everyone will run it. At least modding will be smooth.

EDIT: By the way how is the Kraken coping with your cpu?

 

[BS Dave]

390.
Will also hold better resale value in the future (Vram and DX12 performance).

Company still going...

on a serious note i have 980ti and with dsr it's lovely with a 120hz monitor. i came from 290 crossfire at 1080p too

Also it's nice to know you have something in the bank for later on, great perf now acceptable in a year. rather than acceptable now, bit disappointing in a year. buy big then hold onto for a bit longer is my gpu motto

 

[Apache14]

I watched that yesterday haha! Do you think my system (sig) with that card ^ will run Fallout 4 at max settings at 1080p? (I know its hard to tell as they have not told us the specs) At the very least it should run at very close to max right?

Thanks,
Sean

Id be very surprised if the 390 cant max out Fallout 4 @ 1080

However if you are that worried about it, hold fire on buying a card until the recommended specs drop, as this normally happens a few weeks before a game is on sale you have plenty of time to look at your options then (and prices of cards like the 980(Ti) and 390 may have dropped a little by then

 

[humbug]

For 1080P a GTX 980TI is a massive waste of money, you will get very high frame rates with it yes but you will also get very high frame rates with a 390 or GTX 970, the later two are monster 1080P cards.

GTX 970 or R9 390 take your pick they are very similar with the R9 390 a bit faster but using more power than the GTX 970.

 

[AWPC]

GTX 970 all the way I have the MSI 100 Gaming edition which is sold out now but this one is the same model differnet colour (Red instead of Green).
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Its 100% silent & @ 1080 can handle any modern games its more than enough for 1080 right now. Fallout 4 will run like a dream on it.

Your PSU is not anywhere enough for a GTX 980 Ti but if you can afford it buy that & a new PSU something around the 850-1000W range Platinum ideally. over time PSU's degrade they no longer ouput the same power so factor that in as recent GPU's are very power hungry! GTX 970 is slightly less than your GTX 670 so you could get away with just replacing for that!

Whatver GPU you chose make sure its a silent HSF model as these recent cards are very noisy if you buy the stock HSF edition!

 

[andybird123]

GTX 970 all the way I have the MSI 100 Gaming edition which is sold out now but this one is the same model differnet colour (Red instead of Green).
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-259-MS&groupid=701&catid=1914&subcat=1010

Its 100% silent & @ 1080 can handle any modern games its more than enough for 1080 right now. Fallout 4 will run like a dream on it.

Your PSU is not anywhere enough for a GTX 980 Ti but if you can afford it buy that & a new PSU something around the 850-1000W range Platinum ideally. over time PSU's degrade they no longer ouput the same power so factor that in as recent GPU's are very power hungry! GTX 970 is slightly less than your GTX 670 so you could get away with just replacing for that!

Whatver GPU you chose make sure its a silent HSF model as these recent cards are very noisy if you buy the stock HSF edition!

rubbish, you could run 980ti SLI off an 850W PSU, a 650W is fine for one

 

[seanyc5]

PSU will be fine for a single 980ti. Its about 3 weeks old and the suggested one from the young lad in the OCUK shop. I told him I would be upgrading GPU and that I would like it to be able to handle a 980ti (single card) thats what he suggested.

Kraken X31 is great, max temp under load is about 55 degress idle around 30degrees. I purchashed it based on what you guys said to get. If I had known I would have got the X41 as the case supports 140mm exhaust and would only help with temps and noise.

I run it on silent mode in CAM software and its basically silent (performance when gaming). Can only really hear the GPU fan under load but ive made a custom fan curve so it doesnt ramp up till it needs too.

Yeah I will probably wait a couple of weeks for Fallout 4 specs to drop and go from there. I like the fact the 970 uses much less power or though in the grand scheme of things im sure it makes little difference unless under load for hours each day!

I would want the Red/Black Card anyway as it would match the motherboard haha.

Thanks,
Sean

 

[mururoa]

For 1080P a GTX 980TI is a massive waste of money, you will get very high frame rates with it yes but you will also get very high frame rates with a 390 or GTX 970, the later two are monster 1080P cards.

Not with similar graphics settings, though. I'm quite content with my Ti at 144Hz 1080p, don't feel it was a waste at all. Not only can I generally max everything (Far Cry 4 looks very different compared to the settings I used to run it at with 970/390X/290X), games also feel smooth with absolutely no hiccups or pauses or delays.

Right now I'm playing Witcher 3 (rubbish game but looks pretty good), averaging ~80 FPS with everything except Hairworks AA at max.

 

[nashathedog]

There's also vsr/dsr so it is not hard to bring even the most powerful cards to there knees with a 1080p screen. It's not overkill, it's a choice. If someone want all settings maxed and above 60 fps averages they will need the fastest cards and even then it won't always be possible so yes a card like a 390 or 970 is a great 1080p card but it is not all anyone needs it is simply the sensible option.
'If you're a balls to walls sort of guy, you want a Ti'.

 

[AWPC]

PSU will be fine for a single 980ti. Its about 3 weeks old and the suggested one from the young lad in the OCUK shop. I told him I would be upgrading GPU and that I would like it to be able to handle a 980ti (single card) thats what he suggested.

Kraken X31 is great, max temp under load is about 55 degress idle around 30degrees. I purchashed it based on what you guys said to get. If I had known I would have got the X41 as the case supports 140mm exhaust and would only help with temps and noise.

I run it on silent mode in CAM software and its basically silent (performance when gaming). Can only really hear the GPU fan under load but ive made a custom fan curve so it doesnt ramp up till it needs too.

Yeah I will probably wait a couple of weeks for Fallout 4 specs to drop and go from there. I like the fact the 970 uses much less power or though in the grand scheme of things im sure it makes little difference unless under load for hours each day!

I would want the Red/Black Card anyway as it would match the motherboard haha.

Thanks,
Sean

With your CPU heavily overclocked your PSU is only just enough TBH but its your money/risk! GTX 970 is a straight swap out though as it uses less than a GTX 670. I think you will find a GTX 980 Ti under heavy load is not going to be stable for long gaming sessions they use a lot of power under load (some way more than others).

Personally I would not consider GTX 980 Ti without a very decent £180-200 PSU.

 

[andybird123]

With your CPU heavily overclocked your PSU is only just enough TBH but its your money/risk! GTX 970 is a straight swap out though as it uses less than a GTX 670. I think you will find a GTX 980 Ti under heavy load is not going to be stable for long gaming sessions they use a lot of power under load (some way more than others).

Personally I would not consider GTX 980 Ti without a very decent £180-200 PSU.

Still rubbish, my 4.625ghz 5820K system with 980ti @ 1480 uses less than 500W at the wall, which is less than 450W at the PSU, a 650W is totally fine for a single card, even with SLI it doesn't use much more than 750W at the wall