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Can't decide between R9 380x and GTX960 GPU.

Great deal on OCuk today........Sapphire R9 380 Nitro for £149.99. Very tempting (shame about the high delivery cost though) but I am concerned about AMD drivers! Have read that the latest Crimson drivers are not great and that AMD driver updates are infrequent compared to Nvidia. Decisions, decisions.........
 
flowrider99 said:
Great deal on OCuk today........Sapphire R9 380 Nitro for £149.99. Very tempting (shame about the high delivery cost though) but I am concerned about AMD drivers! Have read that the latest Crimson drivers are not great and that AMD driver updates are infrequent compared to Nvidia. Decisions, decisions.........
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I wouldn't be too concerned with driver issues, I've found AMD drivers too be top notch. There was some hiccups with Crimsons release but that's to be expected when rewriting the wheel.
The current Crimson release is causing me zero issues and I do a lot of gaming every day, across a wide selection of games. Neither company has a hassle free driver life and as long as it's not for a dual card set up you'll be fine.
I'd avoid going dual card with either company but IMO AMD are worse with dual card drivers because they're slower to support titles and features. But you're not going dual card so why am I writing that?
For what you want to do AMD drivers are golden.
 
This is proving to be the hardest buying decision for my PC so far........I have re evaluated my usage and decided the 380x isnt worth the premium over the 380 so my decision is now between the Sapphire R9 380 at £160 delivered and the Gigabyte GTX960 which i can buy elsewhere for £167 delivered. My head tells me to get the GTX960 as it is nearly as fast as the R9 380 but uses less power and runs cooler and hence i assume quieter. My case is a microATX so cooler is better.


My basket at Overclockers UK:

Total: £336.48
(includes shipping: £10.50)
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Honestly just save up a little more and get a real card like the 390.

Buying these mid range cards is a vicious circle just get a proper high end one and have done.
 
Save up a little more and get a 980Ti!!



Na joking, 380x or if you can save the extra lil bit of money the 390 will amaze you! cracking card for the price.
 
Honestly just save up a little more and get a real card like the 390.

just get a proper high end one and have done.
Click to expand...

Not everyone can afford it or justify spending so much.

If it was me I'd spend as little as possible and look at replacing it in a years time.

To do that resale value/popularity on what I get is important so make sure it is a 4gb card rather than a 2gb version as 2gb's will be widely regarded as not enough ram in a year or so making it harder to sell (theoretically).
In my opinion the current AMD cards are a safer bet for DX12 gaming. Cards like the 960 will game dx12 fine but I think they will compare to the current AMD cards like the 380/380x slightly worse than they do now with current games.
So for those reasons I'd go for a 4gb 380 or maybe a 380x, However if I wasn't planning on selling up and moving to the next gen I would get a 380x or if willing to spend the extra a 390.
 
Thanks everyone for the advice. I am able to buy a 390 or 970 but I think it will be a waste of money for my usage. At the moment I have a GT730 and play COD mainly and it plays pretty well, my issue is that I want to play Contagion but on my setup it is really slow and stutters constantly. I'm sure most of the latest games will have issues too. The difference of £100 is affordable but is it good value for me.
 
In a micro atx build with a small case and if your worried about heat i would lean towards the 960, yes its slightly slower but in game it will only be a couple of frames. However it will be significantly cooler.

Depends how you want to look at it bang for buck fps wise then the 380 has got it in the bag.

Thermal efficiency and noise levels and even power efficiency if that worries you 960 wraps that up big time.

If i was building for purely gaming performance the 380 would be my choice. But if noise and heat is a concern that throws a spanner in the works and infavour for the 960.
 
nashathedog said:
Not everyone can afford it or justify spending so much.
Click to expand...

So they end up spending twice as much to get to the same place. Or, you could save up and buy higher end hardware which has always been the more sound advice.

Cards like the 960 were never high end and never offered very much performance for the cash. So you buy one. Then six months later you buy another - repeat ad nauseum. When if you'd have saved up a little bit more you could have got a decent card to last you far longer.

Honestly, cards like the 960 are like Macdonalds. No matter how many of them you have you'll still be hungry.
 
ALXAndy said:
So they end up spending twice as much to get to the same place. Or, you could save up and buy higher end hardware which has always been the more sound advice.

Cards like the 960 were never high end and never offered very much performance for the cash. So you buy one. Then six months later you buy another - repeat ad nauseum. When if you'd have saved up a little bit more you could have got a decent card to last you far longer.

Honestly, cards like the 960 are like Macdonalds. No matter how many of them you have you'll still be hungry.
Click to expand...

Many people buy lower-spec hardware and don't feel it's necessary to upgrade all the time. My 5750 lasted me 4 years, my 7850 is 3 years in and doing just fine. Spending more at the time the 5750 came out wouldn't have made it last much longer. When I look back in a few years time when I replace the 7850 I suspect the same will be true.
 
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