£200 Where to Go

drenco · 29 Sep 2015 at 14:05

So i want an upgrade from my 6870 Black edition for 1080p @ 60fps and i can get a Palit GeForce GTX 970 JetStream 4096MB GDDR5 for £203 and as far as i can see it seems to be one of the few 970's without unwanted noise also i can get a MSI AMD R9 380 GAMING 4gb card for £133 (which i may pick a second one up at some point for even cheaper) where do i spend my money or is there a better alternative? thx

Geeman1979 · 29 Sep 2015 at 14:08

Go with your 1st choice the 970, you'll see a massive improvement over your current card.

thebennyboy · 29 Sep 2015 at 14:22

If you can stretch your budget a little then get this: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-178-PC&groupid=701&catid=56&subcat=3059

If not then the 970 is still a great choice.

drenco · 29 Sep 2015 at 14:27

Any other issues to report about drive problems,DX12 and the 3.5gb memory as ive loosely seen stuff recently as ive started to look around but im not upto date.

drenco · 29 Sep 2015 at 14:29

Sorry i should have said also offered a RADEON R9 390X 8GB for £300.

JediFragger · 29 Sep 2015 at 14:32

970 looks the best deal to me

fs123 · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:00

drenco said:
Sorry i should have said also offered a RADEON R9 390X 8GB for £300.

390 8Gb seems to be the best compromise for £239.99. It is actually within 5%-8% of the 390X in performance.

http://www.kitguru.net/components/graphic-cards/zardon/sapphire-r9-390-nitro-8gb-review/18/

nashathedog · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:03

970 for 200 quid sounds pretty good if we are talking new with guarantee etc.

The memory issue is more of a non issue especially if you are on 1080p. But even if you where on a higher res the card will run out of grunt before the memory became an issue anyway. In SLI it may be an issue but even there it'll be rare to actually find an example of it making a difference so just ignore it. It won't affect you.

ratters · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:04

drenco said:
Sorry i should have said also offered a RADEON R9 390X 8GB for £300.

Dont bother with 390x get the 390 or the 970. I would be torn either way but would probably opt for the 390 at the price range.

Dave2150 · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:28

390 is by far the better card. One example, you're getting over double the VRAM on the 390 - 8GB vs the 3.5/4GB on the 970. It will last a lot longer

smsmasters · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:30

Just get the GTX 970. The 8GB on the 390 is just a gimmick to compensate for how hot and power hungry it really is. Plenty of benchmark comparisons on the internet. Although at 4K the 390 achieves slightly higher FPS.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:33

The r9 390 is a better card and even in the two dx12 benches so far seems to have the edge on the GTX970. Plus the aftermarket R9 390 cards don't run hot.

So,what price can you get an R9 390 for,OP??

At £200 the GTX970 is very good value.

fs123 · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:39

smsmasters said:
Just get the GTX 970. The 8GB on the 390 is just a gimmick to compensate for how hot and power hungry it really is. Plenty of benchmark comparisons on the internet. Although at 4K the 390 achieves slightly higher FPS.

8GB is not a gimmick if you want to play Shadow of Mordor with HD textures or when crossfiring to play at 4K. The 970 is also lagging behind in the new DX12 benchmarks, in fact the 390 rivals a 980 in Fable Legends.

Insanties_birth · 29 Sep 2015 at 15:45

390 I'd suggest, even if it's only one or two games that end up clipping past 4gb it'll be better to have the vram than not have it. Even if you don't use the full 8gb it doesn't matter, you'll get slow down when games start tippling past that point still.

may as well air on the side of caution rather than risk having a few games get crumped down just due to tipping vram limit, not like they're getting lower on vram usage and 4gb has been a staple for cards for a while so I wouldn't expect too many to hop skip that but 3.5gb I'm not so sure.

drenco · 29 Sep 2015 at 17:01

Wow this seems to be split 970/380 but listen guys i really appreciate all of your input is this Powercolor Radeon R9 390 8192MB GDDR5 one of the best 380's as i haven't got a clue which makes are best.

Dave2150 · 29 Sep 2015 at 17:08

drenco said:
Wow this seems to be split 970/380 but listen guys i really appreciate all of your input is this Powercolor Radeon R9 390 8192MB GDDR5 one of the best 380's as i haven't got a clue which makes are best.

The Powercolor is a solid card for sure. Nice backplate, good cooler, and good reviews.

The MSI/Sapphire 390 do get slightly better review, due to the better cooler, though they are quite a bit more expensive because of this. I'd go for the Powercolor at that price for sure, it's the best price/performance ratio you can get for sure.

Just be sure to check your PSU first, if you post it here we can tell you if it's good enough

fs123 · 29 Sep 2015 at 17:26

drenco said:
Wow this seems to be split 970/380 but listen guys i really appreciate all of your input is this Powercolor Radeon R9 390 8192MB GDDR5 one of the best 380's as i haven't got a clue which makes are best.

You keep mentioning 380. Is that a mistake or are you really comparing an r9 380 to a 970?

Just to clarify the R9 380 is not the same as an R9 390. The 390 is a fair bit faster than a 380.

Joe! · 29 Sep 2015 at 17:30

If your budget is strictly £200 I'd get the 970, but if you can save another £40 I would opt for the 390.

drenco · 29 Sep 2015 at 17:35

fs123 said:
You keep mentioning 380. Is that a mistake or are you really comparing an r9 380 to a 970?

Just to clarify the R9 380 is not the same as an R9 390. The 390 is a fair bit faster than a 380.

Sorry typo meant to say 390.

fs123 · 29 Sep 2015 at 17:36

Joe! said:
If your budget is strictly £200 I'd get the 970, but if you can save another £40 I would opt for the 390.

For £200 I assume the 970 would be used and probably without warranty since I can't see a new one going for that price. Better to stretch to the extra £40 imo.