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Need help picking between 390 and Pascal

LeightonJ

LeightonJ

LeightonJ

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Joined
29 Dec 2015
Posts
26
Location
Leicester/Newcastle
Hi,
Originally I planned on waiting out for pascal to arrive and buy a 1070 or equivalent. However looking around this could be around 6 months or longer away if there were any delays. So I started looking at a 390 to buy now (I hear the sapphire is the best), and when pascal releases, sell my 390 and put the money towards the 1070. However only having around £350 to spend in total I am wandering whether to wait it out completely for the 1070 (and not losing money on my 390) or not. I currently have 2x 660Ti's in SLI, and I'm wanting to start gaming @ 1440p. I was thinking I could hopefully sell those cards for £100-£150 and put that towards the 390, and having the extra money hanging around out of my £350 to save and buy a 1440p freesync monitor. My question is, do people think this is a good plan? How much of an improvement do you think Pascal will be over a 390 now? Am I being to hasty in wanting to get a new GPU now when I feel I need one, will I regret it 6 months down the line when Pascal releases if when I sell my 390, I can't afford to bump up to a 1070?
Thanks so much for the help in advance!
 
Who knows, Pascal seems to be offering quite a jump in performance from the roumers, however keep in mind when the next gen is out the value of the 390 will drop fast. If you can do what you need now i would personally wait. But the 390 will be ok at 1440p but wont max everything out in all tittles.
 
I would say the 390 is the card to get at the moment if your buying new but you may want to consider getting a 290 2nd hand if your worried about losing money. You could always get a 390 now and buy a next gen pascal latter on, you don't need to buy one on launch date. Anyway we don't know when the next gen cards will be out, they may not see the light of day until Autumn next year.

I would recommend moving away from SLI/multiple video card setups and not because of the usual reasons either. I can't remember what video I watched but more and more game engines use rendering techniques that don't play nicely with multiple video card setups and as a result games are incompatible with SLI/Crossfire and will never work. If I can find more info I'll post a link as it's quiet interesting.
 
Freddie1980 said:
I would recommend moving away from SLI/multiple video card setups and not because of the usual reasons either. I can't remember what video I watched but more and more game engines use rendering techniques that don't play nicely with multiple video card setups and as a result games are incompatible with SLI/Crossfire and will never work. If I can find more info I'll post a link as it's quiet interesting.
Click to expand...

Sounds like it's like going back to DX9 :rolleyes: :( Totally sucks.
 
I'm in much the same position as the OP in that I'm looking to upgrade my GPU but seriously thinking about holding out till the next gen cards arrive.

I currently have a R9 270X and am hoping I can get a few extra months out of it
 
Freddie1980 said:
I would recommend moving away from SLI/multiple video card setups and not because of the usual reasons either. I can't remember what video I watched but more and more game engines use rendering techniques that don't play nicely with multiple video card setups and as a result games are incompatible with SLI/Crossfire and will never work. If I can find more info I'll post a link as it's quiet interesting.
Click to expand...

This is the exact reason i was wanting to get a new card! I've had a 660Ti since launch and recently picked up another one for SLI hoping it'd give me a little bit longer lifespan, however it's caused more problems than its worth. I doubt I'll ever go back to SLI.
I've been looking into freesync also, and what do you guys think about having a freesync monitor with a 390 rather than a 1070 equivalent with a non g sync monitor as theyre too expensive? i was thinking maybe a little lower framerate with the 390 would actually play nicer with freesync.
 
LeightonJ said:
I've been looking into freesync also, and what do you guys think about having a freesync monitor with a 390 rather than a 1070 equivalent with a non g sync monitor as theyre too expensive? i was thinking maybe a little lower framerate with the 390 would actually play nicer with freesync.
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Used both G-/FreeSync and if it's down to a cost decision between gpu and G-/FreeSync, or just gpu and NoSync, FreeSync hands down all the way.
 
tommybhoy said:
Used both G-/FreeSync and if it's down to a cost decision between gpu and G-/FreeSync, or just gpu and NoSync, FreeSync hands down all the way.
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Cheers mate, so you're saying the slightly worse off card, the 390, is a better choice to have with freesync rather than having the better 1070 card with no freesync?
thanks for the reply i just got confused!
 
Freddie1980 said:
I would recommend moving away from SLI/multiple video card setups and not because of the usual reasons either. I can't remember what video I watched but more and more game engines use rendering techniques that don't play nicely with multiple video card setups and as a result games are incompatible with SLI/Crossfire and will never work. If I can find more info I'll post a link as it's quiet interesting.
Click to expand...

Even though DX12 apparently works with multiple GPUs at a low level so support should theoretically be in every DX12 game?
 
LeightonJ said:
Cheers mate, so you're saying the slightly worse off card, the 390, is a better choice to have with freesync rather than having the better 1070 card with no freesync?
thanks for the reply i just got confused!
Click to expand...

On today's pricing and your situation, yes I'd be going the best whateverSync/GPu combo you can stretch to within budget.

If you want minimal loss, go for a second hand 290/X and sell it when next round hits, you'll ensure minimal loss and keep up to date as well.
 
tommybhoy said:
Used both G-/FreeSync and if it's down to a cost decision between gpu and G-/FreeSync, or just gpu and NoSync, FreeSync hands down all the way.
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this.......if you have 390 now; keep it......I'll look at getting a freesync.

Pascal will be closer to gcn style cores than maxwell is; most of the performance jump will be from the shrink.

I have very big doubts Nvidia will be on time - last time they did a nod shrink and new memory; they were late......aka Fermie; time before that again major issues.

plus Nvidia's memory controller always sucks compared to AMD's on moving to new memory.....even now still has some issues; but finally caught up to AMD's memory controller.
 
Poneros said:
One thing about the 390, it will keep a lot of its resale value.
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I don't know about that but it'll certainly remain a popular option due to it having a decent amount of grunt and excessive amounts of ram.
A year or two down the line it'll be a lot easier to sell a used 390 than it will a 970,
Unless AMD's gone bust and no longer doing drivers :eek: ARRRGHHHH
 
Cheers for the help guys. I've gone ahead and ordered a sapphire 390! Should be here tomrrow, cant wait! now to save the pennies for a freesync 144hz IPS... I've seen the Asus MG279Q, looks promising its just a shame that Freesync only works between 35-90Hz :(
 
A '1070' - i.e. similar Pascal SKU to 970 is more than 9 months away IMO. Maybe a full year. NVIDIA will be miles behind AMD with next gen launches.
 
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